Pro planer. Help on another forum

[billmayo]

I agree 100% with your statement. I have always considered any Shopsmith costs as hobby costs. A few less overnight trips and dinner out over time can accumulate quite a lot of Shopsmiths and SPTs over the years if you are careful on your buying.

I keep a set of planer knives sharpened and find replacing them to be quite easy compared to box planers. I found I now have trouble installing and removing the planer (weight) on the Shopsmith. I find a stand and a 220 VAC 3 HP motor works really well now for the Shopsmith planer. The Pro Planer is the way to go if you can buy one or convert the Shopsmith mounted planer to a stand and motor if you have lifting problems. It is by far the best planer I have owned.

If you are a hobbiest (not a professional woodworker), I don't believe you will ever recover the capital cost. I justify these to myself and SWMBO as entertainment costs. I think a hobbiest works for self satisfaction and the accumulation of items that he(she) is proud to have built.

I have a Pro Planer. It works great and it has been zero additional cost. Oh, I bought an extra set of blades up front. I keep a set resharpened so that I seldom have "downtime". It takes about an hour to change blades.

With variable feed rate and variable cutter speed, I have been able to surface everything that I have wanted to surface.

[8iowa]

John:

It is a shame that many woodworkers don't even know that there are planers other than the benchtop models. Like I said before, this mindset is firmly fixed.

To start off with, all benchtop blaners are all powered with universal motors which are electrically inferior to the induction type motor. While great for routers and other intermittent use power hand tools, they are not a good choice for stationary machinery. This type of motor has brushes and a commutator, runs at very high speeds, typically 10,000 to 20,000 rpm, has a high noise level, and is not a particularilly long life type of electric motor. Since they are not standardized, for parts and replacements you are at the mercy of the original manufacturer's customer service. How powerful are these benchtop planer motors? No one knows. All they will admit to is 15 amps. You had better not have anything else on the circuit.

I looked at three DeWalt planers at Lowes this evening. The cheapest, a two cutter head model should not even be considered. The mid priced model, at around $380, had a three cutter blade head that rode on only two jack screws. The infeed and outfeed platens were of the flip-down type, which gave a total length of 32 1/2 inches. However the display model, with platens down, had a flatness tolerance of about 1/10 inch. How important is this? Well, hand tool experts spend hours flattening the soles of their hand planes down to about 1 1/2 thousands. This DeWalt planer will never get anywhere close to that.

The best model, at $540, also had three cutters and four jack screws. It features two feed speeds that give either 96 or 179 cuts per inch. It had a one piece platen, aluminum, with a stainless steel skin. While this platen may be flat to within acceptable tolerances, it's length is only 19 1/2 inches. None of these models appeared to have adequate dust pick-up.

With the Pro Planer you get two motors, a 1 3/4 HP induction motor to power the cutters, and a DC feed motor that gives infinitely variable cutting speeds from 72 to 205 cuts per inch. The platen is machined cast iron, one piece, and 28 inches in length. It also has a three blade cutter head, but these blades can be sharpened yourself with the conical disk sander. The dust chute with the retro attachment is probably superior to any other planer on the market.

[pinkiewerewolf]

Good responses, thanks guys.
Thanks for the info on the motors too.
Ralph, I take it most of the weight comes from the cast iron platen?
This would seem to be a good thing to me as it should reduce vibration.

[charlese]

John:

,,,The best model, at $540, also had three cutters and four jack screws. It features two feed speeds that give either 96 or 179 cuts per inch. It had a one piece platen, aluminum, with a stainless steel skin. While this platen may be flat to within acceptable tolerances, it's length is only 19 1/2 inches. None of these models appeared to have adequate dust pick-up...

I only wish to take issue with two of the observations above. First the 19.5" platen. Yes that is the measurement, however you will find this planer to be among those MOST SNIPE FREE.
Second - If you have ever started one of these planers up, you will quickly notice the chip blowing fan blows air like a hurricane! There is virtually no chips remaining in the planer during use. If hooked up to a DC 3300 it inflates both bags like balloons!

Whoops! here's a third! - - The motor on my DC 3300 is wearing out. When turned off - after the 'click' of the magnet or whatever. the motor shaft vibrates and clunks. At first, I thought it to be the fan, however it is way clear of anything it could strike. That's one motor going down, none of the 'cheaper ones' have failed yet.

[8iowa]

Hey Charlese:

I wasn't looking to get into a contest. If you love your DeWalt planer.......that's just fine.

I got started on this because a guy on the Lumberjocks forum was complaining about the SNIPE on his DeWalt planer. I'll still continue to point out the deficiencies of the universal motor.

nuff already!

[a1gutterman]

I haven't looked that hard at the motor on my DC3300. I wonder if it is an induction or a universal.........? I think I'll go look.

[charlese]

Hey Charlese:

I wasn't looking to get into a contest. If you love your DeWalt planer.......that's just fine.

I got started on this because a guy on the Lumberjocks forum was complaining about the SNIPE on his DeWalt planer. I'll still continue to point out the deficiencies of the universal motor.

nuff already!

No contesting at all, my friend! I was surprised about the mention of bad snipe & no chip evacuation. I would suggest to the guy on the other forum, he should turn his blades over to the sharp side. Each blade had two sharp sides.

No quarreling, as far as I'm concerned. Just needed to point out a couple of facts.

[charlese]

I haven't looked that hard at the motor on my DC3300. I wonder if it is an induction or a universal.........? I think I'll go look.

I believe all Shopsmith motors are incuction.

[billmayo]

I have not repaired any Shopsmith Dust Collector motors yet but would believe replacing the bearings would not be hard or expensive compared to a new motor. If you hold the impeller/fan blade (power off), can you get any end to end or side movement of the motor shaft. I have found that a clunk/thump when starting/stopping a fan can be end to end movement of the motor shaft and should be investigated.

Whoops! here's a third! - - The motor on my DC 3300 is wearing out. When turned off - after the 'click' of the magnet or whatever. the motor shaft vibrates and clunks. At first, I thought it to be the fan, however it is way clear of anything it could strike. That's one motor going down, none of the 'cheaper ones' have failed yet.

[Randy]

John,

Two more points,

The SS planer with dust collection gets at least 98% of the dust and shavings, most bench tops don't even have the option.

The bench tops are really noise. Those induction motors really scream.

My planer is at least 18 years old now, and I have yet to change a part. I have put close to 2000 bfd of hard maple through it as well as many 1000's of pine and oak.

When I plane I'll run it 5-8 hours straight. Try that with a bench top!

Buy the tool once, don't buy to re-buy in 5 years not worth the effort.