Replies

1. 
   Woodcrazy | Oct 25, 2002 12:58am | #1

   I would like it with optional Solar Powered backup with non-memory battery packs for those power outages in our valley

   oh were the blades A2 or that new CPM-4 stuff??

   gota get it

2. 
   DennisS | Oct 25, 2002 06:36am | #2

   Add to optional equipment:

   Factory drilled & tapped holes for mounting extended in/outfeed tables (with folding supporting legs at the free ends - with leveling feet)

   On board metal detector is superb idea; instant kill and motor brake to stop board travel immediately.

   Truly snipe free planing. OK, you indicated that but I'm adding another vote.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

3. 
   ETG | Oct 25, 2002 09:47pm | #3

   This is great dialogue - whoever is the FWW board monitor, good story idea here.  Poll woodworkers for what their "dream machines" would feature.  Savy manufacturers would listen up if they wanted to really hear the pulse of the woodworking community.

4. 
   Andrew | Oct 26, 2002 12:37am | #4

   a dream planer, you've got to think way bigger than that 4333.

   a few questions though, first of all why on earth would you want a variable speed motor on a planer? having a cutterhead spinning at 10 rpm makes absolutely no sense. I'd much rather have my cutterhead spinning at around 6 000 rpm. they already make infinitely variable speed feeds, and 10 fpm is painfully slow. I've worked on planers that have had up to 100 fpm speeds, and boy does work go by quickly, ( I planed around 2000 bf of ash in a day)

    if you want precision thicknesses you can easily hook up a digital readout (they're very common in machine shops) to your planer. they are accurate to 0.0001" and a smaller single axis one can be bought for around $100.

   snipe is easy to avoid if you know how. it's a simple matter of having the bed and feed rollers set properly and lifting the end of the board as you feed it in and as it come out. the tension placed on the board forces it onto the bed and eliminates most if not all snipe (this works especially well with thin pieces)

   a metal detector would be cool, but personally I'd rather have blades that could go through a nail without any damage.

   of course it would be nice to have a planer for 600 bucks, but quality costs money, and with a mentality like that there won't be any manufactures that make quality machines left as they would all go bankrupt trying to stay competitive, or they would start making junk as so many companies do today.

   that being said my dream thickness planer would be an Oliver 261 30" thickness planer with a helical cutterhead with diamond inserts (no tearout and it'll last way longer than carbide) a digital readout, and it using noise canceling technology so there is no need for earmuffs. come to think of it an auto board return system would be nice too. sure it ways a few tons but put it on an electric pump truck and it becomes the worlds biggest portable planner.

1. 
   Drewpeacock | Oct 26, 2002 04:32pm | #5

   Ok, I finally got out a big gun.<g>

   I thought I mentioned portable planer. If not, I just did!

   I also thought I mentioned a target retail of about $360.00 US.

   Your dream planer sounds really good but does not fit the criterion for  a midsize, portable, jobsite planer.

   I wanted 10,000 rpm because I was limiting the machine to 2 blades instead of three. BTW, my Dewalt runs at 8,500. (more cuts per inch = smoother finish.)

   The FPM variable was based on what one could expect from a coreless 110 volt motor drawing 15 amps ~. + a small servo running the feed.

   By variying the travel speed I could expect more cuts per inch and hopefully less tearout. Faster would be better but would demand more power.

   O.K. keep the ideas comming! Let's really brainstorm this one!

   Bob

1. 
   Ricky_Yu | Oct 27, 2002 10:30am | #6

   How about the cutterhead can be swapped out with a similar-sized cylinder outfitted with a sanding sleeve or wrapped strip--essentially a not-so-wide drum sander. I am not sure if the high rpm's would cause burning, but I will let you guys figure out the details. Just have the royalty checks sent to me.

2. 
   Andrew | Oct 28, 2002 12:38am | #8

   OK, as far as a portable planer goes I would have a helical (spiral) cutterhead. the ones on the big planers usually have 6 rows of inserts or more, but since it's a portable planer I think 3 row of replaceable self indexing carbide inserts would do nicely. helical cutterheads are quieter and leave very smooth surfaces because of the shearing action. it would have a machined bed instead of those cheap stamped ones that guarantee inaccuracy. also it would have an induction motor instead of those crappy noisy, universal motors. variable speed feed would be nice, and there wouldn't be 1 piece of plastic on the machine (they could steal some lightweight super metal from NASA:) instead). there would be a digital readout for thickness and keypad where the desired thickness could be punched in. noise canceling technology would eliminate noise (they already use it on high end earphones).

5. 
   JeffKurtz | Oct 27, 2002 05:03pm | #7

   Something significantly quieter than anything they're making now.

   Jeff