Which electric hand planer

[Pulpo]

Greetings

All

I was interested in purchasing an electric planer (hand held).

A tool that I have used rather very little.

I need some advice

The more immediate use would be for doors and some wooden gates, I may use it in the triton planer attachment.

Any thoughts on what would be appropriate?

Recommended models.

Also could any one recommend a good tool shop(hand and power)in Syndey.

One more question, floor decking outside: is not smooth but has slight "v" cuts in the planks.
Is it possible to plane the timber with this rippled texture either using a hand held electric or a portable bench planer?

Thanks

Cheers

[Iain]

I have been languishing over this post for a while but I now have the courage to respond.
I thought I may have wanted an electric planer but I was not really ready to commit to something that may just sit on the shelve for most of it's life.
Remedy, I went out and spent $49.00 on an Ozito, yes, Mr Festool bought something Ozito.
It works and has a two year replacement warranty. I have used it twice in a year and there is little else I can say about it except that when I pull the trigger,, it makes a noise and when I put it on wood it spits out a lot of shavings fronm the side.
Seems to work OK and I am glad I did not spend a lot on a good unit as this one looks set to last me for a few years.
Having said that DON"T touch the orbital sander, it is absolute crap. Someone bought me one which I gave to my father. Don't know why they bought it when I have the Rotex but people are strange.

[Pulpo]

Thanks Iain

Your probably right.

Although I find once I start using the tool, it may be used for 1/2 day flat out. So even though it would sit on the shelf more than off the shelf, like most tools, I have found cheaper brands can really annoy the x#%? out of me.

There's always a compromise for the novice handyman(person), and or woodworker in purchasing tools.

I suppose the the number of replies to the post is a good indication that an electric planer is not regarded very highly, therefore little use.

Cheers

Pulpo

[John Saxton]

Hi I have an Hitachi that I have had for around 25 years which was bought to trim down some timber for a pergola I built on one of our previous houses.
It is still going well and tho I have a spare set of blades for it, which have never been used as I have honed the originals the machine has never let me down even now after reducing the cord to about a metre long after a couple of mishaps down the years.
For mine ...and not that I use it if rarely these days if I had to replace it then I guess I would stay with ...Hitachi.
Cheers http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
Johnno

[Rod Smith]

G'day
I bought a blue ryobi 82mm some years back at a price I couldn't resist. No probs, except doesn't like planing nails. :-(
Cheers
Rod

[JackG]

Hi there,
I had till last weekend a Makita 1900B but the engine blew up so I am set to buy a new one.
Unlike the others I (and my friends) used mine fair a bit and life w/o a hand held planer is out of question for me http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/frown.gif

I guess it depends what you do, if do furniture you may not use it a lot but if you do more carpentry fit doors and fix your house it comes very handy.
Another way to put it, it is very handy to work on large pieces of timer or on timber which are attached to something. It takes a bit of practice to get used to it but you save a lot of time with it and in many cases if favorably replaces the belt sander.
They are also very handy for chemfraining (is that english ?) and faster that the router for that, unless of course you are an ace with the hand plane.
Now IMO the triton planer attachment, unlike most of the Triton products is a waste of money as well as a waste of time.


Anyone has experience with the new Ryobi CL920E ? It seems well manufactured, well balanced has a high rebating capacity a powerfull motor and is attractively priced.

.. and I need a new planer for next weekend .. http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/frown.gif


Cheers

[Nuggett]

Did you know that you can buy a festool planer for $455.00 + they'll give you $33.00 back on your old planer and a free blade as well ($33.00) so it may be worth looking in to.
At the moment I own an ozzito brand but it hard to adjust the depth of cut.

[Dennis Hill]

I have 2 hand planers, A makita and a GMC (which seems to be a clone of the Makita). I do not lihe the switch on the GMC as it is a little on the tight/hard to hold on side. both work well and the Makita is about 15 yrs old by now. Invest in tungsten carbide blades and plane your way through nails, screws and old paint.
This tool may sit on the shelf for years but is really usefull when you need it.
Dennis.

[JackGr]

Saturday I bought a Metabo to replace my Makita, I saw the Metabo on a net review of 6 or 7 planers and it was the prefered choice of the reviewer but was claimed to be expensive. After a little bargain I got it for $300 with a spare set of blades which is a bit more than the average planer but still quite ok for a 900w hand held planer.
I already put it trough fairly heavy use on Pine and Hardwood and I am very pleased with it. It spins a bit slower than the Makita (12000 vs 16000rpm) but the engine is so powerful than it does not really slow down under load, also the Diameter of the drum that holds the blades is larger than the Makita so the peripheral speed of the blade must be similar, biggest cuts I did were 2.5mm in pine which was just like planing snow and 1.5mm in Hardwood where the engine slowed down a bit but it still cut very easily.

Good Points
- Powerfull
- Very nicely designed guides (a bit of change from the makita) particularly if you do rebating.
- Well balanced
- High rebating capacity (20mm+)
- Precise and easy to use thinckness of cut adjustment.

Bad points
- A little bit heavy
- The chemfraining grove in the front plate could be a bit deeper.
- May move the tichkness adustment while planing (it has a spring that tends to bring it back to 0 with minimal effort)

I did not use Metabo tools since I left Switzerland about 10 years ago and what I remember from then, they were the toughest stuff you could buy but at times they lacked a bit of functionality, this planer is a bit different, it may be a bit lighter construction than the old Metabo's but I found it very well designed.

The various guides are fitted to the side of the planer I am not sure if it could fit the Triton planer attachment. I'll try next weekend.


Hope this helps someone.

Jack

[ant75s]

hi, sorry to revive an old thead but,

I'm thinking about buying an electic planer - looking at all the models,

can anyone tell me how their ozito (about $55) is holding up after a few years....
like when the warrantty runs out does it stop working

or would i be better with a ryobi or gmc ($100-$150).... will they last any longer

Not sure how much use it will get so hesident to spend any more.

Hope you can help

Ant

[gerhard]

Hi,

for a tool that is unlikely to see intensive use, buy a brand tool nonetheless. Wait until a cracking offer comes along or buy a seldomly used or well preserved machine second hand. Choose a model which has been is production for at least a decade and which is popular enough to preferably remain in production for some time to come. That will ensure that spare parts (like brushes and drive belts and armatures and pulleys and switches and sole parts and knobs) as well as blades will be readily available for years and years in the future.

Shelf sitting really can be an issue; machines models are getting obsolete quicker and quicker these days.
If a planer model is extinct for a long time and there aren't many of them around anymore, the surviving ones with defects may only serve as display dressing. The vintage electric Mafell planers for instance, had drive belts with a circular cross cut. Even when motor and brushes and blades are fine; it's still a dud unless you are having a replacement belt made as a one-off for a fortune.
So go for a machine that was cranked out like rabbits. When a particular tool model has been made in a hunderthousand up to a million copies, there will many of them for sale in a used state for at least a decade to come. With many copies on offer, you can choose cheap ones to cannibalise for spare parts. I've done this many times to get extinct routers and planers and saws (from i.e. Elu or Holz Her or Mafell) running again. Example: i was offered a Elu saw with a burnt motor for free and made it complete again by a bargain donor saw that had a broken handle and its sole plate missing, but which had a perfectly good motor. I also changed the arbour and large gear, since the donor saw had better ones to offer than the ones in the overloaded saw, too. With tools it's like with cars: with millionfold models, parts and accessories keep popping up from the oddest of places, even when factory stocks are depleted. Take the VW Golf or Beetle or Van for instance, or the Toyota Corolla series.

Choose a planer with standard size blades of a generic fit, like most replaceable tungsten carbide of 82 mms width have. That way you will not be stuck to a particular brand or a needle-in-a-haystack-size when your particular planer model is phased out of the production line and parts stock inventory by the manufacturer.

Go for power, a planer of 600 Watts or less is either a budget solution for DIY use or a pro model for fine finishing and adaptation work only. 750 Watts is better for an allrounder, 900 up to 1200 even more so.

An unused machine needn't remain on your shelve, you may consider to sell it again. Good care and preservation will decide to a large degree how much money your machine will still be worth after a lengthy time of non-use.
When your work is done, store your planer clean and airtight. Blow out all wood chips and dust, because wood attracts moisture and will be a source of oxidation. Resinlike components in clogged wood dust can also oxidise and become aggressive. A compressor and a flat paintbrush will be ideal for cleaning. When done, put some light oil on a cloth and moisten bare metal surfaces (aluminium sole, brass plated or phosphorised attachment like adjustable depth stops and parallel guides). Take a large tough plastic bag, slide the machine in, throw a sachet of silica gel or some chemically treated rustretardant paper after it and close the bag, with the cord sticking out. If the cord is made of rubber, it will contain soot as a blackener and sulphur as a preservation and anti-corrossion agent. The sulphur can stain metal parts and the soot may blacken certain types of housing plastics and paint layers (like sprayed silver and hammerite). PVC cords contain chemical softeners, which may damage type plate printing or housing colours and some kinds of plastics over the years. So pack the cord in a separate piece of plastic. Keep this bundle in a dark, dry and frostfree place.

Stored in this way when not used, your planer will remain the same for years without dust or rust or dry cracks or discolorations. Should you decide to sell it, the cleaning and storage effort will pay itself back handsomely. Even after years and years you will get a decent price because of the state the machine is in, but also because it was a good choice brand and popular model in the first place. Take a look at Ebay and watch how much well preserved A-brand machines still fetch. You won't pull that off with a 15 year old Ozito, regardless how little use it has had!
And when you don't sell the planer and use it again after long storage, another advantage of good care will present itself: it's much more fun to work with a tidy and well maintained machine, which behaves almost like a new one. No clogged remnants of the last job on the tool to spoil your new workpiece, no rusted or stuck adjustment knobs, no odd behaviour of moving parts. You'll be whistling Beethoven when you start your new work.

Good sturdy popular machines that have been around for a while, which are also widely available second hand and will fetch nice prices when you sell them again:

Makita 1100B ( a fine allrounder, popular worldwide, early model 750W, now 900W)
Hitachi F30A (discontinued now, but good and still popular)
Makita 1911B (110 mms width and not good at rebates, but an evergreen model)
Metabo 0882 (standard size 82 mms 800 Watts, in production since latter 80's)
any Mafell or HolzHer or blue Bosch planer heavier than 700 Watts
Not so long around, but good enough: DeWalt planers ( again choose 700 Watts plus)

Lots of success!

gerhard

[burraboy]

Hi I have an Hitachi that I have had for around 25 years which was bought to trim down some timber for a pergola I built on one of our previous houses.
It is still going well and tho I have a spare set of blades for it, which have never been used as I have honed the originals the machine has never let me down even now after reducing the cord to about a metre long after a couple of mishaps down the years.
For mine ...and not that I use it if rarely these days if I had to replace it then I guess I would stay with ...Hitachi.
Cheers http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
Johnno
I have a Hitachi about 40 years old which has just thrown its drive belt. I can get no joy from Hitachi for a replacement belt. It will be a pity to throw out a fine tool just coming into its prime for lack of factory back-up!

[gerhard]

Hi Burra,

can you name the machine's type number or put a pic of the planer on the forum if the type plate is missing? I'll help watch out for you for an alternative. I look into Ebay worldwide and many other auction sources almost on a daily basis, so a similar machine type with some other defect but with an intact belt may present itself. Apart from that, there are many drive belt manufacturers and thousands of belt varieties. There may be a substitute somewhere; it's not the name on it that counts but rather the suitable technical properties that make up a working solution. When length and strength and width and composition and tooth dimensions are right, it doesn't matter if it comes from China or India or Italy or Liechtenstein.

Tool factories that keep spare parts available for more than 30 years, are few and far between, by the way. Nowadays, you're lucky to find factory spare part inventories that are older than 8 years, even from reputable brands.

greetings

gerhard

[burraboy]

Thanks for the suggestion Gerhard. Part of the problem is that there are so many belt types available for different machines. I have tried the local appliance repairers and found that they have very few spare parts on the shelf. I found belts from GMC and Makita planers that were the right type but wrong size. The next part of the problem is that spare belts in their catalogues are only referenced by the serial number of the machines they come from, not by their size! If I could find a manufacturer who lists their products with reference to size I might be able to source one to fit. Any ideas on belt manufacturers who might have that information available?
I will pass on the replacement from a similar broken machine as the problem came from age deterioration of the belt, I think I would just have the same problem.

[nigelr]

I have a DeWalt 678, 850w, 4mm max cut, 82mm blades.
It has planed a fair bit of hardwood over the 10 or so years I've owned her, so recently I thought I'd put some new blades in her.
Only to find, after purchase, (of course) that the original blades are double sided. Doh!
I've lately discovered that there is a chap on Ebay who sells the same IVA blades I bought from bunnies, at a fraction of the price. Double Doh!
She's a beast of a planer, large and heavy, but great for larger hardwood sticks and I'm sure she'll do a great job for my son when I'm finished with her.
Quality tools are worth the money, IMHO.
Cheers.

[ant75s]

Thanks gerhard,

Many great tips from a guy who obviously knows alot about powertools,

I see the point - a 15 year old ozito , in 15 years people will say who are ozito, when did they make tools

I have a few old powertools given to me from my grandfather, sure I have replaced the cord on some cause they perished (storage tip noted), but the tool works fine.

Will look into those models #'s you posted

Thanks again
ant