Converting my planer to a moulder

[Joe Norwood]

Has anyone converted a Powermatic 15" planer to a moulder. I know powermatic makes a unit that does both, but of course I didn't think of that when I laid down the couple K's for the planer. To further complicate the matter, I have the Byrd Helical cutter head with the bazillion (that's a new term I learned since Obama started spending our money) square cutters. I found a part number for the other head offered for my machine, but it has straight blades held in a spiral holder? Is there a compatible head so I can easily swap out and hold custom knives?

[Peter Quinn]

To the best of my knowledge there is no way to use a dedicated planer, spiral head or otherwise, as a molder period. The chip breaker and other mechanisms in a planer do not provide the clearance necessary to spin molding knives which typically have a longer projection than planer knives. Also there is no stock guide built into the bed given the stock rollers no straight forward way to add them. Further, there is no way to align a set of molding knives in a planer head as exists in a molding head of any kind.

I think 'the other head' you have found is one of those WMH flexible spiral straight knife heads which work just like a typical planer except in terms of knife geometry. They cut very smooth for about 20 seconds before the thin knives begin to disintegrate. The planer/molders are set up more like a woodmaster or an old Belsaw planer. A dedicated planer is typically better at planing then a combo machine so your money is not wasted. If you really have a need for both perhaps you could sell the powermatic and look for a woodmaster? Or buy a W&H or shop fox mini molder as an addition to your planer if space allows.

[William M Johnson]

+1 for the Shop Fox. I have just finished my house converting all of the wood trim from oak to mahogony. I bet I ran 2000' linear feet of baseboard, casing and crown molding.

Works great but make sure you have a GOOD dust collector, I don't. A big shop vac will not keep it clear for long runs.

[Neal Clayton]

i think one of the smaller molders would be the best plan. if you search here there are plenty of threads about people struggling to get clean results from woodmaster planers, and yes i have one. it's fine with the spiral head, but that's another $1k you'd be spending.

for that you can get a small molder.

[Joe Norwood]

small molder it is. Appreciate the advice.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

I have the PM15 which is the planer/molder from Powermatic. When I was looking at buying a planer I was told it is not possible to convert any Powermatic planer to a molder with the exception of the PM15. I bought mine for $1100 off craig's list. Its a great planer.

[Andrew Joiner]

This is what I did when I was young and poor. It is dangerous.

I had an old Belsaw planer. I bought it used. I wanted it just for planing.

Then I got a job for some custom mouldings and I didn't want to wait for Belsaw moulder parts. I had good luck with single knife Sears moulding head in a table saw for short runs.

I ground my own single knife and guessed at the balance of the Belsaw head. I left the other 2 planer knives in.

I said "STAND BACK" (even though I was alone) and turned on the machine. Some vibration but OK. I added weight to the head by fitting in small knives that cleared. It worked fine with little vibration. The cut was very smooth.
After I got the process down I could make knotty pine crown mouldings that needed no sanding with that setup. I was amazed and smiled after every run of moulding. All with single "shop ground" knives.
The great part was it was cheap and easy grind and line up 1 knife.

This is DANGEROUS so if you try it be sure your planer has a solid metal cover able to take a flying knife hit. The Belsaw was maybe 1/8" thick steel, so I made a thick plywood guard to add to the 1/8" steel,just in case. I was young and poor but not stupid!

I had a great planer and moulder all in one footprint.

Remember it's dangerous until you get the head balanced right. Even balanced it may not be safe but mine was fully guarded . I only tell my story here to share my experience as to what can be done.

I never had a knife come off but I never stood in line with it's path just in case.