Powermatic planer riser block and base

[Mark Grotenhuis]

I had an issue with running long boards through my planer and having them smack into my table saw out-feed table. Also the factory wheels on this planer stunk. All 4 wheels were fixed so you could only roll it foreword and backward not sideways. So I decided to buy a new base and added a torsion box under the planer to lift it up some. Now all my long boards easily clear over top of the table saw, and the base glides effortlessly.

First I made a torsion box, sanded and painted it (powermatic yellow):D Second I stuck it in a Jet 1200 lb mobile base. Third I built a ramp out of scraps I had and rolled my planer up onto the new base. Forth I took some shims and wedged it up in the air a little so I could get the factory wheels off my planer. Then I pulled the shims out and bolted the planer to my new base.

Torsion box under construction:
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn105/Hozerhuis/IMG_2238.jpg

The base completed:
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn105/Hozerhuis/IMG_2242.jpg
See all those black marks on the concrete? Those are from the old plastic wheels as I tried to move the planer anywhere.

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn105/Hozerhuis/IMG_2240.jpg

[Ray Dockrey]

From the pictures you posted it looks like the wheels on the right side are supposed to swivel. Are you sure it was assembled right or possibly have some type of lock to keep them from turning? I am not saying you don't know what you are doing but is sure looks like they should swivel.

I was thinking maybe they do swivel but the tool is so stinking heavy that it is just to much weight on them. I just can't see them making a base like that and not having the wheels swivel.

[Lewis Cobb]

Mark -
I'm with you on the black marks on the floor. I have a new 15" PM planer and there's ONE black mark on my shop floor. Hopefully that will be the last one, as I am in the process of designing up a steel mobile base for it in Sketchup at the moment. Something to try out my new found knowledge from the welding course for adults I took last fall :D

Good job and thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Barry Vabeach]

Mark, excellent work, if you didn't tell me, I would have guessed that it was a factory job - the color matching is great. I have struggled a little with height issues also - do I try to have the miter saw higher than the bandsaw, or do I want the bandsaw higher. While in theory, having them all at the same height is best - in practice, it seems tought to achieve, plus, for some tools like the planer, you adjust the height as you use it.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

From the pictures you posted it looks like the wheels on the right side are supposed to swivel. Are you sure it was assembled right or possibly have some type of lock to keep them from turning? I am not saying you don't know what you are doing but is sure looks like they should swivel.

I was thinking maybe they do swivel but the tool is so stinking heavy that it is just to much weight on them. I just can't see them making a base like that and not having the wheels swivel.

The wheels on the right hand side do swivel. Those are the new wheels to the new base. The old wheels (not pictured) were inside the base itself and barely visible, and those wheels were all fixed in the same direction.

[Ray Dockrey]

You know what, I couldn't tell you had the riser in there so I thought I was looking at the old setup. That riser blends in with the base of the planer perfectly. I greatly apologize. That looks very good and is the way it should have been in the first place.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

You know what, I couldn't tell you had the riser in there so I thought I was looking at the old setup. That riser blends in with the base of the planer perfectly. I greatly apologize. That looks very good and is the way it should have been in the first place.

lol No apology needed. I knew you'd put it together sooner or later. I do agree with you; this is the way it should have been in the first place. Any Powermatic engineers listening out there?

[Mark Grotenhuis]

Mark -
I'm with you on the black marks on the floor. I have a new 15" PM planer and there's ONE black mark on my shop floor. Hopefully that will be the last one, as I am in the process of designing up a steel mobile base for it in Sketchup at the moment. Something to try out my new found knowledge from the welding course for adults I took last fall :D

Good job and thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Lewis

That's really what I wanted to do but I have no welding experience and no welder. I even tried to sign up for a beginning welding class in college 3 times, but all 3 times the class was full. Even now I still want to go back and take it. I'd love to see what you come up with.

[Lewis Cobb]

That's really what I wanted to do but I have no welding experience and no welder. I even tried to sign up for a beginning welding class in college 3 times, but all 3 times the class was full. Even now I still want to go back and take it. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Mark -
The course we took was about an hour drive each way, 2 evenings a week for 5 weeks, but I was so keen I didn't mind. I talked 2 of my friends into taking it with me - one of whom was a university professor who's dad left him a welder 20 years ago and he was too scared to fire it up for fear of torching the house. The course was put on by a high school shop instructor in the evenings and was not what you would call "certification ready" but it touched on all the different processes and allowed us to choose what process was probably best for the type of things we envisioned doing. I ended up settling on the stick/tig as I only have the back yard and a very clean and finished car garage to work in. The tig ( slow but very clean process ) is good in the garage and I can use the stick in the back yard. Mind you, once winter hit ( I am in the eastern part of Canada ) it got so cold in the garage I decided to wait until spring. I'm hoping to get out there in the next few weeks and start some practicing again.

There's some amazing resources on the internet for learning how to weld and although no replacement for a course, you might be able to hack your way along through those, plus the kindness of a bunch of lads on the Miller welding forum where I have hung out for a while to pick up some tips. Check out the millerwelds.com website - they have a resource section with lots of .pdf guides you can download for free on all the different types of welding, as well as a forum that's packed with people that are as passionate about welding as the folks on here are about woodworking.

I only wish I could retire - I have so many hobbies and interests now that work keeps severely restricting them :D

I have some stuff I could e-mail you as well - PM me if you want.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Curt Harms]

I had a similar idea with a bandsaw base except I wanted to lower mine. Yours looks factory perfect, mine does not:o. Good job.

[Jim Becker]

That works!