Rick Fisher
10-14-2012, 12:57 AM
Hey .. I have a 20" General International planer which is 5hp and has a Magnum Helical head.. I used to put wide panels through it, glued up panels, besides regular planing ..
I added a used SCM Wide belt with a 12hp motor .. Since then the planer has not seen a glued up panel.. Its just not needed.. The sander removes the minimum amount of material, doesn't leave snipe.. for furniture, I just sand .. I don't even plane lumber after the bandsaw anymore .. 3 passes on the sander and its ready for finish sanding .. So again .. the planer collects dust ..
On my last few projects, the only time I used the planer was to make boards parallel after face jointing.. Which brings me to this request for opinions.
I picked up a General Canadian 130 planer at an auction .. Its 3hp x PH3 .. and needs some love ..
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/Courtenay-20120531-00562.jpg
I paid about $650 for it plus tax .. I believe it to be a much higher quality machine than my General 330HH, but its also much smaller .. It would take up way less space ..
So I had considered selling the GI 20" planer off and restoring the 130 plus putting a byrd cutterhead in it ..
Yet there is something telling me I am going backwards ? lol ..
Does this plan make sense ? It would be nice to have the floor space ..
I added a used SCM Wide belt with a 12hp motor .. Since then the planer has not seen a glued up panel.. Its just not needed.. The sander removes the minimum amount of material, doesn't leave snipe.. for furniture, I just sand .. I don't even plane lumber after the bandsaw anymore .. 3 passes on the sander and its ready for finish sanding .. So again .. the planer collects dust ..
On my last few projects, the only time I used the planer was to make boards parallel after face jointing.. Which brings me to this request for opinions.
I picked up a General Canadian 130 planer at an auction .. Its 3hp x PH3 .. and needs some love ..
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/Courtenay-20120531-00562.jpg
I paid about $650 for it plus tax .. I believe it to be a much higher quality machine than my General 330HH, but its also much smaller .. It would take up way less space ..
So I had considered selling the GI 20" planer off and restoring the 130 plus putting a byrd cutterhead in it ..
Yet there is something telling me I am going backwards ? lol ..
Does this plan make sense ? It would be nice to have the floor space ..