True Variable Speed Feed On A Planer?

[John McClanahan]

On my local craigslist there is a Craftsman 15" planer/molder for sale for parts. The seller says something in the feed roller gearbox has failed and Sears no longer sells the replacement part. My thought was to replace the 2 speed gearbox with a small DC gearhead motor with electronic speed control. Simple planers are 1 speed and better planers are 2 speed. Would there be any reason not to have a fully adjustable feed?

This planer/molder is what looks like a lightweight 4 post unit with a brush type motor. Is this something worth looking into, or should I just pass this type up?

Thanks,
John

[Dick Mahany]

Maybe more complicated than it seems at first. The rollers are usually gear driven directly from the head drive. An independent drive mechanism for the rollers would require customizing a separate drive that could handle the necessary torque for the rollers which see significant forces.

If you go for it, good luck, and you may open a new market space that the OEMs haven't takn advantage of !

[John McClanahan]

Yes, the gearbox is driven from the cutter head motor. The feed rollers are chain driven from the gearbox.

With the current setup, if the motor loads down due to something like a knot, the feed rollers will slow down too. With an independent feed motor, would a knot cause an overfeed and possible motor stall occur?

John

[Rick Lizek]

There's no problem in doing that. My 18" Rockwell plane excels on curly woods because I slow the feed lower than most planers. It uses a 1/2 hp motor with a gear box and a belted reeves drive to give infinitely adjustable speed. Not all planers feed mechanisms are run off the cutter head. Surplus Center would be the place to look for dc gear motors. A three phase gear motor and VFD would be another option. Under 1hp VFD's will run on 120 volts...see Factorymation.

[Rick Fisher]

Its common on the big industrial planers for the feed to be powered by a separate motor ..

[Myk Rian]

I would pass on that can of worms, and keep looking.

[Bob Wingard]

Think WOODMASTER ...

[Alan Schaffter]

I did something similar to my older, 24" dual drum sander to control conveyor speed. It had a right angle, AC gear motor which I replaced with a good (Baldor? Bodine?) 180V DC right angle gear motor. It had a nearly identical case and mount so I only had to drill one new mounting hole. I power it and control the speed with a DC controller (board only) that I mounted in an electrical junction box. It had a low voltage remote speed control capability, so I mounted a pot in my mag starter box and wired it to the controller. It works great.

Remember, with a gear motor, though the range of speeds will likely be better than the two typically available on 15" planers, it still won't be great. The best feature is I can really slow it down for a better finish. I really don't know the purpose of continuously variable speed- what feed speed should I use- but it is nice having if you can do it at reasonable cost. You don't want to spend too much attempting to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse- I got my parts on Ebay.

Mag starter with speed pot:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P1290142.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P1290137.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P1290136.JPG

Controller and wiring:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P1290139.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/controllerwiring.jpg

Conveyor gear motor:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/medium/P1290140.JPG

[Jeff Duncan]

I think it comes down to how you work. I had a variable speed planer for a while but never changed the speed as it seemed more effort than it was worth. Had to wrestle with a small adjustment knob at the back bottom of the machine. I now have a 2 speed planer so very easy to quickly go from high to low. The thing is, at least for the way I work, 2 speeds is plenty so I don't have a need for a lot of in between speeds. I just want to be able to drop the speed down on the rare occasion I need to.....but that's just me;)

good luck,
JeffD

[Greg Portland]

VS is a great option, especially if you add reverse. When you're planing you can slow down the feed rate if you hear the tool bogging down and you can stop or reverse it if it's really bogging down or not sounding right (like you hit a nail or something).

Having said that, I'm not sure I'd go through all that conversion effort on a light duty 15" planer.

[Peter Quinn]

My shop fox molder planer has a dc motor for infinite variable speed, like the W&H set up. Works so much better than the stock single speed, takes a lot of stress off that little 2HP motor too. If you can figure it out mechanically I can't see any drawback at all. At work I use a big industrial italian machine that uses a split pulley for variable speed and its a great feature to have, lets you slow down for hard/figured stuff or wide boards, lets you speed way up for quick rough dimensioning and anything in between. I think small planers ignore that functionality strictly as a cost measure.

[John McClanahan]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I value all opinions. Yours too, Myk. That's why I haven't looked at it yet. I currently have a basic Delta lunchbox, so I haven't decided if this is worth the $$ risk and effort. I'm going to let the seller sit on it until the weekend before I contact him. By then maybe he will realize there isn't much demand for broken Craftsman planers and come down on the price. As for fitting a drive motor, I don't think that will be a problem for me.

John