24" planers

[Mark Gibney]

At some point I'm going to have to get a 24" planer. It's a big machine, expensive, and I'm a one-man band, so it feels like buying a pick-up just for grocery shopping.

I do need to use that size sometimes, and I have access to one about a 1/2 hour drive away. It's the General International 24" with a shelix head, and I like it a lot.

I looked at craigslist this morning and there's a 1986 Delta Invicta 22602, 3 phase for $3K locally.

The Delta raises and lowers the bed electrically, and overall looks like a machine with more that could go wrong on it than the General Int. I'm not so mechanically gifted, and wouldn't want to buy a money pit. The Delta come with an extra spiral cutter head, but I think it might take curved knives, not individual carbide cutter (but I know jack ****), and also has a grinding bar and grinder (I'm going to google these to see what they do).

The General would be $10K plus, the Delta $3k, with maybe $500 transport costs. I'm can't afford the General right now, but if the Delta is a real good deal then I would think seriously about it.

Has anyone any experience with these machines? or any opinions big planers?

Thanks, and hope you're all enjoying the longest day we'll have this year.

315984315985

[David Kumm]

Old planers can be a money pit if condition isn't good. The 63N came with a Newman insert head which was a great cutter. Check to see that is what is there. Personally I would not pay 10K for a GI when there are so many great used planers out there for half the price. Here is my Tersa SAC, 21" and i paid < 5K. The 24" Euro planers go for 4-6K and older iron ones are less. 315986 I'm not sure either is priced right unless the Delta is in better shape than it looks here. Dave

[Rick Fisher]

I just finished rebuilding a 20" Griggio. stripped it down, cleaned, bearings, cutterhead, belts, and back together again. The Griggio is Italian, I would say its the the league of the Delta Invicta.

I wouldn't buy the General International for $10K .. For that kind of money, you could get a good used machine like an SCM, Felder, or one of the other Italian makers.

The electronic rise - fall on the table is a sweet option. I appreciate it more than I thought I would.

Opinions on big planers. ? Hard starting if you use a converter.. Something to think about. The cutterhead on mine is over 100lbs... 4.6" Diameter.. Puts a strain on my electrical when starting it. Smooth as silk .. Its about 1650 lbs.. only 20". I rarely plane anything 20" wide.. so I don't think I would use the extra width of 24" .. but I would have taken it if it had been available.

If the Delta is in good shape and running.. its not a bad deal.. if its rusty and requires lots of work .. pass.. Taking a planer apart and re-doing it isn't a weekend project. I did mine as a labor love. I get a kick out of saving big machines from the recycling plant.. If I sold it now and worked out an hourly rate for my restoration, I would probably be better to work fast food.. lol

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/Griggio%20PF400%20and%20PSA%20520/IMG_20150603_195956_zpsrdwqoqva.jpg (http://s335.photobucket.com/user/jokerbird_photo/media/Griggio%20PF400%20and%20PSA%20520/IMG_20150603_195956_zpsrdwqoqva.jpg.html)

[Rick Lizek]

That planer came with a Newman helical head. To sharpen it you had to remove the head and send to Newman. The planet was made in Brazil by Invicta. You can't get parts for 5 year old Delta machine. I'd pass.

[mark kosse]

I have access to a Powermatic 224 and love that machine. There isn't much to go wrong with a 224 and I see them regularly for right at 3k.

[Larry Edgerton]

Old planers can be a money pit if condition isn't good. The 63N came with a Newman insert head which was a great cutter. Check to see that is what is there. Personally I would not pay 10K for a GI when there are so many great used planers out there for half the price. Here is my Tersa SAC, 21" and i paid < 5K. The 24" Euro planers go for 4-6K and older iron ones are less. 315986 I'm not sure either is priced right unless the Delta is in better shape than it looks here. Dave

What he said......

I have a SCM I bought new and it has been a great planer for fifteen years, I would not pay that much for the international, and the Delta I would not buy because of support deficiencies.

Ditto Ricks comments as well, especially about the electric table up and down. Also want one with a readout. Mine is mechanical and has not been off ever, and so I actually prefer that to electronic, but either way.

Larry

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks you all for your opinions - I think I won't bother with this planer.

[Todd Burch]

I just sold 3 Powermatic planers. A 20" and two 16"ers. $1700 for all three, and I made money. You can find them cheap if you look.

[Peter Quinn]

The general you have listed is a knock off of the lighter weight delta planers, not the home shop model but not quite industrial either, maybe a commercial quality class? Decent design, fairly well made, shop I'm at bought one 20" for $500! Works great. Simple design, hard to break. The 63n is a tank, whole weight class above the general, like more Than one shift more than 8 hours per day design. I call that the better planer if it is in working order. Doesn't sound like you have the desire to get into a restoration if required, I'd probably pass on the delta though it could prove to be a decent asset at that asking. Unless you are prepared to take on a project or can confirm its in good working order. Given the rust on table doesn't look like it's been used recently or well preserved. I wouldn't give General $10k for that machine listed on a good day. Way over priced for what it is. Check out these ironwood machines by stiles , they are in the $10k range IIR, Asian imports but very well made and well supported by a professional company. We got one of their jointers, it's been great at a fraction of the cost of its Italian competition. Not affiliated, just a happy user.

http://www.stilesmachinery.com/ironwood/planer-series

[John Hubbs]

Mark,
I have an older Tiawanese version of that planer. 24" auction find for $400. Took a little cleaning but I am very happy with it. Do I need 24" capacity? Not yet. Am I glad I have it? You bet.
And the knife grinder allows you to sharpen the knives/blades while running the machine. Is scarey the first few times, but kind of fun after that. I would suggest you find some old iron and spend some time rebulding and tuning it up.
Getting to know your planer will allow you to use it much easier and know how to manipulate adjustments to get a better finish. Knowledge is power...
John.

[Yonak Hawkins]

...spend some time rebulding and tuning it up.
Getting to know your planer will allow you to use it much easier and know how to manipulate adjustments to get a better finish. Knowledge is power...
John.

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[Rick Fisher]

John Hubbs is sure bang on ..

Disassemble a planer, remove the rollers, chip breaker etc..etc.. Then put it all back in and adjust it all ..

When you get it planing really well, you will really know the machine. None of the adjustment screws really scare me anymore.. That was never the case before.

[Rick Lizek]

How big is your jointer? You really don't need a planar any wider than your Jointer. I use curved cauls for my glue ups and never need to send panels into a planer a second time.

[Frank Drew]

You really don't need a planar any wider than your Jointer.

I disagree; I frequently jointer face-planed boards that were wider than the jointer's cutterhead and would have been severely limited without a planer that was wider than the jointer. And for hogging off material, particularly on narrow boards, it's a great timesaver to run several boards through the planer at once, spaced across the bed.

[Larry Edgerton]

I disagree; I frequently jointer face-planed boards that were wider than the jointer's cutterhead and would have been severely limited without a planer that was wider than the jointer. And for hogging off material, particularly on narrow boards, it's a great timesaver to run several boards through the planer at once, spaced across the bed.


Ditto. I get by with a 12" jointer and have a 20" planer. Kind of wish I had gone for the 24", but I get by. Another use for me of the wide planer is first rough pass on one side and finish pass on the other.

[Rick Fisher]

How big is your jointer? You really don't need a planar any wider than your Jointer. I use curved cauls for my glue ups and never need to send panels into a planer a second time.


The more industrial planers have segmented in-feed rollers and segmented chip breakers. You can run multiple boards through at a time without issue.

[David Kumm]

Don't know the specific machine, but there is a 24" Panhans on Woodweb.com. Panhans is Martin quality stuff. Dave

[Mark Gibney]

Well I got myself a 24" planer for $2,000. It's a 3-phase Casadei R 63 H3, made in 1994. It's in pretty good shape but for one little problem with the bed raising / lowering. I'll post a thread about that.

The people who sold it to me deal in electronics, and got it along with a bunch of stuff from a studio of some sort in Hollywood. They didn't want it hanging around so I was happy to help them out!

Thanks for all your feedback.

[Larry Edgerton]

Awesome Mark!

Aren't you glad you stopped in to let us talk you into a more expensive planer?:D

What head does it have?

Larry

[Mark Gibney]

It has straight knives. More than that I don't know. We'll be getting to know each other over the coming weeks...

[Peter Quinn]

Congrats and good deal. I worked with the spiral head version of that planer for about 10'years. After about 1million BF went through it they rebuilt the top end once....I'm not kidding about the approx board footage. It's a great solid work horse, beats the heck out of the Asian imports. They sell new for around $18k. At that price you could easily justify the $4-5k for a new spiral head, or get a terminus head made, or Tersa. Enjoy it and good luck with the height isue, IIR the most likely thing wrong with the table drive is fairly easy to fix.

[Erik Manchester]

Congrats Mark, once you get that table elevation issue sorted you will have a great unit.

I picked up a Wadkin Bursgreen T630 planer last year and it had only been used from 1985-90 in a commercial setting and then was sold at auction and the buyer sat it in a corner of his garage for 25 years before he decided to sell it. He had plans to use it but when exploring the cost of 3 phase 600v power he never got around to it.

I put a new set of bearings in it and gave it a good cleaning and it it works like a charm. I found the elevation unit on mine was quite dirty and very stiff to turn, but once all the old grease was washed off and it was re-lubed it worked fine, however the coil on the starter for the 1/3 hp elevation drive was fried. As soon as I replaced the coil it worked perfectly.

Those big planers can really hog off the wood for initial dimensioning and the DC needs to be appropriately matched as they generate a lot of chips.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks Eric - I'm working on my DC today.

Peter - what is IIR? thanks.

[Peter Quinn]

Thanks Eric - I'm working on my DC today.

Peter - what is IIR? thanks.


IIR=If I recall...memory gets fuzzy as time passes. I remember a little skinny drive belt, a big split pulley, some sort of tensioner. When it worked, which for us was most of the time, it worked great for coarse adjustments, you could drop the table inches in under 30 seconds. We had this funky spiral head that held curved one piece HSS knives that were just around 1/16" thick....like 24" long arched disposable razor blades. And the jib was curved. You had to tap the knives in while going around the curve, almost never happened without some blood loss, probably the worst knife change I ever dealt with. With fresh inserts it was hands down the smoothest most tear out free finish I've ever seen. Even with dull knives it was pretty decent, but those skinny knives chipped real easy and grooves developed pretty quick. Everything went through the wide belt right after the planer, I didn't like coping rail parts that rock and rolled on the bumps the planer left. Its such a productive machine, love to see one with an insert spiral head!

[lou sansone]

I have a casadei r63 24” planer and have put thousands of bd feet through it. They are built like tanks and it has never given me any problem