Older planers

[Anthony Whitesell]

I saw the thread on the Grizzly planer. I was thinking about getting a G0453 with the spiral head. But I don't have $2k to buy a new planer. I'm thinking of trying to find a cleaner-upper to save some cash. While performing the cleaning, buy a spiral head and swap it myself.

My question is, which of the older 15" brands and models should I looking for? Which ones should I avoid?

[Marty Tippin]

Used 15" planers don't turn up for sale very often in this part of the country; if it's the same where you're at, you should plan on being in the market for several months and watching Craigslist like a hawk. You can broaden your search area by using www.searchtempest.com to look at all Craigslist sites within a specified distance from your location. And prices on the ones I've seen aren't a bargain - typically $800-$1200, which will still put you close to the cost of a new one by the time you upgrade to a spiral head.

You might consider buying the G0453P that's on close-out now, and upgrading to a spiral head in a few months when you've saved some more money. http://grizzly.com/products/15-3-HP-220V-Planer-Polar-Bear-Series/G0453P

[Anthony Whitesell]

Buying the Grizzly and then upgrading is a thought.

I found searchtempest years ago, and use it regularly. There is a DC-380 for sale now, but I'm not fond of the motor over the blades and access covers. I have heard that makes the machine difficult to work on, but have no actual experience. The bummer is I attended an auction about a year ago that had 2 or 3 machines that fit the criteria but didn't know I would be in the position to need one. I have a Delta 12 1/2" lunchbox, but need something with more cutting power. The extra width is a bonus.

Anthony

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

Buying the Grizzly and then upgrading is a thought.

I found searchtempest years ago, and use it regularly. There is a DC-380 for sale now, but I'm not fond of the motor over the blades and access covers. I have heard that makes the machine difficult to work on, but have no actual experience. The bummer is I attended an auction about a year ago that had 2 or 3 machines that fit the criteria but didn't know I would be in the position to need one. I have a Delta 12 1/2" lunchbox, but need something with more cutting power. The extra width is a bonus.

Anthony


I have a DC-380 and swapped the three knife head for a Shelix and couldn't be happier! The installation of said head was pretty straight forward and the motor location wasn't a problem. The biggest pain in my opinion was filling the gear box up with oil but with one of these:

http://www.starmarinedepot.com/seachoice-gear-lube-pump.html?gclid=CLSR68fG68sCFVhZhgod_ZgIrg

it went pretty easy. Accessing the cutter head is easy to do even with the motor location. The DC-380 is a solid machine and a true work horse, I would buy one again and swap the cutter head in a heart beat.

[Allan Speers]

I saw the thread on the Grizzly planer. I was thinking about getting a G0453 with the spiral head. But I don't have $2k to buy a new planer. I'm thinking of trying to find a cleaner-upper to save some cash. While performing the cleaning, buy a spiral head and swap it myself.

My question is, which of the older 15" brands and models should I looking for? Which ones should I avoid?

Around here (lower NY State) old 15's pop up on Craigslist constantly, in the $500 - $800 range. However, think long and hard about wether this makes sense. After adding the shelix head, you may also have to change a few bearings, and do a full tune-up. You could end up saving only a few hundred bucks, and have to do many hours of labor.

Now, if you find a really GOOD old machine, like a General or a PM, then I'd say go for it, but if it's a 5-10 year old Jet or Delta or the like, I dunno... Last year I bought a 1980's Powermatic 100 from a local guy. He also had a 15" Delta, the type with the overhead motor. The PM had a 3 HP 3-ph motor and the Delta had a 3 HP single phase. Both were in "working" condition, and He wanted $600 for either one.

I jumped on the PM100, even though it would need a VFD and was "only" 12". I have yet to add the shelix, but once I do my total cost will be close to $2,000. Worth it? You betcha! It's one of the best planers ever made, and I really don't need more than 12".
IMO, putting the same money into that 15" Delta would have been a waste. I'd rather save all the labor and buy a new Grizzly.

[Cary Falk]

The more obscure the planer the higher the cost of the spiral head if there is even one that fits. Be careful, you can end up not saving anything or spending more money. It doesn't make much sense around here.

[Kerry Wright]

I have a DC-380 and swapped the three knife head for a Shelix and couldn't be happier!

Did the same thing last November. Can't say enough good about it!!!

[Anthony Whitesell]

That is some of the information I'm looking for. Which planer models I should avoid. I realize I need to stick with the larger names, Delta, Jet, and PM. Any others?

[Cary Falk]

This is a good reference for some planers that have a head available.
http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2016/main/66?p=66

[Anthony Whitesell]

This is a good reference for some planers that have a head available.
http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2016/main/66?p=66

I hadn't thought to take that approach. Although there are only a dozen or so options in the 15" category, I don't see any on there I would be really opposed to getting unless someone knows otherwise. Looking at the list/link posted from Grizzly, anyone know of any of those 15" planers I should avoid?

Update: I took a similar approach http://www.holbren.com/byrd-shelix-planer-heads/ and select 15" width; about 28 planers listed there. Which isn't helping me avoid the lemon models, if there are any.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I hadn't noticed the price of the planers nor the cutterhead. The heads are running $650-800 and the DC-380 planers are $575-1200. You are right, not much margin in doing it piecemeal. Auction season is ramping up, I will see what goes on the block. I'd like to have a list of lemons ahead of time. Definitely no sense in spending good money on an inherently bad machine.

[Allan Speers]

I hadn't thought to take that approach. Although there are only a dozen or so options in the 15" category, I don't see any on there I would be really opposed to getting unless someone knows otherwise. Looking at the list/link posted from Grizzly, anyone know of any of those 15" planers I should avoid?

Update: I took a similar approach http://www.holbren.com/byrd-shelix-planer-heads/ and select 15" width; about 28 planers listed there. Which isn't helping me avoid the lemon models, if there are any.

Shelix heads are available for any machine made in the last 50 years or so. Some sites carry a huge assortment already, bu can figure out a solution for you even if your machine is not listed. Usually they can even sell the head with pre-installed bearings.

If the mods will allow it, here's a very good place to start: https://shelixheads.com You can also try the fine folks at Holbren.

BTW, make sure you get TRUE shelix heads, not just spiral. There is a subtle difference in how they cut. Some of the heads Grizzly sells are most definitely NOT shelix, hence the lower cost.

Also make sure yours has the standard-sized heads (I forget the exact measurement) because with that size it's easy to find lower-cost replacements.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I'm only thinking of two heads, either Byrd from Holbren or Grizzly (http://grizzly.com/catalog/2016/main/66?p=66) or the Grizzly spiral head (http://grizzly.com/catalog/2016/main/67?p=67).

If limiting by cutterhead isn't going to work, is there any planer you wouldn't buy again? Any planers that have a super annoying quirk?

[David Kumm]

All most all 15" planers were very similar. The blue Delta were Taiwan and a tad better finish than the clones. As I remember, the Delta speeds were different than most others and had a slower slow. The older 13" were made first in Brazil and later in Taiwan. The RC 33 is a pretty well thought out old design. Keep in mind that all of the common 15" were price point machines to allow hobby types to have a cast iron machine at a lower cost than what was previously offered. They had design tradeoffs for a straight knife machine, many of which are solved or minimized by the Byrd. The exceptions would be the General 140 and the PM 100 in that order. If I were looking it would be a blue Delta ( I think they all had Asian motors by then but if a Marathon even better ). A Jet of the same period would be OK but again I think the two feed speeds were close together. The very recent Deltas went to China and some were OK and some were not as well cast or machined as the Taiwan versions. There haven't been any real design changes, just having them made were labor and parts were cheap. The Delta has a fixed table ( at least the 13" and I think the 15" ) so if you want to use an existing table for outfeed support, they are a little easier to deal with than the fixed head moving table designs. Dave

[Cary Falk]

I would personally avoid Delta because parts are hard to come by. Others would disagree, but I don't think it is worth the effort the effort to scour the internet for months trying to locate parts on "common" machine like a 4 post planer. I wouldn't worry about Byrd vs Grizzly heads. I have both and I can't tell the difference in finish.

[Randall J Cox]

I bought a Delta 15" with the overhead motor (3HP, 220v 15 amps) off CL in the fall and spent a good two months rebuilding it. New bearings for cutterhead, new bearings in motor and on table rollers. It had lots(!!!) of rust and that's what took most of the time. Made in China, boy is that thing heavy. I took out the knives and had them sharpened and sanded and repainted the whole unit and stand. Changed the gear oil, luckily the gears are in great shape. Bought it for $400 and probably put $100 into it, not counting countless hours of my time. Runs great and it was actually fun doing it. Would I do it again? Probably not, at least not with one with as much rust as this one had. Oh well, it occupied me during the winter months as I'm retired and it now runs and cuts very smoothly. As I am a hobbyist, I have no interest in a segmented cutter head given their prices. Its not shiny new but, I'm happy with it. Randy

[Matt Day]

BTW, make sure you get TRUE shelix heads, not just spiral. There is a subtle difference in how they cut. Some of the heads Grizzly sells are most definitely NOT shelix, hence the lower cost.

Where are you getting your information from? Have you read magazine articles or forum posts that have a side by side comparison and say the cut of a Shelix Head is better than other spiral cutter heads? "Shelix" is just a made up word that Byrd came up with and has become the popular term for spiral cutter heads.

As Cary stated, the Grizzly spiral is on par with the Byrd. Get whichever is cheaper.