Vinito Caleb
06-02-2018, 9:32 AM
Hi folks.
A year or so ago I started putting together a woodworking shop because I have 2 or 3 years of work ahead of me just getting caught up on putting a couple houses worth of trim and cabinets together. "Life Happens" as usual and events occurred which slid all that to the back burner, but I'm on the verge of finally being able to get the shop together. It's getting a whole new steel roof to make it watertight (finally!) and then I can get to work. So I'm glad to be back here to eavesdrop on what a woodworker does.
I have use used a lunchbox planer now and then for a very long time, but I figured it's time to step that up. I've come across a reasonable deal on a Powermatic 180 planer and it's highly likely I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. It's not a steal, but it's cheaper than a new Grizzly (helical head) even and I figured this will likely be a fair bit better anyways. The cool thing about it is it's outfitted with a single phase 7-1/2hp motor and already has a Byrd head on it, which for me was a "must-have" so saves me having to retrofit it.
According to the seller it works fine and has new belts at least, so from what I can tell the only thing I might want to spend time on is to make a couple better bits of sheet metal on it to upgrade some "make do" covers that apparently were misplaced in its history. It also doesn't have the grinding jig, but of course I won't need that anyway. It's under power so I can run some stuff through it as I'm checking it out before I pull the trigger.
Any advice for things to inspect when I go to look it over?
I'm kind of excited to be picking this planer up since, partly because of my helical head requirement, I kind of expected to have to go with a Grizzly or the like. This thing is a beast compared to what I imagined I'd end up with. I don't want my excitement to cloud my better judgement so any caveats you can offer are welcome.
Thanks.
And of course I'll show a picture or few once and if it ends up in my shop area (have to call it a "shop area" so far since it's not quite an actual shop yet).
A year or so ago I started putting together a woodworking shop because I have 2 or 3 years of work ahead of me just getting caught up on putting a couple houses worth of trim and cabinets together. "Life Happens" as usual and events occurred which slid all that to the back burner, but I'm on the verge of finally being able to get the shop together. It's getting a whole new steel roof to make it watertight (finally!) and then I can get to work. So I'm glad to be back here to eavesdrop on what a woodworker does.
I have use used a lunchbox planer now and then for a very long time, but I figured it's time to step that up. I've come across a reasonable deal on a Powermatic 180 planer and it's highly likely I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. It's not a steal, but it's cheaper than a new Grizzly (helical head) even and I figured this will likely be a fair bit better anyways. The cool thing about it is it's outfitted with a single phase 7-1/2hp motor and already has a Byrd head on it, which for me was a "must-have" so saves me having to retrofit it.
According to the seller it works fine and has new belts at least, so from what I can tell the only thing I might want to spend time on is to make a couple better bits of sheet metal on it to upgrade some "make do" covers that apparently were misplaced in its history. It also doesn't have the grinding jig, but of course I won't need that anyway. It's under power so I can run some stuff through it as I'm checking it out before I pull the trigger.
Any advice for things to inspect when I go to look it over?
I'm kind of excited to be picking this planer up since, partly because of my helical head requirement, I kind of expected to have to go with a Grizzly or the like. This thing is a beast compared to what I imagined I'd end up with. I don't want my excitement to cloud my better judgement so any caveats you can offer are welcome.
Thanks.
And of course I'll show a picture or few once and if it ends up in my shop area (have to call it a "shop area" so far since it's not quite an actual shop yet).