18 inch planer

[stevo wis]

Hi Folks,
I am thinking I am ready for a larger planer. I have a taiwanese powermatic 15 inch which has been fine, but I would like bigger and maybe some old heavy iron.
I dont have a ton of room, but an 18" inch planer would fit.
I passed on a delta 18" wedge bed at $850, there is another at $1250. Yates American, Oliver, seem to be around for 2,000-2,500.
The Yates appears to be the best fit if I can find one.
What are your thoughts? Would the delta be adequate or should I hold out for some old heavy iron.

thanks,
Stevo

[Phillip Mitchell]

I would be looking for a nice Oliver 399 if vintage and 18” with small footprint are the driving factors.

I looked for a bigger planer casually for a couple years and the 399 was at or near the top of my list for much of that time and almost bought one a couple different times. I ended up with a 20” (500mm) SCM L’invincible S50 in good condition for about the middle of the road of your prices listed above. It’s a little bigger footprint than the 18” Oliver/Yates machines, still kinda old (late 70s), simple, heavy, well-built and is an absolute tank.

Do you have 3 phase? If not, one thing that you will run into with planers in particular is that many of them can have separate motors for the cutterhead and feedworks and/or have larger amperage/HP cutterhead motors that aren’t exactly cheap to purchase a a capable VFD for. My planer (9 HP cutterhead motor) along with a couple of other 3 phase machines, gave me enough reason to invest in a used, but nice rotary phase converter capable of powering up to 10 HP.

[Michael W. Clark]

I would like to have a 16" Oliver, they have a smaller footprint than others. Also, there is the Powermatic PM180. Their format takes up a lot more room than the Oliver though.

[Jared Sankovich]

The 20" delta/Invicta rc51 isn't huge for a 20" and could be worth considering.

[Bradley Gray]

I don't know where you are located, but a friend has an 18" Parks he would sell here in So. Ohio.

[Bill Dufour]

The Rockwell wedgebed planer was originally designed and made by someone else, maybe crescent, until rockwell bought out the company. I do not think there are any differences between the two except age.
Bill D

[Phillip Mitchell]

The Rockwell wedgebed planer was originally designed and made by someone else, maybe crescent, until rockwell bought out the company. I do not think there are any differences between the two except age.
Bill D

From what I’ve read the Wedge bed Rockwell evolved from the Yates, but I don’t think they are identical when it comes to engineering / mechanics...I’m sure someone more qualified than me will come along with some details.

I’m not familiar with an older (USA made) Oliver 16” planer.

[Phillip Mitchell]

The 20" delta/Invicta rc51 isn't huge for a 20" and could be worth considering.

I’d agree with this. I looked at one that was for sale locally a few years back for fairly cheap, but I passed on it because it had been neglected, had some parts missing, and was more refurbishing than I wanted to do on a planer. It seemed like a well built and respected machine that, while not small, was at least a fairly even shaped box and not heavy to push around on heavy duty casters or a pallet jack.

[David Sochar]

I am a big fan of the old Powermatic planers. I currently have an 18" with original head. I sold the grinder/sharpener since we almost never used it. We can change knives faster than using the grinder.

These planers were sold to schools all over the US, so there are tons of them out there. I got mine sight unseen thru an Industrial Recovery Services auction. I paid $1800 plus commission of 15%. Sold the grinder for $325.00. Bought more knives and replaced head bearings and all the bearings in the feedworks. We also replaced the segmented feed wheels springs and buttons to improve feeding.

These machines are much better with a segmented feed than a solid feed. The segmented feed wheels can dent soft woods it screwed down too tight. The solid feed works were hard to feed for some reason.

There is an adjustment to raise or lower the feed rollers in the bed from flush to about 1/16" above the table. This breaks friction and will feed rough lumber with no problem. With each subsequent pass, lower the feed rollers so the last two passes are dead flush, and you can even straighten lumber a bit.

The machine runs like a charm - 5hp single phase, but it runs like SCM 10 hp. Variable feed speed. Will plane 1/8" off Mahogany 10" wide all day long. Can take up to 1/4" bite. But will also plane right down to 1/8" and will not shatter the wood unless it is prone.

[stevo wis]

I don't know where you are located, but a friend has an 18" Parks he would sell here in So. Ohio.
I am located in Wisconsin.

There are lots of good ideas that have been mentioned.
It seems like the delta wedge bed seem to be almost the quality as the others and the ones I have seen are almost half the price of olivers etc.
I appreciate all the good input and welcome more. I am going to continue looking for a good buy and pounce on it.

One last thing, I heard that Phil Lowe died. Phil was one of the most gifted and fasted hand tool woodworker I ever met. He will be missed.

Stevo

[Matt Day]

I’ve got a 399, but ain’t parting with it! They’re hard to find and are either in good shape and really expensive or expensive and need work. Rarely are they less than $1000.

[David Kumm]

I've got a 399 with a grinder i don't use anymore but it is more like a 3K machine than a 1K. The quality is worth the price. Dave448954

[stevo wis]

I've got a 399 with a grinder i don't use anymore but it is more like a 3K machine than a 1K. The quality is worth the price. Dave448954
Dave, would you be interested in selling? I am southwest of madison.