Powermatic 225….20”?

[Bryan Lee]

Hello,

I have been looking for a large planer to help move along my wood working business. I found what is labeled as a 225 model Powermatic, but is only 20” instead of the normal 24”.

Is anyone familiar with swaps or custom builds Powermatic did to 225s to make them 20” models? It is about 55-60” wide and came out of a school.


thanks.

[Richard Coers]

My guess is that they put the wrong model number on the tag. Here is a link to Powermatic serial numbers. http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/PowermaticSerialNumbers.ashx
I'm not a big fan of school machines. They could be really beat up, and parts for that vintage are scarce. If this is for a business like you say, having it broke down will cost you production. I'd suggest you buy something newer for parts support. Finally a 20" planer really has little benefit in a shop. A 24" will do cabinet sides in one pass. A 20" doesn't have many benefits over a 16 or 18"

[Tom Yaegle]

Well that is weird. Did you see in person? Must be a mistake at stamping. That should be a 221? Does the bed have powered rollers?

[Bryan Lee]

Well that is weird. Did you see in person? Must be a mistake at stamping. That should be a 221? Does the bed have powered rollers?


Yes, non-segmented upper infeed and smooth powered bed rollers. Only thing I can think also is mislabeled at the factory, but seems very odd!

[Bobby Robbinett]

I had a 24” Powermatic that I restored and regrettably sold. I am now in the market for a good deal on another 24” planer to restore and use in my business. I can’t help with the model number issue you have. But if it were mine to be used to make money, the first thing that I would do is install a spiral cutterhead and possibly a segmented infeed if you can locate ona. I wanted to do the segmented infeed roller but never figured out how or if it was possible. I would also recommend installing a new rubber outfeed roller. I believe some came with steel outfeed rollers. If you can’t find a new rubber outfeed roller I know that Western Roller will recover the stock one. I would then recommend installing a pro scale digital readout. Will be a great planer that will last your lifetime.

[Jared Sankovich]

I'd say that's a 221 that someone put a 225 plate on at some point in the past.

If you are space constrained the PM planers are about the largest footprint per inch of capacity.

[Geoff Crimmins]

I recently saw a PM 100 planer with tag stamped "120". So Powermatic did occasionally make mistakes like that. It's also possible that a previous owner swapped the tag for some reason.

[Warren Lake]

there are two levels out there of schools

High school woodworking = big kindergarten, machines not maintained and teachers who cant do it or set them up

College woodworking = a much better chance they are maintained and set up by a teacher who knows something or minimum a guy at the college whos job is to do that. We had that in 81 Either way they are taken care of compared.


I could go on about high school woodworking and my last experiences with that but will say one thing a 24" machine I was going to bid on, told we were not allowed to view it before auction end.

This happens on one site so the expect you buy it based on the info. the info is almost always crap cause its high school. I got the principle and laid into him. So weeks later this kid comes to the door hes interested in one of my wally wagons. We talk and hes a good kid, I find out he went to the school. Tells me that the planer could barely take a board and you had try hard to find a place for it to catch.

I know the machines had vulcanized or spring loaded sectional infeed rollers. He confirmed they were trash so the machine needed a total rebuild. Thats how they were using the machine in a school. In the real auction world there is a preview day, why cause it the real world High schools are fantasy island just another warped reality not accountable to anyone and could not survive in the real world.

Colleges, I called a number, one said we dont lie about the machines, we print all that we know is wrong. We are just hoping to get some money back towards a new machine and would gain nothing by misrepresenting a machine. Nice to hear.

[Bill Dufour]

If you are space constrained the PM planers are about the largest footprint per inch of capacity.[/QUOTE]
Did you get that backward or not?
BilLD

[Bill Dufour]

School sales are odd. Sometimes they are looking to get low prices. By selling off the old stuff for cheap they can justify shutting down woodworking classes, Because no one wants this old junk we are doing well by converting the wood shop and machine shops into stage craft set making areas.
They did not care if the forklift driver broke off bits of CNC machine dropping the value by 3-4,00$ in a second.
Bill D

[Jared Sankovich]

"If you are space constrained the PM planers are about the largest footprint per inch of capacity."

Did you get that backward or not?
BilLD

No.

The pm planers are huge for their capacity.