Used 12" Delta Planer

[Lopaka Garcia]

I found a used 12" Delta planer for $90 that comes with an extra set of blades and a set of reversible blades. It's about 8yrs old but the guy said it's in good condition. I haven't seen it in person because he lives on another island. Is this planer worth buying?

[Mike Henderson]

All of the early planers used to snipe. And as they got older and worn, they sniped more. Unless you can tolerate snipe, I'd want to see a board run through the unit before I'd buy it - even at $90.

Personal story, I did exactly the same thing - bought an older Delta planer sight unseen and had to re-sell it (disclosing the snipe).

Mike

[Fred Voorhees]

Also before buying it, check the smoothness of the operation of the cutterhead raising and lowering mechanism.

[Jim Becker]

If it's the 22-540 or equivalent, it would be less desireable than the 22-560 which they introduced later. But at 8 years old, I'm suspecting the former. I think they ended up closing them out at about $199 a couple years ago when they made the 22-565 into the TP300, now the TP305, and the new low-end of the line.

[Lopaka Garcia]

Well I know I won't be getting a great planer for that price, but I was hoping to get something useable for now until I can afford a better one later. A new one will cost me around $400 or so and that's not in the budget right now.

How much snipe is acceptable? Are we talking a few inches on both ends of the board? I might be able to live with that. Maybe. But considering I'll be using it for Koa almost exclusively, I can't afford to be throwing away too many inches to snipe. Will making many thin passes help to prevent snipe?

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

You can cheat by putting a 1' long board at the front and back of the board you don't want to have the snipe in, a PITA for sure, but if you make up a good in-feed and out-feed table, totally doable. The cheater boards do not have to be the same wood, it can just be cheap pine or something.

Cheers!

[Jim Becker]

Lopaka, as Stu indicates, there are ways to help mitigate/minimize snipe, both with auxiliary tables as well as technique. Assuming the machine is in good working order, $90 isn't a bad deal, IMHO. See and hear it run before you commit.

[Jerry Olexa]

For $90, I'd take the chance but I would see it and run before I put it in the truck..

[Kent Fitzgerald]

I've been using a 22-540 for about a decade. It's a sturdy little machine and has done everything I've asked of it. Snipe is about 2.5" at each end - not bad if you're working with 8' boards, but it starts to add up if you have lots of shorter pieces to plane. Butting boards end-to-end and using "cheater" pieces, like Stu suggests, eliminates the problem.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Boy, both Jim and Kent think I have a good idea!! :D

Must be my birthday or something :rolleyes:

I should go buy a lottery ticket!:D

I learned that trick when the shop I worked at got an AP-10 (?) Ryobi unit, it would snipe a bit, so we learned to do the cheater boards.

Cheers!

[Sam Chambers]

Lopaka, I have that planer. The stories about snipe are true, but there are ways around it. In addition to what the others have said, I tried John Lucas' method from his web site, http://www.woodshopdemos.com/plan-pm.htm, and it's worked pretty well for me.

The trick is to support the stock on both the infeed and outfeed sides. And forget about the removable extension tables that come with the planer - they're worthless. Go to Home Depot and get a piece of 3/4" melamine shelving, measuring 12" wide and 4' long. Place that board through the planer, resting on the main table. (You'll want to screw a wooden cleat to the underside on the infeed side of the table so it won't get pulled through the planer. Then you need to figure out some way to support the ends of the table that are flapping around in the breeze. I kind of jerry-rigged a system together when I was using an old rolling table to support the planer. Ideally, you want each end of the melamine board slightly higher than the melamine surface. Secure both the planer and the melamine board so they can't move around, and you're good to go!

Oh, and another thing about that planer...The knives are not indexed, so installing them correctly can be a chore. So go get a set of "Mini Planer Pals" and knife changes will be quick and easy!

Good luck!

[Lopaka Garcia]

Yeah thanks for that great idea guys. I'll definitely have to use that. Unfortunately I won't get to see the planer in action because it's on another island. He seems like an upfront guy so I'll just have to take a chance on it. One good thing is since he works for a local airline, he's going to fly it over for me so I won't have to pay shipping.

I have another question about using a thickness planer. From what I read, the steps to thicknessing a board are as follows 1) Joint one face 2) Rip an edge 3) Plane opposite face. Is that correct? Well my problem is, I don't have a jointer and I'm not good enough to hand plane a board to thickness.

The boards here come with one edge straight, and one face flat but not smooth. Is that good enough to run through the planer?

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

You have to build yourself a planner sled it you don't have a jointer, google it, I'm sure you will find lots of info.

Cheers!

[Lopaka Garcia]

Thanks for those tips Sam. Let me get this straight. You put the entire board "through" the planer? If I'm picturing it right, that sounds like a good way to have a perfectly even infeed and outfeed table. Where are the rollers that pull the wood through the planer? Are they on top? Otherwise I can't see how the wood will get pulled through. It might be worth the trouble to make one of those work stations dedicated just for the planer.

[Lopaka Garcia]

Hey Stu...what a great tip! I Googled the planer sled and got some real good ideas on how to do this. I think my problem is now solved. Oh wait, I haven't gotten the planer yet. :D

[Vaughn McMillan]

Lopaka, to answer your question for Sam, yes, the feed rollers are on top. The 4' x 12" melamine shelf from the BORG has helped me get my best results with my TP305 Snipemaster. As others have mentioned, there are ways around the snipe.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

I have another question about using a thickness planer. From what I read, the steps to thicknessing a board are as follows 1) Joint one face 2) Rip an edge 3) Plane opposite face. Is that correct? Well my problem is, I don't have a jointer and I'm not good enough to hand plane a board to thickness.

There are a number of ways you can get a board flat before thicknessing ranging from hand planes to using a sled and your soon-to-be-new planer.

[Sam Chambers]

Thanks for those tips Sam. Let me get this straight. You put the entire board "through" the planer? If I'm picturing it right, that sounds like a good way to have a perfectly even infeed and outfeed table. Where are the rollers that pull the wood through the planer? Are they on top? Otherwise I can't see how the wood will get pulled through. It might be worth the trouble to make one of those work stations dedicated just for the planer.Lopaka, check out that link in my earlier message. It shows it quite clearly - a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Basically, the melamine acts as the bed of the planer. The feed rollers and the cutter head are on top. It's important to remember that you have to put that wooden cleat underneath (also shown at the woodshopdemos link), and you have to support the ends of the melamine, or it'll defeat the whole purpose.

Good luck, and happy planing!

[Chet Parks]

I've been using a 22-540 for about a decade. It's a sturdy little machine and has done everything I've asked of it. Snipe is about 2.5" at each end - not bad if you're working with 8' boards, but it starts to add up if you have lots of shorter pieces to plane. Butting boards end-to-end and using "cheater" pieces, like Stu suggests, eliminates the problem.
I got a used 22-540 last year and was bothered by the snipe problem also. I built this planer table and after some playing, totally solved the snipe problem.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/ChetParks/Workshop%20photos/Planer1.jpg

The top of the table is 3/4"MDF which has been waxed to a high gloss with Butcher's bowling alley wax. If you look real hard at the infeed side of the planer table, you will see a thin blue line between the rails and the MDF. This is blue masking tape. I first put down a full lenth piece from the planer to the far left of the rails, then starting at the far left of the infeed, a one 1" short piece of tape, etc. Continued with progressively shorter pices of tape-on both rails - until the far left of the infeed table was built up about .006" with the tape down to 0 buildup at the cutter head. Don't forget to put the full number of layers of tape across the far end of the rails so the whole left end of the infeed is elevated the same and supported.

It took several trys to find the right thickness of tape, but this totally eliminated the snipe problem with this planer. With the wax finish on the MDF, the boards go through like they were on rollers. BTW, I downloaded the planer table plans from the Fine Woodworking site.

Chet Parks

[Harry Niemann]

On the sawmill home page do a search for Delta 22-560 planer and read the results from Harry Niemann

[Lopaka Garcia]

Gee Sam, shows how much I was paying atttention. I didn't even see that link on your response. Yeah now I see what you're talking about. Yes pictures do speak a thousand words. I learned a lot from this thread and I'll take them to heart. Thanks so much to everybody for your help.

[Jim Becker]

On the sawmill home page do a search for Delta 22-560 planer and read the results from Harry Niemann
He's looking at a 22-540 which is an earlier design without the four post locking system...hence the snip mitigation discussion. The 22-560 (which I owned prior to buying the Mini Max J/P combo) was not prone to snipe in my experience at all.

[Julio Navarro]

Chet, your table is an excellent idea, I have the same planner and was sorely disappointed by the snipe, but now thanks to this thread I see new light for my poor $199 delta disappointment..

I love this place!

Stu, your idea about the cheater boards is great too, I'll have to try that till I build that planner table.

[Dev Emch]

Hey Lopaka...
If you want a measurement to compare to, go visit HESS WOODWORKING. I forget which island Chuck is on but he has quite a collection of serious old iron restored and its quite a woodworking shop!

[Lopaka Garcia]

Wow that's some serious woodworking machinery he has. Unfortunately he lives on Maui and I live on Oahu. I sure wouldn't mind being his friend :D. One of his tools are probably worth more than my entire shop.