Another old planer coming back to life!

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

A buddy of mine, if I remember the back story correctly was given this by the school he works for; it was owned by the art department and shows *incredibly* little wear.  He never had use for it and it took up way too much room in his 2-car garage (he has three big lathes, two bandsaws, a shaper, and two giant table saws). 

We struggled, fought, and cursed it into my trailer because the engine hoist failed to lift it to full height. 

I got it home the next morning (900 mile round trip) and started working on it today.  It runs, but I think one of the feed rollers needs some grease in its bushing.  I ordered new blades and will replace the bearings, too.

Motor is a giant 3hp, 3ph, and I'm pretty sure it's original. 

It needs a going-through, and I really regret selling my 100 before getting it dialed in (I have wood projects ongoing), but hindsight is 20/20!

Eventually I'll put in a Byrd head but that's gonna be $1800 in the future. 

https://youtu.be/FOuc64XqNAo

[2Goober]

Geeze, that thing will plane anything. Best of luck with the rebuild. Please keep us up on how it's going. Are ya' going to have to switch it to single phase?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Geeze, that thing will plane anything. Best of luck with the rebuild. Please keep us up on how it's going. Are ya' going to have to switch it to single phase?

Nope!  I have a 3hp VFD that will power it. 

Once the new blades are in I'll post up more pics and then a video of it chewing up lumber again. 

I'll need to devise a dust hood for it, too.

[2Goober]

Have ya looked into the age-model yet?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Have ya looked into the age-model yet?

It's a 1953 Powermatic 16" CE.

[fredhargis]

I love it. Looking forward to seeing the final set up.

[Stwood_]

Is the shaft with the safety fingers (for kickback) still in the machine?

The shaft would wear and get pretty sloppy in there and some would remove those. It is a good idea to have those in working order, as those old machines could launch a board backwards at ya.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Is the shaft with the safety fingers (for kickback) still in the machine?

The shaft would wear and get pretty sloppy in there and some would remove those. It is a good idea to have those in working order, as those old machines could launch a board backwards at ya.

There's nothing of the type in this machine.

[Cian]

That is beautiful!

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Blades were ordered right after I got home, but they got the wrong shipment of steel from England; I need 5/32" thick, they have 1/8".  Gonna run with that because the change in hook angle isn't going to matter for this application.

A buddy loaned me his portable bench top planer while this one is down (selling the 100 was a mistake!) and man, is it SLOW.  3/32" max cut...in pine.  I'm milling down walnut planks for a table.  I'm forced to cut at 1/64" at a time to prevent tearout.  It's torture!

New blades *might* be here by the weekend.