Modifying the Hitachi was a winter project I never got around to. I do all my shaping with a Skil 100 and also have a flawless Porter Cable 653 that I’d like to modify down the road. I’ll eventially cut the bed and modify the front handle on the 653…I think it would be a great planer with those two fixes…that or I’ll thow it on eBay and double my money.
Keep the 653 if you think you’re ever going to be hogging out big boards using oversize blanks. Or if you want to rough out boards at extremely high speed. In the day of production hand shaping, the 653 was great if you didn’t mind a huge heavy tool. But most guys would switch over to a smaller planer mid process to do most of the rail bands and fine tuning.
Yeah, I think I’ll buy a skil100 or a foamez Hitachi ltr on… I can work around it for now. It’s tough, but w control, creativity - things happen… but making it simpler is going to be better. Anyhow, I’m saving up for
A good old fashioned pp! :))