Guys,
Sorry for all the many threads i’ve either started or involved in! Can I ask someone, getting electricity outside in the garden at my place is difficult so whilst I have my corded makita planer, can I ask what you all think of CORDLESS planers, and in particular, this one:
It is a Makita BKP180RFWX 18v LXT 82mm which runs on batteries. Would it be a good cordless planer?
The joiners at work use them a fair bit on site triming veneer and such good tools but depth adjustment is the same as most makita planners and depth of cut is pretty minimal. Imo spend the money on some conduit, cable and an exterior power point.
Here is the problem I see. Battery Life. Most carpenters will use their Planer for short burst planning then fitting then maybe more planning again I would say on any given day They might use it for 1/2 to an hour total. all in short time spans. Planning a surfboard on the other hand will requirer using the planer for longer periods and building up heat from the Motor and the Battery. Lets say you are in the middle of a pass working on getting the thickness just right with adjustments and the battery goes dead? Now what? You could have a second or third planner on hand plus extra batteries.
Really —If you buy a planer with a charger and two batteries it’s not much of a problem You can swap batteries. The problem would be if you ran down your second battery before your first one got charged. So whatever you buy be sure to check the specs to see how long a battery lasts on a charge and how long it takes to fully charge. Bosch also makes one and I have heard a couple of guys say that for a battery powered planer they liked it. If the Bosch is a single blade (which at least one of their electric planers is) I wouldn’t buy it… And remember you are cutting foam not Doug Fir. Much easier on a planer,
18v is pretty good for a cordless tool. Would be better if it was 24v. A critical spec to look at is aH. (That’s amperage hours, folks.) Some brands offer higher capacity batteries for the same tools. I have an 18v Makita drill and own batteries that are 1.8aH (originals) and 2.6aH (backups). Also, cordless batteries don’t just stop dead in their tracks. You can hear the RPMs on the tool drop as the voltage drops. You get some warning before the thing dies altogether. Some new cordless tools have a battery meter built into the tool.
As far as having your backup battery dead when it’s needed, just buy a third battery. Still cheaper than having an electrician run AC power to a new location. I have three (or more) batteries for every cordless tool I own.
I would want to know if the thing is single or double bladed. Single blade planers are a waste of money.
My brother has or had a rigid cordless planer. I liked it, but it would run out of battery before a board could be finished. 3 batteries would have solved the problem.
Yeah I saw a cordless Makita the other day.
I wondered the same.
The cord on my vacc. set-up is what causes it to bind up.
Cordless would free it up can I could use a swivel on the hose.
Pete?
I’ve been looking some more into the makita planers specifically and this model: BKP180Z and possibly some of their other models of cordless planers (still looking) seem to feature the 2 blades (2-blade cutter head with double edge carbide blades for added performance and smooth finish )but only a 2mm cutting depth and I don’t think its on the fly as the models I have found appear to be based on the KP0800 which I think I am right in saying (from what I have read on Sways) is that the depth dial cannot be changed on the fly. As for battery power, makita state it charges in 22 minutes but no idea how long the battery lasts. PS Not sure if the depth dial could me modded for on the fly use? Now if only they sold silencers for planers!
A battery powered version of this would be sweet!
Super stoked on this at the moment!
Thanks Pete!
I have 3 cordless drills with 2 batteries each. But if I need to do 30 mins or more work I use a corded one rather than have 6 batteries charging later. Cordless planers would be suited to rail bands, bottom details and these wouldn’t discharge the battery too much. Skinning and thickness work is best left to a corded planer especially on stringers. Lately it’s become apparent to me that having separate planers for heavy and light work (corded or cordless) is a good idea. This could be a 653 + Skil, Skil + Bosch, Skil w/blades + Skil with grit barrel, or whatever combination suits your needs. One reason for two is that heavy work doesn’t need depth adjustment on the fly, so you can use a stock planer for that.
On modifying cordless planers, the main problem is that most models produced are usually superceded by a better one in a year. 12v-18v-24v, NiMh-NiCad-Lithium, it’s always changing. Try getting a battery for a drill that’s more than 3 years old, costs as much as a new drill.
SammyA “You can hear the RPMs drop as the voltage drops. You get some warning before the thing dies altogether”
I don’t even know if there’s a planer availible from them, but the new 18 volt lithium ion batteries from Dewalt do just die without warning. There is some sort of circuitry that wont alow it to discharge below a certain point,I’ve had them die in the middle of drilling holes with small drill bits stuck in holes, which is a PIA, I could see it being a problem if it died in the middle of a critical pass on a rail or something similar… The benefit of those particular batteries is that they are VERY light…
Thanks for all the input everyone and hopefully someone else gets something out of this thread too. I was thinking of leaning to a battery planer but now having doubts especially after what pete said about trying to get batteries down the line. I really like the idea though of no cords still! I’ll do some more thinking on it and see if this thread throws up any more light in future but for now, my bank manager is going to be getting a little pissed at me for the new year when I explain I need some cash for an Electrician to wire up outside! Ooops.
I’m a carpenter and I use a lot of cordless tools. Basically you get what you pay for. My (Makita) tools all use 4 amp hour Lithium batteries. The batteries cost more than the tools in most cases! I reckon you’d shape a board with one battery using these, two at most. The things charge in about half an hour.
In saying that why don’t you just run a lead from the house to the shed? My shed is about 50mtrs from my house and I simply have two leads joined and sealed with polythene tape running to the shed. They plug into an outdoor hot point that’s been wired up to my aircon unit. The outdoor plug has an RCD as well so you can’t get shocked.
I don’t know how much leads are where you are but they’re about $20 each here so it was a very cheap solution.
Well, I also do quite a bit of carpentry, and own a small business that rents audio equipment. So, when it comes to powering devices that draw a lot of current, I have to have my sh*t together.
A simple solution would be a heavy duty extension cord. Which I guess is called a “lead” in some countries?
I often have to to do wedding rentals where the power source is hundreds of feet from the party tents. 10awg x 100’ extension cords with Hubbel connectors are the solution. You can get a 100’ 10awg cord from Home Depot and other sources for about 100 dollars.
This next comment will show just how ignorant I am in terms of using power tools and I apologise profusely! My original concern with running a cable outside permanently was that it would of had to have been run underneath the bath as our bathroom backs on to where I will be shaping. That completely freaks me out to be running a planer off of a socket which has its wiring running under a bath. The other thing that freaks me out is it constantly rains in England(!) so if I went with running an extension cord out of the window, I have no doubt that rain at some point is going to try and electrocute me just like the evil bath lol!
As long as both ends of a cable are dry, you needn’t worry. Plus, you can always unplug it when not in use.
There’s even some types of direct burial SJ cable you could embed in the ground and forget about.
Just don’t do any digging where you bury it 
.
I recently saw Ryobi has a cordless trim router. That might be nice for fin systems.
If you’re worried about getting shocked then you can buy RCD (residual current device) units very cheaply ($50) these days. They just plug into your socket and then you plug your lead into it. In the old days we used to use heavy transformers for electrical safety. It’s all RCDs now. I done know about England but here all new circuit boards have to have a master RCD unit installed. It’s very hard to get a serious electric shock these days.
the rigid was a three blade and well balanced
the new style batteries are way better
great for open meadow or on the beach shaping
+1 for a corded solution.
In my experience, it is really abusive on Li-ion batteries( well any chemistry batteries really) to run them down continuously,quickly, until the protection circuitry disables the current path and stops the tool. Makita seems to allow the user to run a li-ion battery down way too low which is damaging to the cells. A friend of mine has dozens of drills/drivers with now useless battery packs as he is too lazy to use an extension cord for an AC powered drill when doing tasks requiring a lot of torque or those which would require running down 2 or more batteries back to back to complete the task.
As replacement batteries cost 3/4 the price of a new tool with 2 new batteries, I personally feel that workings such as shaping a board are much better done with corded appliances and save the batteries where portability/cordlessness is truly required.
A quality 10 or 12 gauge 100’ extension cord is a wonderful thing, and with the UK’s 220 volts AC, voltage drop over such a distance is about half of what it would be in the US.