A local career backyarder has finally just given up the ‘pursuit of excellence’. I went around to see if there was anything worth taking off his hands as he said it all was going one way or another.
I came away with some severely neglected power tools. As a carpenter by trade I was mortified at the condition of these once proud machines and decided to take on a project and if possible bring them back to life.
Tool 1- Rupes polisher. Can’t read the plate for any info due to complete erasure through damage.
Tool 2- Ryobi Towa planer Model L-22L. Runs ,needs bearings and a depth adjustment conversion. This was the planer he was still using !! Blades are TOTALLY blunt and chipped. Missing side cover.
Tool 3- Ryobi Towa Model L-120. Has a Shapers barrel fitted ,runs ok needs bearings and also missing a side cover. I already have one of these little beauties . Nice stubby planer with a 4" cut.
They cost me $50.00 so I hav’nt done a heap of dough . Yet.
Any of you guys have info on these tools and has anyone converted the L-22L depth adjustment to a lever style before. I plan on doing a rebuild thread on these , all going well. Going surfing for 2 weeks then I’m on it.
More info on the L-22L. Apparently the rear base plate was originally converted /cut down by Master shaper Bill Tolhurst about 20 yrs ago. It has deteriorated a little since then.
I have that Ryobi L22L. I’m about to convert it as well. Yours looks purty…beat. I have a depth adjustment from the old Hitachi F30, the first “Clark” planer, and plan on using it, if possible. I havent chopped the bed, and didn’t plan as going as extreme as yours…but if youre gunna, no sense in not maxing it out. as long as the handle is still stable.
Hey Mooneemick, your post caught my eye: I started shaping with the Towa L-120!!! Then turned to the Ryobi L22LN… Here is mine:
As you can see, it’s been looked after a bit more than the one you scored… Last year (or was it the year before?) I asked here about suggestions for making “on the fly” adjustment to the front shoe. Doc came up with a very interesting device involving a side lever… Just as I was about to make the modifications, the belt died… No more spare parts… I managed to find another belt but it’s not exactly the right size so the planer works OK in foam and slows down as soon as you hit a stringer… I decided it was time for it to retire and bought a big Hitachi F30A…
Try typing “Ryobi L22LN” in the search tool, you should find the thread I’m talking about.
Oh, I have the exploded view of it with all parts if it can be of any help… Not sure, since parts aren’t available anymore…
Hopefully I will be able to source some parts or fashion what I need.
Balsa the belt on the L-22L is a little slack so maybe the previous owner found the same problem you did with parts. At least the L-120 will be a good source of parts for my own and it does have a $300 Shapers barrel on it, might make a good planer for stringerless EPS blanks. I will check out the archives as I remember Doc’s idea.
