hi guys. Well i think the "shaping Bug" has well and truly got it teeth stuck in me. I have shaped a few boards know and have decided to set up a permant shaping bay in my garage. i have seached sways and got many good ideas on shaping bay setup and tools etc but i not sure what the best option for planners are here in NZ.
I am a builder and have been using my trusty hitachi planner that i use at work but i can not really do mods to it as i need it for work. So i want to buy a new one just for shaping, what are some of you other kiwi and aussie guys using?
i would say that because of how "bet up" my old work planer was i was kind of shy to use it much, as it was pretty crap. So i tended to use my sur-form more than i should have and would like to break that habit with my new planer.
I could get funny looks here but i was thinking of buying a XU1 planer, moding it a bit. I was thinking of some how mod'ing the barrel and glueing 40grit sand paper to it
any way if you guys got pics or idea of mods done down under post them up
I’ve had a dewalt for about 4 years, I went looking for planners and it seemed like the best at the time. Some of the others, makita ect… seemed a bit wobbly on the front plate and the depth adjustment knob on the dewalt was solid and accurate.
I think it’s worth spending the extra money for nice tools, it’s a pleasure to use and will last 10 years+. It’s your main tool as a shaper…don’t get a shit one. Your a builder…do the fine cabnet makers you know use $20 planners? probably not. Get a good one, just use it for shaping and keep the old one for building, keep the blades sharp, the sand paper idea sounds a bit wacked.
You might find a P20sb second hand , like I did - I was in a power tool shop getting a blade for my saw and they had it for sale as an unclaimed repair , 40 bucks so I grabbed it.
The good thing is there's the option to put a Shapers Aust. grit barrel in it later, or if by some miracle the Clark Mod parts fall into your lap , you can do that.
Also , I'm still contemplating snapping up the AEG PL750 from Bunnings( I started a thread about it a few weeks ago).Might be worth a look for you - it'd need some modification for shaping but nothing difficult for chippies like you and I, I shouldn't think.
It's more mid priced than cheap ( 160 incl. Gestapo Tax iirc) but there's potential there for developing the on the fly adjustment which as Wouter says , is rated as a 'must have'.
Dunno if I'll get one , I bought a new board last week and I might be pushing my luck !
grit barrels are not that great for shaping. a sharp planer at the right speed is nearly finished off the blade and requires very little work with a block. to use a barrel leaves a rough finish and they are expensive. makes very little difference what planer you use as long as its all at a qaulity level as so the front shoe is TRUE and barrels and blades are true. shaping foam is very lite duty so if you pull the planer you are looking at out of the box and check everythings true as on cheaper brands they are inconsistent but yet you will still get good ones . same as cheap guitars if you play every 200 dollar guitar in a shop you will find a nice sounding one. if you double blind test guitar sound you would be very surprized at the result. brand recognition gets the old ideomotor effect( “ideo-dynamic” means “the power of an idea (over the body)”)clicking over . if you believe a 1000$ planer will make you a better shaper than it will. i believe a 60$ planer makes me a better shaper so it will. i can make the crown jewelles on a wooden stump and petrol burner or i can do it in cad . i prefer niether method over the other. the result, although somewhat different in style is no better or worse , its just a different style. i can personally think of better things to spend a grand on. making money out of surfboard is hard enough so why make it harder by spending . reducing your overheads is the key. at the moment it cost 300plus nz dollars to make a poly. add another couple of grand to your first grand and get a container from aussie and reduce your overhead and production cost BY HALF
$300 poly? in NZ thats rough, changes the perspective a bit… Sorry, don’t listen to me I just had a little rant cause I’ve bought shit tools in the past and they’ve broken…Ozito does have a 3year warranty which is good but I broke 3 routers in about 6 months and I was off it. I like collecting good tools now. Fixing your hitachi might be the go…then go halfs on a container of midgets yellows, with silly, stringerless, glue up your own blanks and get your deck rockers perfect
Right…thats just about enough verbal dihoria from me today…
so i am starting to mod my hitachi to day i will post some pics at end of weekend. i have looked abit on sways but not really found a list of the differnces between clark planer and a stock model. does any one have a list
i just thinking of moding depth setup and dust outlet right now.
