Always giving new guys to The Island the opportunity to develop. grow and be mentored. You got alot of Aloha going for you brother. Lowel
Lowel 25 years ago I asked my mentor Ben Aipa “how many boards will I have to shape before I will be a good shaper ?” he replied “it is not how many boards you shape, it is how well you shape them” I have lived by this saying my ever since and it is the reason I have a successful business. I have passed down what I have been taught to shapers 15 years old to 60 and the only thing I ask for is that they always take the time to do it right, no matter how long it may take. After shaping nearly 40,000 boards, I am more in love with shaping than I ever have been.
I have been abusing my Bosch to see what it will take to kill it. I took off my vacuum attachment since most planers die due to clogging with foam and melting bearings. I usually do all my days milling and foiling at once so it is not unusual to have my planer on for two hours straight. So far in pu foam it hasn’t heated up at all and not a single clogged exhaust port, all my Clarks clog up which makes me stop my flow. My Skil’s would be very hot to the touch by now and I would have to stop or switch to another planer. (I am not blowing the Bosch while using it just to see if I can kill it) I think that the exhaust has twice the velocity of the Clark or Skil which is great for keeping it cool and clog free but I am throwing foam into places that foam has never been before. I am still getting used to the adjustment knob as it doesn’t have the little lever like the Clark or Skil and I am always second guessing my depth of cut. Seems easy enough to add a knob to it, I might try that since it seems that I am kind of stuck in my ways. Last, I think it is less noisy, when Jim Stephens was using it earlier, I could barely hear it.
The knob was the only issue I had also. It seemed to me that to go from 0 cut to full cut took about a half turn of the knob, which put my hand at a strange angle. I would rather have it go from 0 to full in a quarter turn for better control. The power and weight are good. Over all I liked it. I’m sure with a little adjustment I could get the knob to work more to my likeing.
Just wondering what you boys are yielding at full open, depth wise. Thanks- Carl
If you are used to the Hitachi’s that have a very sensitive 1/4" turn in the depth control you may have to get a bit used to the Bosch. The Bosch is more like the skil as far as depth control so If you are used to a Skil you will have less of a problem.
I still use my original Bosch that I converted 8 years ago. It is still going strong and has never heated up or clogged. Time to retire it after all these years.
Mike from MPH Precision is actually coming to my backyard shaping room with my new planer and bringing a couple of blanks with him for me to test it on. (How cool is that I ask)
Jason Koons, shaper of SUPERbrand Surfboards is here on Maui shaping the latest batch of boards for the SUPERbrand Hawaii accounts. Jason travels the world shaping and can give everyone some good feedback on the new Busch planer.
Mike came and hand delivered my new planer this morning, brought a blank with it and watched me test it out. On feed back given buy Kazuma they did a slight mod. to the front of the rear foot by easing the leading edge closest to the cutter head. The planer is great. I had no problem adapting to it. Mike at MPH was Great too. /p>
I finally got my first board with this planer finished up.
A few things that make this tool really encouraging to use.
The depth adjustment is solid! I personally like the slight bit of click in the handle, as it allows me to make referance points in the back of my mind.
I am still finishing up my vac system so I just ran it without. While the elbow does stick out, it is not super tippy like a Hitachi.
The front shoe runs true and flat.
Its a quiet machine, the handle is a great position and the weight is very nice. All this allows the TOOL to do the work. Very nice.
My 2nd Bosch planer just arrived. After a month of testing, the Bosch has become my work horse planer so I needed to have a backup. I tried my best to kill the original and it still runs like new.
Pete, why do you think the Bosch runs so much cooler than the Haitachi?
Hey guys,
Hows that new trigger lock working.
Pete said he’d come install one for me.
Shaped a stringerless Incide blank this week.
Cut that EPS smooooooth.
Love it!
Sure have a winner in your hands Pete.
I think it runs cooler because it’s a better design. I have been using one for years. Even planed a load of old barnboard.
I am taking mine down to the folks at Surfsource in Fla. next week. They have a shaping room so they can give it a try.
A trigger lock would be unreal. That is the only thing I liked about the Hitachi.
my trigger lock is velcro. is there something later and better? mine works fine, but a true lock would be better of course.
Howzit Pete. I heard you have done some modifications on the planer. Trigger lock and a tweak to the front shoe that makes the sweep from closed to open shorter.???
I lent mine to Surfsource in Jacksonville Fla to give it a try. They have a shaping room and may like to become a dealer.
If anyone on the East Coast wants to check it out just contact them.
You are a better man than me. I don’t loan my tools.
Hey guys I am living in New Zealand and we have different voltage to you guys in the states, so two questions on the Bosch? Firstly will it work with a transformer with our 240v at 50hz if I buy a US model from Pete, secondly if not is there a NZ/Aussie equivalent of it I can send to Pete for a mod? Here is a link to the NZ site you may recognise the specs better than me http://www.bosch-pt.co.nz/nz/en/professional/power-tools/c131484/planers.html thak you
Pretty sure it will work with a transformer. PeteC and Balsa should know.
Dear Pete! Do you offer modification for german Bosch models as well? Do you ship to Germany? As far as I can tell these two models may be suitable. https://www.bosch-professional.com/de/de/gho-26-82-d-38966-ocs-p/ or https://www.bosch-professional.com/de/de/gho-40-82-c-7771-ocs-p/. Naturally I would like to avoid a bulky voltage transformer. In case your modifaction is not applicable to any of the Bosch models available over here how much do you charge for Planer incl. modification? I have friends in the US so international shipping is not crucial.