Dear Pete,
I think I didn´t explain myself.
I bought the Makita KP0810C here in Brazil, and I´m looking to by the kit for it.
Thanks,
Jair
I’m not from Australia… but I bought a standan wen planer and modifier the shoe/height mechanism for about $6. Works perfectly fine. If anyone is interested I can give some info how to do it.
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PM sent!
hey there, new here. I am interested in modifying a WEN planer. You mid sharing your knowledge? Thank you very much
For those who want to modify the WEN planer:
I purchased a wen planer thinking I could modify it. The TLDR of this post is that you can, but it will only take you so far.
Unless you’re a pro shaper with thousands of boards built, then you can probably make anything work, in which case you probably already have a surfboard specific planer.
The modifications I was able to perform on the wen were these:
I sanded the edges to the round
Epoxied the groove in the front shoe so it was smooth
Removed the plastic shoe in the back.
Use 1.5 inch PVC screw in head to plug one side of of the dust exhaust and a 1.5 inch elbow to direct the foam away from my face on the other side. To achieve a tight fit, I used my best friend’s Gorilla Tape.
The Verdict:
It works for pulling off foam and figuring out if this is an addiction you want to pursue.
After doing two boards with it, I’m definitely going to buy a modified Makita. I want to be able to open and close the shoe on the fly to blend with the planer, as opposed to staggering passes and then coming back and sanding. I want to be able to make better, less staggered rail bands with less work.
If this is a hobby, you know you will dive deep into it. I’d say skip it and get something modified.
I asked PeteC about modifying the Wen to make the shoe adjustable, and this is what he told me, I’m sharing it so he doesn’t have to send the message to all you hopeful DIY’ers:
Modification of the Wen is very complicated and you’ll basically need a full machine shop. It’s not a bolt-on thing and you’ll have to manufacture several parts. No, the depth control isn’t made from plumbing parts; it consists of precision lead-screw components. I gave the rights of the design to Shaper Supply so I can’t disclose the details. In any case, converting any cheap planer for shaping isn’t easy (or cheap) and the results are rarely what is expected. That’s based on having done 5 of them. You’ll never get accurate-depth cuts like a stock one and that was originally the problem with the Clark Foam Hitachi. You only need on-the-fly depth control for rail bands; crappy planers will only make choppy cuts and you’ll do better by hand. Worse, you’ll wreck the blank and that learning curve will get expensive. Use that stock Wen for thickness work and do the rails by hand.
Hope this helps - Pete
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Thank you for the transparency.
I’ve been mucking around with my Wen 6530 for a while now and it’s totally modifiable all the way… The problem is that while the design of the unit is pretty decent, the manufacturing tolerances of the thing are really crap, I mean there’s a reason the thing is only $40! I think there’s ways around some of that too but it’s a lot of work. My guess – only a guess because I don’t want to spend the $300 that Shaper Supply currently charges for their Wen – is that PeteC, renowned as he is around these parts, figured out how to get around those crap tolerances in a high-quality way, and that’s why his design is sold for how much it sells for. Oh well, it’s fun to play around with anyway 
One thing anyone with a Wen should definitely do, other than the stuff vido already listed, is to get a 20-25ft cord like from Foam-EZ. You can use it, then if you ever graduate to a nicer planer or just need a nice, long-ass ungrounded cord, there it is!
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