Sometimes you make the drop and sometimes you don’t. A few weeks ago, I burned-out the armature bearings in my stock Hitachi P20SB ($35 on Ebay). I was using it with a 9”x12” handmade masonite fence to square rails after cutting the outline (nifty trick I got from Dave Daum at Sacred Craft). I don’t use my vacuum hose for this task and foam dust must have got sucked into the non-sealed bearings. What to do…replace the bearings, buy another eBay P20, or buy a “Chicago” planer at Harbor Freight ($39). After realizing I would need special tools to pull and the press the bearings, I started looking on Ebay for the P20SB Hitachi. (I also renewed my search for the elusive Hitachi F30A, but more on that later) After several days and not finding a P20SB in my $30-$40 dollar price range, I went with plan “C” and got the Harbor Freight “Chicago” planer on sale for $29. The Chicago is not a bad little planer for occasional use and its longevity is suspect, but I’ve become accustomed to using two planers (my “other” workhorse planer is a Clark Hitachi I picked up for less than $200…you just gotta look and be patient). Then, out of the blue a P20SB came up for bid at $18! For some reason, no one bothered to bid on this one and I got it for $18 plus $25 shipping or $43 total! Cool…I swapped my mod’d plates and the vacuum attachment from the old P20, installed by rail-squaring fence and I was back in Dual Hitachi-Land, plus I had an expendable planer (the Chi-Town) to knock down freshly glued up stringers before skinning, just like Jim The Genius, or for odd jobs around the house, like planing the fence gate so it closes (did that last weekend).
Then it happened…shortly after I found the P20, a rare Hitachi F30A came up for bid with $0.99 start –bid and no reserve. Holy Crap! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve wanted one these ever since it became very obvious that I would never be able to afford a Skill 100. The F30 has a 3-5/8” wide cut and goes 1/8” deep. I’ve been looking for over two years and was even willing to install the necessary circuitry if all I could find was the 220v model. But no luck…at least nothing under $200. Watching Ricky Carroll use a Clark-Hitachi F30 at Sacred Craft only made me covet an F30A even more. Now, was my chance. The seller posted a lot of photos of the F30 but described it as a 220v model. However, taking a close look at the nameplate photo I noticed that it was a 115v model! Now I was really excited. The auction was to end in 5 days, and there were no bids by day 2 (veteran Ebayers waiting for the last 10sec?) On Day 3 the seller pulled it off the block. Ooohh Nooo! Why? Did he sell it? I had to know, so I emailed him and to make a long (but sweet) story short, he still had it but didn’t want “to give it away”. I quickly negotiated a price ($75 +$25 shipping) and now I’m the happy owner.
The F30A was in “used” but great shape, probably 7 out of 10. At long last I had a planer with the mass and hp to effortlessly mow the foam on longboard bottoms, and with the length to produce a nice flowing line. But it wasn’t a shaper’s F30…at least not yet. I knew exactly what I needed to do…contact Jeff Holtby at Shaper’s Edge. Jeff is “the man” when it comes to building/servicing Hitachi planers for shapers. He was heavily involved in the Clark-Hitachi Planers while working for Clark. My F30 is now on its way to getting a used Clark Mod front plate and adjustment knob (1/4-turn full cut baby!), new sealed bearings, new belt, new brushes and new blades, all for under $200. So for under $300 I’ll have a planer very comparable to the Skill 100, but easier to maintain. Every once in a while the wave of the day comes right to you…