hmm, I have used several inexpensive planers. Every one was “good enough” in its time, and every one beat skinning a blank with a surform.
Amps don’t measure power but they are the commonly used indicator. 12 amps is close to the commonly used 15 amp house circuit rating. For a tool that may be in near-continuous use 12 amps leaves only 3 amps reserve capacity, so there better not be anything else running on the circuit like a shop vac dust extractor. Ergo, less than 12 amps. The whole power thing is really a matter of how much torque you can transmit to the drum.This in turn is a relationship betwee motor torque and the gearing between motor and drum.
Rounded platen edges are a must, but if anyone is really having a problem with this, they’re too lazy to round off the edges they would complain about. Then again, we’re dealing with surfers, so…
Helical blades are nice and all, but require a fixture to sharpen.
Grit drums are nice but so far at $250 for the Hitachi drum, not justifiable to the mass market. Carbide cutters probably better than HSS, though not as easy to sharpen. Provide a sharpening kit/fixture.
Speaking of mass market, at some time you are going to have to address the price point and compare to what is out there now by Bosch, Hitachi, Makita, etc. I expect these are all made in China as yours would almost have to be.
The dust exhaust should be able to rotate about a axis parallel to the drum axle, and it should be provided with adaptors to enable connection to various sizes of hose.
Trigger should have a socket or an interconnect to run or initiate the dust collection vacuum.
Cord length… suggest ten feet, three conductor stranded (flexible), or double insulated two conductor for lightness.
Cord should be easily detached from the motor for replacement.
At the motor housing exit the cord should be well reinforced so that it does not fail there by excessive flexing, and so it “stands off” like a legrope from the tool(less likely to become entangled and cut).
Wider cutting drum is better if torque is adequate/available.
Others have commented wrt handle angle, I’ll not go there, but it is a freqently mentioned item. My own feeling is that if the product is relatively heavy and you can’t easily swing it around for hours with one hand, you’ll get real tired in one forearm. Heavy planers (I think, like my old Craftsman which I no longer use) benefit from a handle more nearly parallel the working surface.
Lighter is better, which suggests a plastic case and double insulated tool. Weight has a place, but this is to me a planer for (mostly) foam not wood. To my thinking the perfect planer would be almost almost weightless, thus have almost no inertia and be infinitely sharp. That’s a recipe for danger, but this is a power tool and must be treated with respect.
If you put a knob up forward to enable two-handed use (tradeoff for light weight?) the knob should be reversible to accommodate those confused souls who have the misfortune to be left-handed.
Myself I have no use for on-the-fly depth adjustment.
Short and long (extendable) platen or “shoe” is desirable.
Easy access to motor brushes is almost standard these days.
Easily disassembled motor housing for cleaning. Jamming the compressed air nozzle in and hosing it really only pushes grit into bearings, etc.
Sealed bearings.
Reduce noise and vibration by having moving parts balanced and helical cutter.
Quite some time ago there was a post by someone who seemed to be “inside” at Skil, when the decision was made not to redesign the Skil 100 and compete with Asian-produce planers then about to come into the US market. The basis of this decision is unlikely to have changed.
… surely we will think of more.
