@mattwho the water temp is about 40-42 degrees. Its dropped a lot in the last month. Its definitely ice cream headache temps now.
As far as the mod goes it is basically all taken from what Brian Pavlick showed in his YouTube vids. I went a bit further with it and really tried to clean it up a lot more than what he shows though. If you look close I really took the green back to original shine. I sanded the cutoffs down flat. I then took tape and made straight lines where it was uneven due to the handle being cut off from its original position. You can se what i mean in the pic. I then wet sanded it to get it to look just like the rest of the untouched areas of the planer. If you look really close you can see a slight difference but you really have to look. It looks almost like it was made like this from factory. It should. I spent hours getting it as perfect as possible so far.
The shoe and “On The Fly” adjustment were the hardest. It has a little bit of slop in it but overall much better than others I have seen and tried. I really tried to get it perfect. That knob took a bit of time also. When you piece the PVC together it doesnt want to sit flush and perfect. I did a lot of sanding and had a lot of patience with setting it with a slow curing epoxy. I kept playing with it until it was perfect. I had to reduce the size of the 1/2" PVC on one end use a dremel to get a lip on the inside so that the lock collar would sit perfectly and flush. I used JB Weld to seat that part in. I wanted it completely hidden so it looked more professional or factory. Actually the hardest part was drilling the set screw holes into the PVC so they lined up perectly. I had to also retap the collar so it fit around the shaft perfectly and tight. Its kind of crazy how long I spent on that knob. I had to use a drill press. lol After all that I then plasti dipped it, which was a serious pain in the ass too. I had to redo it 3 times until it set just right. My girlfriend thinks I’m crazy but its actually been a lot of fun and the patience and striving for perfection have really paid off so far. I looks and feels great! I would still like it to have just a little less wobble but theres only so much I can do when it comes to that. The 2 set screws certainly helped it to sit flat and straight but the wobble in the shaft is because of the threading on the actual Hot/Cold water stem thats used for the shaft. I played around with a few springs and washers at a local old time hardware store that i am lucky enough to have right around the corner from my house. They literally have thousands of springs and all the little weird things that a place like Home Depot or Lowes don’t. The 2 big stores only offer this pack of assorted springs. My dad also has everything you can imagine. Hes a mechanic and tinkerer and also fixed guitar tube amps and power tools for years so he has tons of drawers filled with every type of washer, knob, screw, collar and anything really you could think of. I always thought it was crazy and pointless until i got older and realized how nice it is to be able to walk in the garage or head to his house and get anything i want. And a lot of what I needed isn’t sold in stores like Home Depot anymore. They are things local family owned hardware stores had years ago but we all know they are few and far between in this MEGA store world we live in these days.
Anyway, I’m just waiting on getting some new bearings before I put it back together. I also need to go and get the stuff for the dust chute tomorow. I am going to make my own like Brian did instead of buying one. I’ll post pics of that as I do it also. Again though, if anyone can recommend some good bearings I would appreciate it. Thanks again guys and if Brian Pavlick happens to run across this thread I gotta say “Thank You”. If it wasn’t for his videos I wouldn’t have tried this. You still need a bit of your own inginuity but for the most part he sends you down the right path and tells you almost everything you need to get and do. So again, a big THANKS Brian!
yiu could buy these cheap enough but I love making my own stuff. Been sanding for like 6 hours and looks awesome! I love fabricating parts. Almost done.
Its done. Had fun building this little thing and can’t wait for the next one. Gonna be doing a couple for some shapers in the next couple weeks. Changed the shoe base a little today and grounded down the housings for more clearance as Pavlick did on his. Great idea.
For me the twisting isnt all that abnormal. I dont have any experience with modded planers really. I have seen a few and whatnot but only ever used a stock Harbor Freight single blade for skimming the board down. This is in another league compared to that. The turning radius is so much better than the stock Hitachi and all the other mods are great! I really just did the mod out of boredom and to see if I could do it. Its obviously going to get used a lot but I mainly did it because its cold here right now and it was a good indoor project for me. I will be looking into a better option for the “On The Fly” adjustment when I get bored. Luckily, my local hardware store is around the corner and they will let me sit on the ground like a maniac and fool around with stuff to see if it works. I took Pavlicks advice and just went with the one he reccomended, which was perfect for me at the time because I found an open one that the store just gave me!
Always thought that makita model would make a killer shaping planer. You should post details of it’s mods for the enlightenment of others as I reckon it’s a better bit of kit than the bosch.
Yes agreed. I was on the lookout for a new planer to modify. Two things jumped out at me with this one. 160degreees turn it goes from 0-4mm. Deeper than the Skil which goes about 3mm. So could just about leave that stock after taking out the ballbearing clicker. The other great thing is the handle is totally removable from the body with a few screws. Meaning either the handle could be easily modified (what I ended up doing) or a new one could be fabricated. When I get a chance I’ll tak the handle apart and share how I did it. But basically it’s just like every other handle mod. Bit of cutting and JB weld. I made an extension part and reinforced the glue join. I’ll get images.
so the handle was cut just below the screw. So basically the power cable hole was cut out. JB weld and some re-enforcement did the trick. The extra bracket above the vacuum port was made out of 3 layers of 12mm ply. The centre on with a recess for the lug on the planer. (Which the big bolt goes through) and snatching lug of its own in top to attach into the handle. Hope it makes sense.
