Hey everyone, I have a Porter-Cable PC60THP planer that I have been using to shape my boards without any modifications. I can shape fine with it the way that it is, but am wondering if anyone else uses these and has modified them at all? I would just like to take the clicker out of the depth adjustment for a smooth transition up to 1/8" if it is even possible. I’ve looked around online a but but haven’t come up with anything useful as of yet. Anyone done this with this model? Any tips or instructions would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!
Thad
I have this planer I use for carpentry. It needed a lot of dialing in as the back foot was not in the same plane as the front foot at 0 depth.
And once dialed in at zero depth, the front shoe does not rise in parallel to the back foot but at a slight angle. Bust out your straight edge and have a look see if yours is similar. Mine is easily 1/64th off at full depth.
You can pop off the +/- smiley face on the depth dial to remove it and take out the spring and ball bearing which clicks into the detents, but this planer is pretty liited in ability regarding foam or wood, in my opinion. Mine is OKay taking shallow passes. but the deeper I set it, the more the front foot is not in the same plane as the blades and back foot. which creates more work when trying to make something flat.
Blade replacements/ flips require one adjust the blade depth each time to be the same level as the back foot. It is not just a matter of pulling out a blade and flipping it upside down reinstalling it and all is well.
I’d have very little confidence using this planer on Foam
Frankly, I am not impressed with the planer, but make it work for my purposes, which is wood, and it has paid for itself in this regard…
I’ll have to check and see if my front shoe stays parallel with the back foot. Thanks for the tip. I have shaped 4 or 5 boards since I got the planer and typically open it all the way up when I’m running it. So far I haven’t had any issues with it that I have noticed–everything seems to cut fine and symmetrical; however, I do rely alot on my foam sanding block to tune everything in once I am done running the planer–I can’t really adjust my depth on-the-fly since I haven’t modified the ratchet in the depth adjustment. Thanks again for the feedback wrcsixeight! I’ll see what I can do to make it work for the time being–until I can scrounge up some cash for a Skil 100 or something nice. Keep em’ coming!