Just bought an old Rockwell - the 653 model - and it’s sweet as can be. Full passes over the entire blank and no plane marks to be found. Didn’t notice nearly as much pulling of the foam as the green machine either. Goes over 3/4" cedar at 1/8" depth like butter. This planer was sitting in a pawn shop for years and needs some love. I haven’t performed any general maintenance yet, just went to town with it, so any tips would be appreciated. Also, I might want to modify it up to a 1/4" depth. Pros…cons?
They are nice, ain’t they.
Some things about the 653 - the spiral cutters are getting increasingly rare, so stockpiling some would be a move, especially the steel ones which I think can be sharpened more than the carbide, which is really just a thin carbide bar silver soldered to the steel.
Finding somebody who can sharpen those spiral cutters properly isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Though a lot of tool sharpening outfits will claim they can. I paid extra for the 653 I have, 'cos it came with a jig for sharpening the cutters, though I’ve got to get some instructions…
You can get a manual from Porter Cable http://www.porter-cable.com/, via their website, which includes an exploded diagram, with part numbers. Have a look at the drive belt, it could be a little tired after all those years sitting there, though my new-old-stock Rockwell 653 is fine. . A little grease, not oil, here and there, makes life a whole lot better and smoother, mebbe something like Lubriplate.
additional - love this new edit feature - while the depth of cut the 653 will do is listed as 1/8". lets just say it’s a very generous 1/8" - while you can play with the overall adjustments ( the angled ways like on a jointer which you’d normally use for zeroing the machine with a new cutter) or mebbe modify the adjuster cam/lever ( part #131 ) , I’d leave it alone.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
Thanks for the guidance Doc! Nice is an understatement! They’re down right addictive. So far I’ve used it to skin blanks to thickness and to work the bottom of the board. I haven’t had the courage to attempt rail bands with it yet – maybe that’s not such a good idea (?) Are there other smaller Rockwell models, such as 126, that are also useful for surfboard shaping, namely the tighter areas? As far as modifying the 653 goes, 1/4" passes on those 11’3s would be nice, but I’ll probably take your advice and leave it as is. There’s a shop near me that sharpens spiral blades, but I’d prefer not to roll the dice, so if you know a qualified sharpener, I’d consider sending the blades to them.[/url]
Well, a buddy of mine had his blades/cutters/whateveryawannacallem sharpened at a machine shop they had in the shipyard he worked at. They do spiral cutters for things like milling machines and so on in most machine shops. By the way, he’s got a 653 on eBay now, for anybody who’s looking for one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3804293886&category=11810
If your local sharpening guy can do 'em and does industrial work with a jig and all set up for spiral cutters, then you’ll probably be fine. If he’s gonna try it freehand or something using a setup for straight planer knives, look further afield.
Now, while the Rockwell/Porter-Cable 126 is more of a door plane for narrow surfaces - the motor hangs down past the cutters on one side - they did make a very cute little ‘power block plane’, the model 167 ( not to be confused with the junk plastic #367 that was the beginning of the end for good Porter Cable planers…whjat, me, opinionated? ) , and an abrasive planer variation on it that I suspect could be converted back to a planer. All aluminum, usually polished finish though some of the last ones may have been that gray paint finish, one-handed tool with a kind of ‘horn’ that fits over the back of your hand between thumb and fingers. Lightweight, not a whole lot of zip in the motor, but awfully handy. I don’t recall if it was direct gear drive or if there was a belt in there someplace. As they were fairly inexpensive, you see a lot of 'em in yard sales, homeowners bought them with the idea that they’d do the job of a full sized power plane. Sears/Craftsman had one that was either very similar or a Sears sticker on a Rockwell/Porter Cable 167. Sorry, but I can’t find a picture of one online and any sketch I’d do would be woefully inaccurate.
Now, I haven’t used one in recent memory, so this is all kinda speculation and fuzzy recollections on my part, but…
It might work quite well for small, narrow areas or rails, as it was quite short overall, kinda narrow, but at the same time you’d have some issues with it tipping and kinda biting in where you didn’t want it to. The tool itself isn’t as easily controllable as the two-handed 653, though again I never got much time in on one so there may well be tricks to using it like using a little nonskid tape or something that I am completely unaware of or just a ‘feel’ for the tool you develop with experience. As they were kinda low-powered for use on hardwoods if you were using one with any real depth set in, they were not real popular so if you find one it may not have much use on it and it’d prolly cut foam just fine.
Oh, and as I see they now want five bucks for a photocopy of the 653 manual, I can scan mine if you like.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Is this the same “doc” who replied to my question/idea for a deck mounted (flexible) coupling method? I would love to discuss what I am doing. If it is you, you directed me, with some great diagrams, to look at testing the flex issue/problem - my next question is: What if I wanted to use the flex by “cutting” the board up @ 16-22" from the tail, and incorporating the flex into the function of the board?
Doc, this is GREATLY useful! I was lucky to get the original metal box with the manual included. I also need to adjust or lube the depth knob. It’s pretty sticky. Thanks again - I wanted to run these things by the forum before I did anything major.
Ah yes… you may find that the grease in the depth adjustment has gotten kinda petrified, what with dust getting in there and age and all… taking it off and cleaning it and replacing the grease will definitely improve things. I dunno what grease, exactly, to use, though something like the light Lubriplate stuff they sell for use in car window mechanisms would prolly be fine, plus a little here and there where the front shoe plate ( working from the parts diagram) meets up with the motor housing assembly. I like mine a little sticky, as I’m attacking oak with it most of the time.
If you wanna see something really cute ( having dug the planer and its box and goodies out) ; the #5039 blade grinding attachment for the 653, which attaches to the base of the planer and uses the planer motor and shaft to drive a small, slightly bevelled grinding wheel that sharpens the spiral steel cutter. Wuite a little gadget, adjustment in it so you can use up about 3/8" of the cutter diameter before it’s out of zing. They seem to have made a straight cutter for the 653 at one time, but that’s not listed. The steel spiral cutter is part #43288, the little grinding wheel for the cutter sharpener is #843290, and if you find more than one you’re more than welcome to snag all you can find for ol’ Uncle Doc. You could maybe call or write Porter Cable and ask if they have any of the #5039 sharpener setups in a dusty warehouse someplace…you never know.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Hi Taylor
That’s probably me, though in all honesty I can’t remember the details of it all, would you mind refreshing my memory so that not only me, but everybody else here can take a shot at the problem?
Thanks
doc…
There is a set of blades for sale on Ebay right now.3 days left on the Auction.They fit 1003 and 1503 Rockwell??You may want to check it out.Just go to ebay and type the item number 2387660345 in the search window.There is also a Clark Hitachi up for grabs.Just look under “planers”.Don’t know if this helps or not.
Cleanlines,
I really dig those old Stanley block planes, many of which are found on ebay. Old tools rule. I think that Rockwell sharpening attachment that Doc was talking about was up there a while back as well.
I may well be wrong, but I think those blades on ebay are for the model 167 plane I mentioned…the threaded shank on 'em looks like it’d fit the thing, or perhaps they’re conversion blades for the abrasive planer variant on the 167…
In any event, I think I’m gonna have to buy my goombah Steve the Tool Repair Guy a sixpack of the good stuff and see if he can finagle me some more steel cutters for the 653, now that I steamed apart the pages for the sharpening attachment manual that was down at the bottom of the box after all - duh. I’d suspect that with a diamond point and the appropriate grinding wheels and bushings if need be I can put together what I need to copy the factory sharpening wheel when the time comes.
While I’m thinking of it, a couple of rather nifty links:
http://www.metalworking.com/ and http://www.metalwebnews.com/
warning - this stuff is awfully addictive…
best regards
doc…
Yep…Ebay is fun.I have a planer that I’m converting (The New Bosch) and am looking for feedback.Seeing that I am a complete (totally) computer idiot I don’t know how to put up a picture.I sent some pics to Paul Jensen so maybe he can stick them up if he is around.I just bought a Skil 100 on Ebay this morning for $325 on a “buy now” deal.The West Coast guys were snoozing ,it was only up for an hour or so.LOL
Whoa- a skil 100 for $325? GOOD score, man. I can hear the whining and gnashing of teeth from certain quarters now. Heh heh…
May have to resurrect my old 100, one of these days… also to the whining and gnashing, etc.
For what it’s worth, you might try the attachment thingie at the bottom of the ‘advanced editor’ window…lets see if I can get it to work… that will hook on something direct from your computer and upload it without your having to upload something via ftp and such.
hope that’s of use, and for that matter hope this works…
Ah, Now I get it…you also have to click on the little picture box at the top of the advanced editor window, then specify ‘inline image’ and which one.
doc…
OK here goes.No laughing.
I tried to put up a picture but it said the file was to big or something about Kilobytes.Oh well.Damn am I spamming?We got new rules around here.
Ah…might be it’s the size it was when it came out of the digital camera or scanner? Those can be huge images, on the order of 200KB. The ~30KB image of my furry friend seemed to work out ok.
You might try using Paint to shrink it, size wise, or one of the freebies like Irfanview ( http://www.irfanview.com/ which is a very nice little item for fiddling with graphics, all Windows formats) or XNView ( http://www.xnview.com/ , likewise plus Linux and some other operating systems) .
Hope that’s of some help
doc…
OK I got a 3 cutters for the rockwell 653 two of them seem to be a lot smaller then the other one. Was there a differance between the old Rockwell and the newer Porter Cable?
Well, no, those were the same, just the company changed names, Porter-Cable was bought by ( and rebranded) Rockwell, then it spun off again and by now the corporate finagling has really gotten strange.
In any event, the smaller cutters may have been for a different model Porter Cable planer, like the 126 or the 167. If you look carefully at 'em, you'll probably see some small numbers stamped in there someplace. #43288 is the steel cutter for the 653 while 873096 is the one for the 126 'porta plane' , which won't work, and the 167 power block plane or whatever it was used yet another one.
Now, if you sharpened the right spiral steel cutters a whole lot, you'd knock down the diameter quite a lot. They'd still be usable, you'd just need to adjust the front and back shoes to make the blade edge flush with the bottom of the shoes when the thing was set to 'zero'.
hope that's of use
doc...