Who's the Clark Hitachi guru? Lets settle this.

Okay, been a while tinkering with a unmodified Hitachi power planer. I’ve been meticulously taking pictures of my step by step process to all the mods that Clark had managed to come up with IE: handle relocation, sealed bearings install, heavy duty power cord (relocating this as well), machined base plate and shoe etc, with the intention of being able to share how one could go about modifying the Hitachi planer themselves.

So the final mod I’m having a hell of a time with is the depth control. Unmodified depth control revolves around the threads in the front knob and a heavy spring. Both of the modified Clark planers I’ve inspected seem to have no spring at all, and the modified lever/knob does not seem to come apart when trying to unscrew it from the front shoe to be able to get a look at what Clark did to make this mod work.

I’ve read, searched archives. Its not a “worm gear”, or a “jack screw” as far as I can tell looking at part lists trying to find something that would work. (If I’m wrong, please elaborate the parts used and how they work).

And I doubt the threads have be altered since the Clark Hitachi Planer Manual, that can be found on the FoamEZ web page, lists the knob as being 1/2" - 13 Thread.

Would love to hear some solid feedback from someone who knows the ins and outs of the Clark/Hitachi planers!

Thanks,

Tyson

…sounds like you’re looking for… “the dude”…

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=292615;search_string=the%20dude;#292615

Cool, didn’t come across that thread. I went ahead and contacted the two emails listed. Hopefully I’ll get a response! :slight_smile:

Checked into this very same thing a while back. The gear (for lack of a better name) in the front shoe was made for Clark by a tool and dye company it is basically overgrown threads, male with a female sleeve that fits in the shoe sleeve. The rest of the parts such as the handle can be found at McMaster-Carr. I spoke with Jeff Holtby several months ago and he said that they were going to produce the Clark planer again but I have heard nothing since. I don’t think he will sell the parts or modify your existing planer. Hope this helps.

Well hopefully we can find out the specifics on that mod and do it ourselves. Because I’ve mapped out all the others and they all went nice. From the handle relocation, to the exhaust chute and found the slinky hose for CHEAP!

I can’t wait to put together the DIY guide with all my pics!

Really was hoping someone had THE answer to this. I have a clark model planer, but the knob has no give, its on there solid. Epoxy maybe? At any rate, if worse comes to worse I guess I could trash a perfectly good planer just to see the magic, then have a machine shop here in town make the pieces. That’s last resort though.

I’ll hope to hear back from those guys, or someone else for now.

The shaft and ball that goes into the main shaft is a pressed fit and I mean pressed ! I have gotten all of them out, but once done, the pin shaft will NOT stay in once replaced, it then needs a little epoxy to keep it from falling out.

The angle that it is in makes it IMPOSSIBLE to use a drift punch to remove it, so gripping the pin shaft with vice grips and twisting it is the only way I have found to remove it, if it has die stamped burr on it, that makes it unusable again without a way to keep it in place.

Also there is a snap ring under the grip knob and without spring clip tool for removal, this is the next obstacle, one removed, the barrell pulls out from the bottom, I do this periodically to remove the foam dust that has collected inside and get it back up to performance speed.

I am sure that you can find a Clark Hitachi that has been cooked, trash everything but the front adjustment guts, it will go right into a stock Hitachi, or better a Chinese knock off of the Hitcahi by Chicago Electric, available at Harbor Freight for $39.00

I ended up breaking the knob off my Clark, and had to grind off the lever handle and it all came apart for me. Yeah, some sort of gear, almost like a huge drill bit, but out of a light alloy. It rotates 180 degree and .5" up/down.

Was discouraged, thought it would be a little more simple than that. Luckily I have a few friends that are machinists. I’ll be taking the foot off each planer in to them and ask them to see if they can recreate something similar and server the same purpose. I don’t think it will be too difficult.

After all this i see why there is epoxy filled hole on the bottom of that shoe though, its to fill the drilled out thread post on the stock shoe. Hahaha

To be continued I hope…

you and your machinist friends should consider going in to business.

are there any viable options for an off-the-shelf planer ideally suited for surfboard shaping?

I think I saw a Clark Hitachi selling for $500 recently…used…can you do better?

Well, if I can collaborate with my machinist friends and make the depth adjustment piece with no problems, I would consider selling “KITS” for the DIY type of people. Other than that, would consider refurbishing peoples stock Hitachi’s. I never really thought about doing this for profit. This all started because I was trying to save money by converting my own Hitachi. Then I came across a Clark Planer for next to nothing and having that on hand fueled all this even more.

From what I’ve gathered as far as an “off the shelf” surfboard planer the Bosch 6.5 amp is hands down the best. Plenty of power, easy adjustment and very easy to hook up to a shop vac. What more could a person want?

And yes, Clark 03 Hitachi’s fetch quite the price… which is ridiculous.

I’ve never tried using a Festool planer… they might be the answer, but very spendy

Original Sin,

Do you have any picture of the shoe from the Clark Mod Hitachi planer front shoe when you had it apart? I do not have access to a Clark’s planer one an would like to attemp to do a home mod myself.

-Preempt

OK…here it is…the final word

Here are three shots of the mechanism in the front shoe of the Clark mod Hitachi planer.

Here it is in the fully open position.

Another angle.

And fully closed.

The mechanism goes from fully open to fully closed in one quarter turn.

Originalsin and I have been trying to figure out a non-machined way to accomplish this…but nuthin.

I hope he and his friend figure out the mod kit he was talking about because I will use it on my other Hitachi’s.

And there you have it.

Maybe a monster drill bit with the sharp edges ground down would act as a screw? You could try it out on a small drill bit using a dremel to grind things down. There are drill bits that will then drill the necessary holes in the monster bit or the hardened steel could be softened by annealing at red hot. The bit can be sawn using a grit blade.

That’s probably a pretty standard worm gear, turning inside a cylinder against a fixed pin. Kinda like this below.

Lots of info on those at http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Drive/Worm_Gears.html

If you can get it out, you can get the diameter and pitch of the thing. Or, take a cylinder of aluminum with a fairly snugly fitting shaft inside it and then…

You’d cut your helical slot in either the cylinder or the shaft. For a home-made version, cutting the slot in the cylinder would probably be easier. Mebbe thread the top of said cylinder for a cap of sorts.

I’d suspect that once Clark got the idea to use a worm gear they then made lots of the cylinders ( simple casting) , with base and pin, then futzed with gear profiles until they got one that worked nicely rather than the opposite approach, then ordered a wad of gears from somebody like Boston Gear. .

Hope that’s of use

doc…

Or for $278.00 you can just go buy one? I look at planner mods the same way as people who make there own surf wax…why?

The reason the Clark planers are so expensive is because of the cost of the modifications…the re-engineering, the casting of the parts, etc. Then they probably sell less than 1000 per year, probably more like 100. I’d bet there just starting to amortize the cost of those planers.

Like you said all the changes are easy except for the depth control…ahahhhhh the depth control, the whole reason for the planer in the first place. Make and sell those kits to us DIY surfboards guys, and maybe you can amortize your investment in a few years…Remember if you sell them for more than $5.00 us DIY guys won’t buy them. Remember we make our own surfboards…Nobody in the world cheaper than surfers.

I’m fisty today because this has to be the “WORST WINTER SURF IN SO. CAL HISTORY” can anybody tell me of a worse winter? hummmm, can you, well?? We have gone for 38 days of below chest high surf. I now understand what the East Coast guys go through.

Shoot me.

Resinhead has a great point, but I’ll say this…

I had my head way to deep in this and as far as the depth control, I was able to get my machinist friend to carve out a gear with heavy duty nylon that is very similar

to the Clark Planer version. It was all just such a hassle, I dropped trying to figure out an easier DIY version.

However, SynergyTodd has been running with the torch, and thanks for that. I’m sure somebody at some point will find a simple solution.

Thanks guys

Hey resinhead.

I think the lack of seals to bash and an extended period of poor surf has finally sent you over the edge!

              (notice I put "seal bashing" first LOL) 

The Clark mod Hitachi’s are 400 bucks just about everywhere. Maybe you can get a used one for $278 if you can find one.

Personally, I don’t have that kind of cash.

The mods other than the depth adjustment do serve a purpose and are quite useful.

The are cheap and relatively easy(well…not so much with the bearings)

Not to mention the fact that they can be pretty fun.

Eventually, one of us will find a solution to the DIY depth adjustment problem.

Unless everybody just stops looking.

Quite frankly, if I was gonna spend 4 bones on a planer, I might as well kick in an extra couple hundred and snipe a Skil 100 off of ebay.

I spent $60 on one of my Hitachi’s, $25 on the other. Tack on $30 in materials for the mods.(I already had the exhaust from FoamEZ) That comes to a grand to a grand total of $115 for two moded planers.

That sounds a lot better to me than $400

Relax bro…breath deep…we are supposed to get swell tomorrow…and maybe a seal or two will surface

You’re gonna be OK. LOL

Coming out of lurkerville to say that it’s probably a multi start acme screw thread form (from rod stock such as McMaster.com pn99030A30). The effective pitch is 2 turns per inch.

You can also get various nuts from McMaster to go with this and press them into the assembly. At least that is what I am going to do to my cheap HF planer if I get around to it.

If you got the HF planer that is a Hitachi knock off then you are STOKED!

You can do all the same mods and have a decent surfboard planer for a fraction of the price.

Of course the motor isn’t near as good…but at $30 WHO CARES! LOL

Good call on the part#. I will certainly be checking that one out.

Mahalo

I’m the Clark converted Hitman “King” !

No one even comes close.

Got two modified hits that will go down in Hx.

Herb