Drill Press Planer

MHO is this drill press planer is for light duty. I am talking about the “drill press” not the planer, in this contex.
The drill press’s bearings are designed for axial force (load). Putting extra “side force” (load) ie when we push the work-piece to feed (wether using DP drum/spindle sanding or DP planer) may cause quill wear out.

I think if we maintain slow and light force feeding, the possible quill damage is minimal.

What others think?

-- Regards, Woodworm

This seems like a tool that would be a bit dangerious. I can see me feeding the material too fast and a lot of kick pack. And I can’t see it giving you a good finish. But $600.00 verse $30.00 It may be worth a try.
Thanks for the review.

-- Dominic, Trinity, Florida...Lets be safe out there.

I hace had one for 15 years. Works good for it was planned for. Not A PLANNER BUT FOR SMALL jobs.

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

Very good review. I have been looking at planners for a while now and still don’t want to spend the money for one. I recent bought a 4” joiner at an auction for $10.00. It works for surfacing small projects, but I can see where this drillpress planner could be useful.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

I’m glad that you bought the good rotary surface planer! Yours is designed much better with cutters that have a totally different design. Years ago I bought the rotary planer that Sears used to market. The old Craftsman model that I tried on my radial saw is the absolutely most dangerous tool that I ever used! Your new planer has a step/ridge around the edge that prevents the cutting edges of the cutters from projecting to far & only allows the cutters to take out a small amount. The old Craftsman model doesn’t have this step & the cutters can take a HUGE BITE that causes a severe kick-back problem. I have a scar on the heel of my hand as proof. Never buy an old Sears Craftsman model. I actually deliberately ruined mine with a hammer so it couldn’t be used again.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri

The bearing issue mainly depends on the Drill Press you’re using. My drill press talks about using it for routing in the manual. Uses a Deep Groove Bearing which takes axial forces in stride.

my (wicked cheap) drill press probably couldn’t handle this, but I bet it would work pretty well on the shopsmith – certainly cheaper, easier and/or faster than (finally breaking down and building) a router sled.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I also only use mine only in my shopsmioth

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

Like others have mentioned, it’s for small stuff only but that’s where it really shines anyway. Stuff that’s just too small tends to get shredded in a standard planer even riding on carriage boards. It CAN kick some if the work is fed from the wrong direction but after you get the feel for it, it’s pretty easy to control. You can find a number of Inet posts from luthiers using it for thicknessing small instrument parts. I’ve used it to thickness 1/16” inlay stock prior to getting a drum sander and it worked well.

-- Use the fence Luke

WHEN BUILDING OUR NEW HOUSE. I ONLY HAD THE RADIAL SAW, ROUTER, JIGSAW AND ASSORTED HAND TOOLS. PURCHASED THIS FOR MY RADIAL SAW. STUCK ON A 1/2” CHUCK WITH A SPEED CONTROL. IT WORKED GREAT FOR ME. YOU MUST MAKE A SAFETY COVER OR FENCE. AS I DID. DURING THIS TIME. I MADE NORM’S BLANKET CHEST AND A MATCHING MIRROR.

-- kraig stewart