This old planer

I have an old (1940s) Sears (Belsaw) 12” planer. It works and I’ve been using it regularly, but there are a few areas that could use some improvement. I’m looking for some advice for restoring/modifying to make it work a little better. Here’s a list of the items I want to address.

1. Change wide flat belt and pulleys over to a v-belt (or multiple v-belts).

2. Change pulley size on feed rollers to alter the rate of feed.

3. Add a dust collection shroud.

4. Add in-feed and out-feed tables.

5. Fix the bed roller (one is out of round).

6. Make it look nice.

The big wide belt slips sometimes and I would think that v-belts would probably hold better. I’m also wondering if the size of the pulleys should be altered to change the cutter head speed. It seems to spin a little on the slow side, but maybe that’s intentional.

The whole planer feeds and cuts a little on the slow side, but I would like to be able to change the feed rate so I could have a smoother finish cut. I’m wondering if I might be able to set it up with two sets of pulleys to make it a two-speed planer.

I found a ventilation duct that fits the cover pretty well. With a little extra sheet metal I think I can make a pretty good dust collection shroud for it.

The planer bed has some tapped holes for mounting in-feed and out-feed tables, but I don’t have the tables. I’ve seen pics of two other planers of this model that have them, but I think I’ll have to modify something else to fit. Any ideas?

The out-feed side bed roller is slightly out of round. I found that out when I was setting up the planer and trying to set the rollers dead even with the rest of the bed and it was always too high or too low. It’s not much, but if there’s an easy way, I’d like to fix it.

Finally, if I go to the trouble of fixing this thing up all nice, I think it would look great with a new paint job (and maybe a new stand).

Some might say that if it works, don’t mess with it, but I think it stands a chance of working better. If that can be accomplished with a little effort and a little money, I’d be happy.

Anyone who has done some machine restoration, please chime in with advise, tips or horror stories. I’ve never attempted a machine restoration before, but it doesn’t seem like it’s beyond my capabilities either. With an old machine like this, however, I’m sure it may be difficult to find parts. Any insight as to where to look for the items I’m interested would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some pics of what I’m working with…