woodshop
Addicted to ArboristSite
OK......I'm like a goose, I wake up in a new world every day started looking a used, heaver planer's. Kind of eying an, 15" Makita Planer Model 2040 Gary
Roger that. Lunchbox planers have universal motors, and a universal just ain't meant to run balls out all day long. They're not production machines. Stay within their limits and they do a real fine job.
Exactly... if you're going to be planing lots of wood, you just can't ask a boy to do a man's job. Those lunchbox planers are great... I've owned several different models over the years, but they are just not built for serous heavy duty planing for hours at a time. You'll burn up a motor, shred a belt or beat out a bearing. I can tell you from experience many don't have the power to pull a large heavy roughsawn board through them for the first couple passes. Once you get one semi-smooth side on the board then things go a little better. As woodie says, make sure you stay within their limits. btw... whey won't always tell you those limits, they want to sell you a $3-400 planer.