Do-it-yourself electric planer repair

For many, woodworking is a great pleasure. It's nice to make a table for the veranda with your own hands, assemble a garden bench or change a leaky board. Only the joys of creativity are darkened by the routine physical work that electric planers are called upon to fight. Everyone, even a beginner, can work as a manual electric plane.

The plane is the oldest tool for woodworking after the ax. Any professional treats him with special respect. Painstaking work of designers and electricity made the plane even more perfect and efficient. Thus, modern electric planers outwardly resemble their mechanical counterparts, however, new designs are several times superior in productivity to manual labor.

The electric planer is intended for processing wood, reducing the thickness of wood products, preliminary planing, fitting, processing boards on the bed, beveling the edges and creating an extended groove of various shapes (chamfers, quarters, tongue) in products. All this is called one term - planing. This tool is not suitable for large areas, but with small volumes it makes it easier for the frequent repairman or the professional when handling wood.

The main function of a planer is to level a wooden surface that has been roughly finished beforehand. After leveling the product with a plane, all irregularities and defects disappear from the surface, and it becomes extremely smooth. Finishing wood is usually done with a grinding plane. You can also chamfer or groove a workpiece with an electric planer.

The construction of an electric plane is quite simple. Let's take a closer look at the electric planer circuit and its constituent elements.

In the body of the electric planer, on the base plate, there is the main working element - a rotating drum on which the knives are attached. As a rule, in the "knife drum" there are two, less often three or one, knives, which are engaged in cutting the upper surface of the planed wood. The knife shaft is much more technologically advanced than a conventional cutter, and the power of the tool allows you to work without any additional effort.

Knives are made from tungsten, hardened steel or carbide. By the number of knives that are fixed on the drum, electric planers are "two-footed" and "one-footed". The first type of tool works only with accurate alignment, otherwise only one knife will work, the second is simple and productive. Electroplanes with a knife, which is fixed obliquely on the drum, are capable of making a specific "spiral" cut for high-quality planing of the board.

Knives wear out over time. There are reusable knives that need to be sharpened, or disposable knives that need to be replaced. The frequency of these procedures is largely determined by the operational loads: the type of wooden surface and the time of their processing.
To remove the knife, slightly loosen the bolts that press the knife holders. They can be easily removed from the grooves of the drum. After sharpening, the knives are put in place, aligning in height with each other, as in the video about the electric plane.

Due to the presence of a centering groove, straight knives made of carbide are easily mounted in their place in holders, which are inserted in turn into the grooves of the drum. Sharpened steel knives require more careful leveling in height.

The sole of the electric planer is made of die-cast aluminum and is divided into 2 parts relative to the drum - front and back. The rear is fixed to a fixed position, and the height of the front, which is able to move on wood that has not yet been worked, can be set using a knob or button. The depth of planing, or in other words, the thickness of the chips, depends primarily on the position of the front part.

The sole influences the stability of the electric plane. In any case, this element should not interfere with work and be smooth. The soles, which are produced by some manufacturers, have several V-shaped grooves in their surface, which are necessary for chamfering from the corners of the workpiece.

The rotating drum is connected to an electric motor using a drive belt, which is responsible for transmitting rotational motion. The drive belt needs to be changed from time to time. But this activity is not at all troublesome, because belts are sold in all tool stores. You can dismantle the old belt yourself. To facilitate this operation, the manufacturers made the protective cover removable.

The electric motor has a power of 580 - 900 W, its rotation speed reaches 1000 rpm. The quality of the treated surface largely depends on the power of the engine. The electric planer device contains a switch with a lock and a cord with a plug, as well as various electronic components: changing or stabilizing speed, soft start, drum balancing, overload protection and even an electronic brake.

To move along the working surface of the electric planer, two handles are used. The rear of them allows you to push the tool, it houses a start / stop trigger with a double safety system. With the help of the front additional handle, only the movement of the electric plane is directed, the same handle allows you to work "in full swing". If you press down well on the front handle, a large layer of wood can be removed at the end of the material to be cut.

Since the adjustment knob is sometimes used as a second knob, it is often made with internal notches for the possibility of raising it when switching, otherwise it is possible to knock down an unintentionally set chip thickness during operation. A handle without such notches is capable of adjusting this parameter on the fly, but this does not allow you to get rid of unwanted switching.

Switching steps are usually 0.1 millimeters, but each electric planer is different. The cutting depth can be set by turning the knob. In this case, the front part of the sole drops or rises, opening the drum with knives less or more.

Two types of safety devices protect the work surface and fingers from below and to the side from contact with the knives. At the bottom of the sole there is a leg, as in the photo of an electric planer, which is automatically thrown out, slightly raising the back of the sole. The movable safety leg will fold back when the electric planer is not working and the workpiece will be protected from contact with the knives. The planer can also be laid on its side with the drive belt cover facing down.

A side protection plate on the spring covers the edge of the knife drum and rises as far as the plane will go deeper into the wood when the quarter is selected. The side edge of the knife drum, which allows the selection of a quarter, is hidden under the pivoting plate.

The direct chip ejection procedure relieves the electric plane from clogging and occurs in three ways. In the first case, no technical excesses are required, the chips will scatter throughout the room, but the working surface will not be clogged.

The possibility of the directionality of the ejection socket in some models makes it easier to remove chips, this is the second option for ejection of chips. The bag holds a large volume of chips, although it is not too bulky.If you need a bag, you should inquire whether there is one in the set and whether it is possible to purchase it in addition.

A good solution to the problem is to connect it with a corrugated hose to the vacuum cleaner, but it will not completely rid you of debris. Depending on the location of the operating electric planer, it is convenient to direct the chip ejection in a certain direction.

To do this, just switch the key to the desired position. The method is simple, however, it is inconvenient in some cases, because the hose and cord limit the flexibility of the structure.

There are many different accessories for the tool, regardless of the price of the electric planer. For example, corrugated knives made of hardened steel, of different dimensions, which are used for roughing, as well as equipment that allows you to set a planer stationary and turn it into a planer and an automatic jointer at the same time.

The side stop, together with the depth gauge, is able to precisely set the width and thickness of the removed chips. In order to cut the angle, it is customary to tilt some of the stops from 0 to 45 degrees. When cutting a thin edge, the side fence will help give the plane the balance it needs. The above described accessories of all possible must be included in the kit.

The power of the electric planer is 0.4 - 2 kW. For home use and do-it-yourself repairs, an electric plane is suitable, which has a power of 500 - 900 watts. For simple and short-term work, a household-class electric plane or a home-made low-power electric plane is suitable. And for real masters, you only need a professional powerful tool.

The rotational speed of the cutter is able to influence the cleanliness of the surface treatment and is 10 - 18 thousand revolutions per minute. In some models, the rotation speed can be changed. It is also able to be maintained at a constant level by electronics, which is very convenient when working with hardwoods.

The planing width is 82 millimeters and more. This figure matters when you spend most of your time working on boards. For many firms, the planing width of wood usually does not exceed 82 mm, but there are companies on the market, for example, Interskol, which have increased the planing width to about 102 millimeters.

You can set the planing depth within the range of 0 - 4 millimeters. It can be smooth and step-by-step. The cutting depth of the edge ranges from 0 to 25 millimeters, respectively.

The electric planer that you will make is designed to process wood in one pass, which has a width of up to 120 millimeters and a processing depth of up to 1.2 millimeters. The work piece will rest on a plate with a cutterblock hole. The guide square is attached to the base plate with 2 M8 screws, which have plastic heads, it prevents lateral displacement of the product during processing.

Attached to the base plate from below with M6 screws, which have countersunk heads, bearings of the rotary knife shaft bearings. Outside the base plate at the end of the knife shaft, it is customary to install a V-belt pulley. The plate is attached with 10 screws to the body of an electric planer, which is welded from a steel corner measuring 20 by 20 by 3 millimeters.

The safety casing is connected to the body with three M6 cylindrical head screws over the V-belt transmission through spring washers. The electric motor of the tool is located inside the housing and is connected to it by means of 2 supports in the form of steel strips. They have 2 holes with a diameter of approximately 6.5 millimeters, which are intended for attaching to the body of an electric plane with your own hands, as well as 2 grooves each, providing installation and adjustment of the position of the electric motor for tensioning the belt.

The electric motor of the apparatus is controlled from a remote control located on the front of the body.Under the U-shaped bracket inside the control panel there are 2 phase-shifting capacitors, which are fixed in parallel and have a capacity of 4 μF. The switch is mounted externally on the panel. The motor is protected from direct ingress of dust and chips by a casing.

Make the base plate first. The most time-consuming operation is considered to be the execution of a curly cut in the slab, which is intended for the exit of the knives. For this purpose, use an electric drill with a cut-off wheel of a small diameter or drill along the contour of the hole, and then file the slot with a file. After drilling the mounting holes in the base plate, threaded holes are made along them in the 4 upper corners of the electric planer body.

Before welding, the upper corners are attached to the base plate with 10 screws, the remaining corners of the body are welded to them. Then the base plate is removed, and the body is finally welded along the contour, cleaning the welded seams. It is especially carefully cleaned along the plane in which the body rests on the base plate. In this case, gaps are unacceptable, because they provoke vibration during the operation of the electric planer. Consider this before making a do-it-yourself electric plane.

After completing the assembly, make sure that the cutter shaft will rotate counterclockwise - in the direction of feed, as judged from the side of the console. This feature is of great importance, because the technique of fixing the V-belt pulley on the knife shaft does not allow it to move in the opposite direction. Fasten the planer body without gaps with 4 M6 screws before starting work.

The knife shaft for slotting is equipped with 2 knives, which are 120 millimeters wide, or one knife. In the latter case, a counterweight is installed on the opposite side of the shaft in order to eliminate unbalance and vibrations. Each knife is secured using pressure plates and 3 M8 screws, which are screwed into the threaded through holes of the rotating knife shaft.

For knives, the most accessible blanks are the worked-out blade of hacksaw saws for metal, which has a thickness of about 3 millimeters. The angle of sharpening of the cutting edge of the knives should be within 30 - 40 degrees. With curly sharpening, you can get a relief surface for artistic frames or platbands.

Narrow and thin profile strips, which have a width of less than 10 millimeters, can be prepared by ripping a wider board. When working with narrow knives (less than 12 millimeters), it is not recommended to process grooves that have a depth of 8 millimeters, due to the lack of strength of the tool.

Now you know how to make an electric plane, it remains to learn how to properly sharpen the knives for it. Let's talk about this in the next article.

Below we present the full text of the article published in the magazine "DEMAND" 2010/4.

A good planer should not only plan smoothly, but also accurately select the quarter and chamfer flawlessly. How the economy-class models cope with these tasks, we found out during the tests.

The main parameters by which the electric planers were selected for the test were the planing width (82 mm) and the engine power (from 570 to 750 W). The productivity of the tool largely depends on the power: the higher this indicator, the thicker the shavings the plane is able to remove in one pass.

Four samples of foreign production took part in the test (Hitachi P20SB, Skil 1560АА, Black & Decker KW 712, Bosch PHO 20-82) and two electric planers of Russian brands - Interskol R-82TS-01 and Baikal E-313... All of them are widely available for sale, and their price ranges from 1800 to 4000 rubles.

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Hitachi P20SB
2. Black & Decker KW 712
3. Bosch PHO 20-82
4. Interskol R-82TS-01
5. Skil 1560АА
6. Baikal E-313

The richest in terms of equipment turned out to be Interskol... This electric planer is supplied with horizontal and vertical stops for cutting a quarter, a wrench for changing knives, as well as a bag for collecting chips and a stand that allows you to turn the plane into a stationary mini-machine.To do this, the tool must be installed on the stand with the sole upward, and the stand itself must be screwed to the support (see photo at the beginning of the article). The kit also includes a special "flag": it covers the rotating blades, but does not interfere with the work (pictured on the right).

But at Skil and Black & decker There are no “accessories” other than the hex wrench for changing the blades. The rulers for choosing a quarter and a bag for collecting chips for these models are offered to be bought separately, but it turned out to be very difficult to find them on sale.

The feature set for all tested samples is approximately the same. This is primarily planing, folding and chamfering.

For four models, the planing depth is stated in the range from 0 to 2 mm. This dull monotony is diluted Hitachi (declared range 1 to 2 mm) and Baikal (maximum planing depth 3.5 mm). Indeed, Baikal confidently removes shavings of 3.5 mm, but the regulator of this electric planer has caused criticism. There is no correspondence between the actual planing depth and what is written on the graduated scale.

Have Hitachi the planing depth regulator does not have a limiter, therefore, despite the declared 1 mm, this plane is able to go deeper into the wood by 5 millimeters. However, when working with a wide board it is better not to do this so as not to overload the engine. But if we are talking, say, about processing the end of a thin board, this feature can be very useful. For example, when, when clapboarding, it is necessary to fit the edge board. Although in this case it is difficult to set the exact depth of planing - you have to determine it by eye.

Have Interskola the planing depth adjustment knob is difficult to turn. In addition, this plane has a slight backlash.

All dough models have a V-groove on the front adjustable sole for chamfering the edges and edges of parts. And at Bosch even three such grooves (pictured on the left). This allows chamfering of different depths and widths. If a very wide chamfer is required, set the maximum planing depth for the first pass and proceed as usual for the following passes.

Feature of models Skil and Bosch - a pivoting support heel located on the back of the sole (pictured on the right). It prevents the knives from contacting the work surface when the plane is stopped or turned off. And during work, the heel itself goes inward and does not interfere with planing. It also makes it possible to continue working after a break at any point on the surface.

Table 1... Technical characteristics of electric planers

Congratulations! Indeed, after you have worked yourself up to the seventh sweat with a hand tool, then having worked with electric iron you experience a great pleasure.

Who has a Skil 1525 - tell us how the device is.
And what is the difference between 1525NA and 1525Нb.

I want to return to the discussion of Skil 1560.
Dear owners, how is the device in operation?

what models can you still look at at the same price?

Skil 1560 - functions normally.
Eliminated the shortcomings (it was necessary to look at the purchase)
1-sanded soles
2- eliminated the skew (see above)
3- replaced the cord: it was 2 meters and hard
4- removed the emphasis on the back sole, it only interferes

made a side stop from a bar and a duralumin plate, now you can plan along the guide;
in the plan, also remake the switch - remake the lock into a latch and loosen the spring; make a smooth start

Alexilten wrote:
in the plan, also remake the switch - remake the lock into a latch and loosen the spring;