Dodd 6" Planer?

[theartfulbodger]

One of these has become available locally for 50 quid.. I'm off to have a look!

What should I be looking for in particular?

I know "it depends" but is that a haggle price or a bite his hand off price?


Same chap has a Startrite Morticer for sale for circa £200 apparently it's big and cost around the £1800 mark, and a router table of unknow make.

PM if you're interested and I'll pass on his details

 

[marcros]

it is probably around scrap value.

i would plane up a piece of wood, see whether it sounds ok, and look at the results. If it works, it is probably nothing that cant be fixed by setting it up properly.

 

[theartfulbodger]

Thanks, Marcros

The scrap value is £50 because of the sheer weight of cast iron :wink: or the planer itself is only worth hat it would weigh in for? :?

 

[marcros]

I was going on the fact that it will be heavy. My point is that if you bought it and it was so rubbish it wasn't worth fixing, you wouldn't lose anything much on weighing it in.

Dodd stuff comes up for sale once in a while. It never makes a fortune and seems to be regarded as lower down the range of old kit. That said, it is cast iron and will probably function as you need it. It is a 6" standalone planer, of which there aren't that many floating around. A new one would set you back probably £700 quid for the axi one or jet equivalent.

I would go for it if I were you.

 

[theartfulbodger]

Thanks for the wise words!

 

[PhilM]

Bodger

I have a Dodd planer/thicknesser, bought new, as it happens, 18 years ago.

PM me if you need any info.

Regards, Phil

 

[theartfulbodger]

Thanks, PhilM

If I buy it I may well need some help fettling it, in the meantime any top tips as to what to look out for when I go to have a look?

 

[PhilM]

Bodger

Assuming the machine is in working order, as Marcros said, plane a bit of wood with it. Take a shallow cut, the motor shouldn't slow down, the blades may be shot but you should get an acceptable result.
Also: it should have a fence, a blade guard, & ideally dust extraction.
The infeed table, & the outfeed table if it's not fixed, should move up & down.
You should be able to level the tables with each other.
If it's a planer/thicknesser, the thicknessing table should move up & down.

Regards, Phil

 

[theartfulbodger]

All bought and currently sat in the middle of my shop - I feel another rearranging mission coming on..

I've squared up the fence and done a few test cuts and it seems powerful and produces smooth wood with sharp corners and a huge amount of shavings.
It has a chute through which most of the dust falls, I'm planning on fixing a dust hood over this hole - probably by drilling and bolting, in order to connect it to my extractor.

The cast parts of the machine are very solid and it seems well made. Today I'm going to take the panels off it and clean out whatever gubbins I find inside.

Both tables move up and down smoothly, I'm learning to take very small cuts.

I have a pile of wood leftover from an old shed, so no shortage of test subjects while I get the hang of planing.

Any advice on how to acheive better results? I seem to be unable to avoid snipe and tapering.. The rough sawn plank I'm testing on started at 21mm thick and is now 14mm at one end and 13mm at the other.
As ever, people who know what they are doing make it look easy, I've watched a few youtube videos but would appreciate more advice, particularly regarding the height of the infeed and outfeed tables.

 

[marcros]

snipe is likely blade setup. taper could be a couple of things- are you testing from a board at constant thickness, or planing from both sides? It may also be uneven pressure on the piece throughout the cut, pressing on the infeed side for too long before you apply pressure to the outfeed side.

 

[theartfulbodger]

Thanks again!
I've been planing from both sides, just checked a matching plank of roughcut woot and it's 21 and a tinybit at one end and 20 and three quarters at the other.
I'm applying a varying pressure at what seems to be the safest bit away from the blades..I think this most likely isn't a constant even pressure.
I should make some push sticks.

Just found this
http://web.dsbn.edu.on.ca/~paul.brunet/ ... 38-144.pdf
which states
"The outfeed table should be exactly the same height as the highest point of the arc described by the revolving knives on the cylinder"

I'll have another go.

 

[marcros]

if you are planing from both sides, then that is likely to be a source of error, magnifying anything that is out. You really need something that is planed flat, and of constant thickness, then try planing a little off that from one side and remeasure. Planing both sides of a piece, it is really easy to end up with a taper. I have done it myself when it has saved getting the thicknesser out, and despite being careful to avoid it, it is often the case. It is also noticed when i have flattened a face and edge, thicknessed the other side and tried to use the planer to size up the second edge, or adjust it slightly.

There is another school of thought that puts the blades at approximately 1 to 4 thou above the outfeed table. 4 thou is 0.1mm, so you are talking a "gnats". The finish that you are getting will tell you how evenly the blades are set up, snipe will suggest (if i recall correctly) that one or both blades are a little high in comparison to the outfeed table.

 

[RobinBHM]

It is very difficult to avoid planing slightly more off one end than the other on a surface planer. It may be technique, beds slightly out of parallel or the outfeed bed too high or too low. Generally its not considered much of an issue if the surfacer is being used for Face and Edging and then a thicknesser for dimensioning to size.

Where it can be a pain is if you are using the surfacer to shoot in doors.

Actually Im not sure the outfeed table should be the highest point of the arc of the cutter. The planed surface is a series of cutter marks and the face of the timber is not actually not the highest point of the cutter since this is below the surface of the timber. As Marcros says, the cutters should therefore be slightly higher. To be really pedantic, it will vary according to the feed rate as that alters cutter mark spacing and depth.

It sounds like youve got a great machine for the money.

 

[theartfulbodger]

Thanks Robin!

I've been experimenting with heights. Having the outfeed table level with the top of the blade and the infeed table a paper's thickness below (as measured by steel rule) seems to give good results, if a little slow.

I'm chuffed with the machine, my first bit of cast iron I'll try and post up a picture

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The out feed table definitely does need to be a bit lower than top dead centre of the cutter block for a planer to work. The way I set up the out feed table on my plane is (provided the knives are set in the block correctly) with a flat off cut of wood. Lay it on the out feed table with a few inches sticking out over the cutter block and drop the indeed table so it does not foul the stick. Obviously with the machine disconnected from the electricity, rotate the cutter block by hand in the direction it moves normally and see what happens to the stick. When the knife passes the stick, it will move it forwards a bit, or miss it completely! You want it to move the stick towards the in feed table, about 1/8 in. Adjust the out feed table up or down till this hapens and then lock it off. In normal planing procedure, you will not have to move the out feed table again, all the adjustment for thickness of cut is done on the in feed table. Incidentally, if you do this stick thingy with 2 sticks, one at either side of the table, both should move the same amount, or else you will need to set the planer knives parallel to the tables. If not, you will be planing a taper across the width.

Hope this helps,

Mike.

 

[theartfulbodger]

For the curious, and as a chance to show off here's (hopefully!) a picture.

 

[RobinBHM]

A bargain for sure, you could have paid many times more for a machine with aly beds and fences that won't have the ability to stay consistently square.

Are we going to see this turning into a bit of a restoration thread......we all like those!

 

[theartfulbodger]

A bargain for sure, you could have paid many times more for a machine with aly beds and fences that won't have the ability to stay consistently square.

Thanks! I'm well chuffed with it.

Are we going to see this turning into a bit of a restoration thread......we all like those!

Funny you should say that! I've been searching the forum for tips, but most of what I've found so far features hand tool restorations.
It takes me a little while to do things these days, I'll try and photograph along the way - when I get round tuit
First job was a new plug, second job will be to replace the drivebelt.