CUTECH Portable Planer

The replacement cutters:


Not sure if they are available elsewhere, but they will fit General,Rikon,Steelcity,Craftsman and Cutech planers. Some of those listed are currently not available, the only one I could find, General, is limited stock now.

They sell for $45./10 pack. It would take 3 packs (30ea.) to do a complete change over and have 6 ea. left over.

Part 40938

they rotate 90 deg. to make the second blade. This means that for $136. you get 2 sets of blades with 6 left over to use on the next set. So the next 2 changes you only have to order 2 packs @$90. total to complete the next 2, which means you can get 4 changes for around $56. ea. change and that is comparable to the change over of most planers with HSS cutters, and these are Carbide.



I might add that the change takes less than 5 min.( by the reviews) and is self aligning, just loosen, rotate,tighten, done. The torques wrench is furnished with the machine.

I weill also add the the HSS replacement cutters can also be used @ $30. /10 pack.

http://www.cutechtool.com/product-p/40930.htm

Herb

old coasty said:

Herb,

Now that you have had it for awhile, what are your thoughts.

Click to expand...

I like it a lot so far,Bob, really like the lower noise level. It is very good about not sniping. I did snipe a couple of boards if I was working alone and ran a 3' long board through unsupported as it came off. I have run 8' long boards supported 4' out from planer and no snipe. 8' boards with a person on the other end, no problem. I have run up to 8' long unsupported, but ran around and off fed them myself ,no problem either. It has planed oak,poplar,maple,walnut, western cedar, aromatic cedar, alder and holly. It gives a very smooth surface,But I have noticed tiny ridges on the surface. Not very high, but can be felt and when I look closely I can detect them. Not a big deal, the ROS takes them right out in a couple of passes. I have read others that said it is characteristic of spiral cutters. The last time I used it, it filled the 32 gal. dust bin and the light went off so I had to shut it down and empty it. The chips are different looking like rat tu....rds, it kind of rolls up the chip.LOL
Did I say I really like the noise level, about the same as my router table. I can compare it to the Parks, Delta ,and the DW 735, and the Delta 15", I have had, and this is noticeably quieter.

As a related experience, Our WW club held our monthly meeting at the Seattle Central Community College Woodworking School last month.
It is a state of the art facility where they teach a 2 year curriculum in Residential, Commercial Carpentry, Wooden Boat Building, Furniture Building and Design. Each discipline is a separate course and separate shop,they call them Labs. We got a tour of all of them, and I noticed no less than 4 of these Cutech planers in amongst all the commercial machines. I asked the instructor who was giving us the tour about them, and he said they love them. They have the professional models,as mine is the basic model, but they are very similar with more fancy features.
He also said that all of the jointers,and planers have either spiral or helical cutter heads to cut down on the noise level in the shops where they have many machines running at one time.
Also noted they have a 2 year waiting list to enter their program and only graduate 60 people /year with an AS degree.

Herb