Jerryc41
Well-known member
I just got this in an email from Stew-Mac. Clever. On sale for $50.47.
More - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pabbRpdei_M
More - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pabbRpdei_M
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The Safe-T-Planer has been around for many years. It works great. Just make sure it is square to the drill press table, and use a fence. I use mine a lot.
Regards
Ed
I see Amazon has similar items for lower prices.
https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=rotary+planer&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I haven't looked at the offerings on Amazon, but I will say you may not want to chase the cheapest example of this kind of tool. You really want it to be accurately machined, and you really really want the blades to stay fixed in the cutting head at the proper adjustment they were set at. And as someone else noted, the quality of the steel in the blades may be variable.
I don't have a drill press version of this tool, but I do have one for my radial arm saw. I've used it a couple of times over the past 20 years. It did work ok, and I did avoid harming myself while using it, so I've been considering whether I should try it during my next instrument-making endeavor.
I believe they were originaly designed for the Radial Arm Saw ..but these are left handed versions and cant be used on a pedestal drill unless you can run it in reverse..the thing that i dont like about them on the pedestal drill is that they load the bearings sideways causing premature wear.
Here is a video of one in use with the Radial Arm Saw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiJuKVuC-Cs
As I said earlier the original safe-T- planer put pressure sideways on the pedestal drill bearings..but the Stewmac version is quite a bit smaller in diameter and this should help reduce the pressure quite a bit.
131F1164-F820-4DC5-BF08-15224EDFB9CE by Ken Timms, on Flickr