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Do you recommend the Lucas planer attachment?

Started by RayRayYJ, October 28, 2016, 02:02:11 PM

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RayRayYJ

Does anyone have much experience with the Lucas planer attachment, is it worth the cost if you deal with a lot of slabs? Does it leave a nice finish?

Right now I plane slabs down with a 2hp router with a planer bit...but on 34" wide material it takes a good bit of time and the table I've set up won't handle much wider. Wondering if the Lucas planer is the way to go with my 48" and wider slabs...

Percy

Can't speak for the Lucas attachment but my son used the Peterson equivalent with good results. Biggest tip I could give you is don't plane dirt.  ;D
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

longtime lurker

I'm not set up to handle slabs so the few we do we contract services like that out. I've had them done by a guy with the Lucas setup and its okay. Slabs come back level and smooth enough to work with.

If you were doing this all the time though, and were thinking long term business investment, the machine you want is a YAS Engineering Slabmaster. Its a whole different class of big slab finishing tool.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Grandedog

     Howdy,
   Back when, there was a planer for the Lucas that used a router. There was a bar that ran from rail to rail that had rollers to run the length of the mill. The router just slid back and forth on the bar for the width of the mill. So you could do pretty much anything that will fit inside your tracks.
Regards
Gregg
Gregg Grande
Left Coast Supplies LLC
1615B South Main Street  Willits, CA 95490
888-995-7307  Ph 707-602-0141                   Fax 707-602-0134  Cell 707-354-3212
E-Mail  gregg@leftcoastsupplies.com   www.leftcoastsupplies.com

Kbeitz

Quote from: Grandedog on October 28, 2016, 06:36:53 PM
     Howdy,
   Back when, there was a planer for the Lucas that used a router. There was a bar that ran from rail to rail that had rollers to run the length of the mill. The router just slid back and forth on the bar for the width of the mill. So you could do pretty much anything that will fit inside your tracks.
Regards
Gregg

I got everything bought to do just that...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

bkaimwood

From what I heard, the YAS mentioned by LL is the way to go, and incredible. Expensive, but so is everything else in the slab business, or the sawmill business for that matter.
bk

Percy

GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Ianab

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

longtime lurker

Yup, and with the Aussie dollar where it is right now it's a pretty good buy. They make some pretty good equipment but they're an engineering firm not website developers: the site is not indicative of the quality of product. Mostly they sell by word of mouth, they don't need a slick site to shift product, satisfied customers do it for them

Their website is down ATM but it was up yesterday... figures.

Anyhow, I've seen one of their big machines rebating three inches wide by half inch deep in some seriously hard timber... impressive as hell to watch
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Savannahdan

Nice system and I enjoyed the videos.  I like the cnc style table and gantry which makes getting a flat, level slab easier.  Only issue is it not being a portable system like having the planer attachment for the swing blade mill.  I was impressed with the amount of wood being taken during a pass.  I could see having one of these and providing a service to others that need their large slabs/board planed and sanded.  Thanks.
Husqvarna 3120XP, Makita DCS7901 Chainsaw, 30" & 56" Granberg Chain Saw Mill, Logosol M8 Farmers Mill

Kbeitz

Back in the early 60's a company made a tool (toy) for planning wood on a drill press.
I wonder how many people got there fingers removed with this tool.



 



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

longtime lurker

Quote from: Savannahdan on October 29, 2016, 08:12:28 AM
Nice system and I enjoyed the videos.  I like the cnc style table and gantry which makes getting a flat, level slab easier.  Only issue is it not being a portable system like having the planer attachment for the swing blade mill.  I was impressed with the amount of wood being taken during a pass.  I could see having one of these and providing a service to others that need their large slabs/board planed and sanded.  Thanks.

I believe they are CNC compatible, and can be specced up with drives etc. More money of course, and for just basic slab finishing kinda overkill: the guy that we use does a lot of them and it's pretty quick unless it's really cranky grained wood where passes are shallower to avoid tearout. We get him to do big beams a lot, makes for easy jointing.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

John S

Wagner Safe-T-planer.  I bought one for the radial arm saw, 40 years ago, never used!
2018 LT40HDG38 Wide

Kbeitz

Quote from: John S on October 29, 2016, 10:30:41 AM
Wagner Safe-T-planer.  I bought one for the radial arm saw, 40 years ago, never used!

They bring good money on E-bay...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

RayRayYJ

YAS site finally back, very nice looking machine...but a little too pricey for me right now, I'm in the Lucas planer budget zone!

scsmith42

I have the Peterson version, and it works well.  Drawbacks are that it will not leave a slab as smooth as a typical planer, and it may have some tear out if it is a hard wood that is fully dry (6% MC).  However it beats the heck out of a flooring sander and is much faster than a router sled if you're doing a lot of slabs

Precision Saw Service in Polkton, NC can sharpen the planer blades (it requires specialized equipment to sharpen).

We've found that cut quality is improved if the slab is anchored down and can't jump up, and when tear-out is a problem soaking the top of the slab with mineral spirits for 15 - 30 minutes softens up the wood fibers and reduces tear out.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Grandedog

     Howdy,
   Good tip on the mineral oil, certainly will check that out

   The Lucas planer works more like a scraper because the teeth are mounted 90 degrees to the surface and therefor limits depth of cut to 4mm-5mm, and width of cut to a little over 60mm.

   The Peterson planer works with a 2 stage format. The perimeter of the disc has sharpened carbide hog knives that cut in front of the long sharpened carbide planer knives on the bottom of the disc. The hog knives allow much deeper an wider planes. The hog knives are slightly raised leaving a clean uniform surface for the planer knives to shave.

   SC, not sure if you're on Peterson's mailing list but, they just came out with a sanding attachment.

Regards
Gregg
Gregg Grande
Left Coast Supplies LLC
1615B South Main Street  Willits, CA 95490
888-995-7307  Ph 707-602-0141                   Fax 707-602-0134  Cell 707-354-3212
E-Mail  gregg@leftcoastsupplies.com   www.leftcoastsupplies.com

scsmith42

Quote from: Grandedog on October 31, 2016, 05:44:43 PM
     Howdy,
   Good tip on the mineral oil, certainly will check that out

   The Lucas planer works more like a scraper because the teeth are mounted 90 degrees to the surface and therefor limits depth of cut to 4mm-5mm, and width of cut to a little over 60mm.

   The Peterson planer works with a 2 stage format. The perimeter of the disc has sharpened carbide hog knives that cut in front of the long sharpened carbide planer knives on the bottom of the disc. The hog knives allow much deeper an wider planes. The hog knives are slightly raised leaving a clean uniform surface for the planer knives to shave.

   SC, not sure if you're on Peterson's mailing list but, they just came out with a sanding attachment.

Regards
Gregg

Gregg, thanks for the insight comparing the two blades; I learned something tonight! 

I'm on Peterson's distro and received the info about their sanding attachment. Interesting concept.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Grandedog

     Howdy,
   Not sure if you have the time to mess with it but, I have some sanders coming. If you're willing to try it, get back on here with an evaluation of what you think of it, I'll send you one for to you to keep.
Regards
Gregg
Gregg Grande
Left Coast Supplies LLC
1615B South Main Street  Willits, CA 95490
888-995-7307  Ph 707-602-0141                   Fax 707-602-0134  Cell 707-354-3212
E-Mail  gregg@leftcoastsupplies.com   www.leftcoastsupplies.com

Longshot1911

I will be looking for a review of the sander as well.  I just picked up the planer blade for my WPF from LCS eariler this year, but I have been so busy raising a barn and outfitting my wood shop that I haven't run the mill in months-until last Sat.  I spent the first half of the year running nothing but the clip on slabber.  It was nice to switch back to "swinging". Now that I have a new semi-permanent mill site leveled out and everything cutting true, I will try to get some time/photos of the planer blade in action next weekend.
10" Petrson WPF, clip on slabber, planer blade inbound!

scsmith42

Quote from: Grandedog on November 01, 2016, 12:19:25 PM
     Howdy,
   Not sure if you have the time to mess with it but, I have some sanders coming. If you're willing to try it, get back on here with an evaluation of what you think of it, I'll send you one for to you to keep.
Regards
Gregg

I will be happy to try it out and post my results. 
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

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