Wood-Mizer MP100

[w_w_w_31]

I am curious about this item, that goes on the rails of the LT15 sawmill.  Has anyone used it?  It looks like a heck of an item, but am unsure of the reality of the usability of it.  The specs say it will plane 20", and do 16" of shaper bits.  I am thinking about using it for when we build our cabin, using logs form the property.  I would be doing a dovetail log cabin, and being to truly square up a log, and give a planed surface inside and out appeals to me - being able to keep the wood surfaces sure would be easier on a smooth surface, and that will keep the Mrs a bit happier as well.

[trimguy]

@Brad_bb has one. Maybe he will see this and comment. I believe he likes it.

[ScottCC]

I love it!  Retrofitted it to run on lt15wide along with my saw.  It takes about 12 minutes to make a timber 8' long perfectly square and smooth all four sides taking pine down 1/2" both directions.  Perfectly straight.  Time grows as size grows. 25 minutes for 18' timber.  You need a chip collector.  Lots of blade sets.  A gentle way to move finished goods.  A shaving wagon.

[Brad_bb]

I really like the MP100.  I'm doing timberframe.  So It's a lot less logs than a log cabin.  Despite that, I've planed a lot of timbers over the last 5 years.  It's a wonderful tool in that it allows me to not only plane green material, but after timbers have sat in the shed for a few years and checked and moved, I can then come back and plane them square.  I typically mill 1/2" over my final dimension.  That works well for Walnut, Ash, and Cherry, which is what I have most access to.  I get some Honeylocust, Osage Orange, and a little Red Elm too.  I typically buy white oak timbers from another mill out of state, but I've had WO that has moved or twisted and were culled from my shop or barn builds, but then later when we've needed WO for stair parts or rafter extensions etc, I've taken that culled material and been able to true it up with the MP100 and use it for other things.

I only plane, I do not mold as WM advertises.  I think that was the original use in europe.  

I use a 1.5HP blower form a Jet 1100 cfm dust collector unit and blow the planer chips in to a big box I made, on the other side of the wall(the gravel floor portion of my shed).  It will make a lot of planer chips.  I burn them in Vortex burn barrels. 

The planer will plane 20 inches wide even though it's blades are 16".  The whole planer translates 4 inches.  I'm planning to build a new framework to use the planer on a 6ft wide mill bed to flatten slabs. So it will have to translate much further.  I use it now to flatten slabs that will fit on the mill bed.  It's more than 20 inches because I use some blocks I made for the mill bed so I can translate the slab a bit. 

The one thing I wish the planer had is a Byrd Shelix head.  When I build the slab flattening system, I'm going to have one made.  The planer comes with a 4 knife head.  4 High Speed Steel knives.  They can get small chips pretty easily and leave a line on the planed surface.  I can deal with it for the timberframing stuff, but because of that, I own 8 sets of knives.  4 sets are woodmizer, and I had 4 sets made by a company in IL.  The cutters on a Byrd Shelix head are carbide and would last longer and each segment has 4 cutting edges so if you do chip one, just rotate the segment to the next cutting edge.

Any other questions, let me know.  Fyi clamping is not critical unless the piece being planed is very light.  Otherwise, there is  typically enough down force that a timber will not go anywhere while planing.  I don't typically take more than 1/16 at a time, though you can take more.

[dogone]

   I have the norwood moulder and planer. I have not planed with it yet but have tongue and grooved over 800 ft of four by six timbers.It came with six in double t and g blades.I had blades for four inch timber and single t and g made. 
    The timber must be right on for width or the t or groove is off center. Very annoying to get clamped and centered. I am thinking of making head that centres on the timber with springs. The cutter would float horizontally on the shaft.