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FS Williams and Hussey

Ray Behner

Diamond
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Location
Brunswick Oh USA
FS Williams and Hussey Planer

Is anyone interested in one of these molder planers? If so, I'll dig it out and take some pics. I bought it to make flooring and moldings for the house in '88 and nothing since.
 
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For those not familiar, this is what Ray is selling.

Williams and Hussey Machine Co – Williams & Hussey Machine Co., Inc.

They have been used even in high end & some production millowork shops because they can be set up to do circular and even elliptical head mouldings for arch top windows and doors.

Never used one myself, but still sometimes use an old Belsaw for similar work including curves when a set up is more convenient that way than on a shaper.

Ray, you might mention if it is the power feed model or not (kind of assume it is if you were making flooring with it.) :)

smt
 
You're right Stephen. Should have been more descriptive. I think it's 2hp. Has both power in and out feeds and (I think) a set or two of knives.
 
William and Hussey

Hi
I have W&H plus the belsaw. The belsaw was the biggest piece of I junk I ever purchased.The W&H
on the other hand works well. I believe I hand ground some cutters for it. The bolt on cutters are
so much faster than dealing with counterweights and gibbs.
I believe I used Starrett precision ground stock then drilled the holes, ground the cutter and hardened it
the wood stove. Worked Fine.

Barry
 
As a planer, the belsaw is junk. But about 40 years ago i completely overhauled one bought new after using it a bit, including making a steel frame to replace the cracked aluminum casting. It has made miles of short run mouldings, large bar-rails, and stuff that won't fit in a W& H. Like the W& H, it will run circular parts with the moulding on the face. Unlike the W & H, the belsaw will also run mouldings over a OD or ID curve on the round edge itself. Most of the jobs I used to do had circular mouldings as well as straight run, so I'd first run the knife in the belsaw for straight stock & sometimes the large circles. Then take it out and put it in a shaper head to run the tighter curves on the shaper. I've ground drawers full of knives, and still do, though these days I am more apt to run mouldings in one of the shapers. Got a "government" job to run in the belsaw sometime in the next week or so, though.

All that said, i have only ever used a W & H once in someone else's shop. Generally reports are that the W & H is much better made from the factory, and that over the years they have improved it from what it was 40 years ago when I originally compared it & the belsaw products. The W & H is more time consuming to grind knives for due to the holes, and due to needing 2 knives. The belsaw has more options for cutting geometry, and on mine, the option to run it climb-cutting for small brash mouldings. :D But that was not a factory provision. There are outfits with "real" moulders that keep a W & H for short run work, and for circular work if the curves are not too tight.

smt
 
I've had a W&H for 20+ years, and it's been a great addition to the shop. Mostly short run moldings in woods to match the project, but also some bigger jobs like turning 2 x 10 cedar into porch rail.

If I can find stock cutters for a job, I'll buy them; otherwise, I use Template Services in Las Vegas. Great job, and fast turnaround. (You know what they say: fast, good, and cheap - pick any two!)

Occasional problems with tearout, so just yesterday, I ordered the variable speed feed kit.
 
Belsaw Vibration

Hi All

There was one thing with the Belsaw that drove me insane. The machine had massive amounts of vibration. So much
so that the lead screws would move downwards on their own. That was extremely helpful when I was attempting to maintain
a certain thickness. I could never trace the reason for the extreme vibration.

I believe I consulted with Belsaw on this issue. They mentioned readjusting the lead screw out of its vertical orientation.
This would basically create added friction to keep the screw at its position. I didn`t think that was great solution.
I would assume over time the integral nut which is part of the table would lose its tolerance and the table would then be out of level.

I did see a very old Belsaw. To my eye, it looked to be all cast-iron for the assembly that supported the cutter head.
I should have purchased old-iron.

PS. I thought too about re-designing the Belsaw. It was the motivation at the time to build my own planer. For some reason
my DIY planer does not vibrate at all. Of course, mine is 2 x 2 steel tube with a 1/4 wall thickness.

Barry
 
Is the w&h still available? Mine fell off the back of a truck sunday... not much salvageable after that.
 








 
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