Little Metal Planers on Display

Hit Miss Engine · Jun 30, 2021

I wanted to share a picture or two of a few little metal planers that I put on display at CoolSpring Power museum. I only had room for seven planers (had to leave a little room in the truck case I bought something while I was there!). I had planned on staying at the show for a couple days but a friends wedding changed my plans and I was only able to stay for one day. I almost decided not to bring them but I’m glad I did… I had an overwhelming amount of compliments… lots of guys had never seen planers this small and some people just really enjoyed the display because it was just different. Some of the planers are in various states of repair and even missing a piece or two but eventually I hope to get them all done. There is a Hendey, Baldwin, 2-unknown, Schneider Goosman, S.P. Wormwood and Thomas Taylor.

I apologize about the poor picture quality… I will try to see if I can get better ones

Hit Miss Engine · Jun 30, 2021

The image quality looks good on my phone but it’s not downloading well to PM…

JST · Jun 30, 2021

Those things are cute as heck.... makes me wonder what they were for.... some sort of sales sample? Or made for a particular sort of small work?

I saw a pic, maybe here, of a VTL with a table about 9" or so diameter... wondered about that also.

rivett608 · Jun 30, 2021

Yes they are SUPER CUTE. They were often used by modelmakers, (think patent models), instrument makers and anyone doing fine small parts.

Andy FitzGibbon · Jun 30, 2021

I've heard that they were also sometimes used in print shops, for squaring the ends of type once it was assembled.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

metalmagpie · Jun 30, 2021

They'd look great turned into a mailbox or perhaps a meat smoker. (ducking)

sandiapaul · Jun 30, 2021

Yeah image quality is a problem. I would LOVE to see better resolution pictures of these! I have this idea to display American toolroom lathes of the 1920's- 40's all in one place, early Hardinge, Rivett, Wade, et...

Homebrewblob · Jun 30, 2021

metalmagpie said:
They'd look great turned into a mailbox or perhaps a meat smoker. (ducking)

Put a cheese grater on one and finally be able to grate that Parmesan without grating my fingers into the recipe

JST · Jul 1, 2021

rivett608 said:
Yes they are SUPER CUTE. They were often used by modelmakers, (think patent models), instrument makers and anyone doing fine small parts.

I usually think of shapers being used for small things, but planers would work as well or better. And are likely smaller overall for a given table size.

Rob F. · Jul 1, 2021

Homebrewblob said:
Put a cheese grater on one and finally be able to grate that Parmesan without grating my fingers into the recipe

Dont you know that there is no taste difference between grated callus and parmesan? More gratings per dollar if you can clean your hands of calluses at the same time :eek:

discodan · Jul 1, 2021

I volunteer at the Tuckahoe Steam & Gas Association machine shop Museum. Within the museum we have 4 planers at the moment and one is one of these tiny ones. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head and my power is out so I can't check my list on my computer. We also have a bunch of Shapers in the museum as well.

Our big show is coming up next week starting Thursday July 8th through Sunday July 11th. It's going to be a great show. Come down and see us

1yesca · Jul 1, 2021

there was a video on youtube of the colt firearms co. it was showing the machining of a grove in a pistol frame and if was being done in a machine that look like one of them set up on a bench

discodan · Jul 2, 2021

I just checked and our small planer is called a Wilkerson from the 1890s We Believe. It was manufactured by the AJ Wilkerson Manufacturing Company of Boston

Robert Lang · Jul 2, 2021

discodan said:
I just checked and our small planer is called a Wilkerson from the 1890s We Believe. It was manufactured by the AJ Wilkerson Manufacturing Company of Boston

That would be Wilkinson.

Rob

IrbyJones · Jul 7, 2021

Larger pictures of Hit Miss Engine's planers

Here are larger versions of the pictures of Hit Miss Engine's little planers.

Irby

JST · Jul 7, 2021

OK, "little" seems to be true, but they are bigger than it looked at first. At least a couple seem to have a 24" or so bed, which puts them in the definitely useful area, bigger table and stroke than all but the biggest shapers.

DrHook · Jul 7, 2021

...Dumb question from a "noob" who rather have someone explain in english than go to Google... what is the difference between a shaper and a planer? The size of the work area? thanks!

JST · Jul 7, 2021

Planer = Moving table and work.

Shaper = Moving cutter (typically on a reciprocating ram)

Homebrewblob · Jul 7, 2021

DrHook said:
...Dumb question from a "noob" who rather have someone explain in english than go to Google... what is the difference between a shaper and a planer? The size of the work area? thanks!

The cutting action is Essentially the same, they scrape a line of metal off the work, one cut at a time.

But the accuracy/efficiency/practicality are different.

As they say;
you can make anything on a shaper,
Except a profit.

I tend to like the planers more but the size of the machine is usually 10x that of a shaper.

Here’s a very large planer, planing a very large lathe bed

Here’s a very old photo of a group of men standing on a planer bed

And here’s a link to a 15ft wide planer with a smaller planer sitting on the bed. Looks to be a sales photo as both planers share the same name
Pin on Hard Surface

trevj · Jul 9, 2021

DrHook said:
...Dumb question from a "noob" who rather have someone explain in english than go to Google... what is the difference between a shaper and a planer? The size of the work area? thanks!

So, there are basically four main 'machining processes'(a convenient lie, there are others, like grinding

)

Turning on a lathe, you rotate the work, and move the tool as needed.

Milling on a milling machine, you rotate the cutting tool, and move the work piece around.

So a mill and a lathe are basically opposites in that respect.

A shaper moves the cutting tool over the work piece. Pushes the cutter in a straight line, and the final shape depends on moving the work around.

A planer moves the work piece, past the tool, still in a straight line, but with the ability to move the cutter around the work.

The real strong point on a planer is that they can be built to handle huge pieces of work, far easier than a shaper could be built to manage them.

A nicely set up planer is a bloody hypnotic thing to watch. Even more so than a shaper.

I would really love to see videos of these lot in action!

Little Metal Planers on Display

Cast Iron

Attachments

Cast Iron

Attachments

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Titanium

Titanium

Stainless

Diamond

Diamond

Aluminum

Stainless

Aluminum

Stainless

Stainless

Attachments

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Stainless

Titanium

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