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Rockford Hydraulic 36" Planer

Dixo0118

Plastic
Joined
Jul 15, 2021
Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I was wondering what a machine like this would be worth. I can get it for free but it would take considerable effort to travel there and get the machine out of the shop. I believe that its an old Rockford machine but Im pretty new to the machining world and I don't know a lot of the older machines. Just asking for some help here.
Thanks

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Worth scrap (about 12,000 Lbs?) after you pay to have it hauled to the scrap yard - AFTER you get the 50 gallons of oil out of it and pay to have that disposed of

You may want to look on Ebay and see what the 36" has SOLD for
 
Worth scrap (about 12,000 Lbs?) after you pay to have it hauled to the scrap yard - AFTER you get the 50 gallons of oil out of it and pay to have that disposed of

You may want to look on Ebay and see what the 36" has SOLD for


Aren't those good for something ? Like reconditioning a lathe bed?
 
Its value is to the ecentric collector. the 3' models are a little short to do much. And technology has really passed planers by. Floorspace vs work/use/need is going against it. Its heavy, its not very versatile, not many people know how to run it properly.

Its worth what you are willing to pay for it. If you plan on selling it, not terribly much.

With that said I would love to have the 6' table model. Or a vertical shaper.
 
Aren't those good for something ? Like reconditioning a lathe bed?

They are great for making accurate flat surfaces, such as is needed in reconditioning machines, but the 36" stroke severely limits what it can do. Still, it's longer than the envelope of many knee mills, so it still has practical value, just not a lot. Most shops would rather use that floor space for a CNC mill that can cut a 36" pass with the same accuracy. A plainer that can take a 72" pass or more has a better ratio of practical use to floor space.

If it was free to me, I'd for sure take the time to get it and find some floor space to put it on, but that's not saying it has resale value.
 
They are great for making accurate flat surfaces, such as is needed in reconditioning machines, but the 36" stroke severely limits what it can do. Still, it's longer than the envelope of many knee mills, so it still has practical value, just not a lot..

Ow Ow Ouch...
Think of lathe saddles, dovetails, tailstock bottom.
Bridgeport saddles, flat surfaces and dovetails ect......
Almost any gib.
I'll agree to disagree and would find this very useful:D
John
 
Ow Ow Ouch...
Think of lathe saddles, dovetails, tailstock bottom.
Bridgeport saddles, flat surfaces and dovetails ect......
Almost any gib.
I'll agree to disagree and would find this very useful:D
John

:)Oh, I 100% agree it's useful, I'm just agreeing with Johnoder that it's doesn't have much value on the machine tool market. It NEEDS to stay out of the scrap pile, IMO, if nothing else because they aren't being made anymore and it's desirable for the simple fact that it's a plainer and inherently a simple way to do bigger accurate flat surfaces. Any plainer is worth saving IMO, it just boils down to functional floor space in the end. Rockfords are well made and about as "modern" as they got. If I was in the OP's shoes, I'd get it even if it needed to sit in storage for awhile. The only thing that would make a plainer of this size more desirable in my eyes is if it was an older belt driven model, because if I'm allocating the space, I'd like to throw in some historical preservation as well.
 
A planer with 36" of useable travel would have about 10 - 12 feet of bed..... looks like a peanut sized planer to me. Having said that I made lots of money with a 28" Rockford Hydraulic shaper fit with a true trace. Being that guy with unique capabilty can be an advantage.
 
A planer with 36" of useable travel would have about 10 - 12 feet of bed

If the "bed" has 10 ft of way length, there's a good chance it would be at least a 5' planer, could even be 6'.
Planer tables usually travel past the ends of the "bed" both directions by a fairly large percentage of the table length.

Tables are usually longer than the working travel, with the working length surface raised so the machine can plane itself flat.
The bed is usually shorter than 2 x working length of travel.

My 6' rated planer on a modern full frame to the floor pads: max travel before it runs off the rack is somewhat more than 80", the table is 92" long. The bed i would have to go out and measure again... :)
(it's not over 12')

smt
 
I have a Rockford 36".
Just under 9,000 lbs and has 30 gallons of oil.
It came from Westinghouse plant in Buffalo NY.

--Doozer
 
I have a Rockford 36".
Just under 9,000 lbs and has 30 gallons of oil.
It came from Westinghouse plant in Buffalo NY.

--Doozer

My Dad worked there for maybe 20 years. I remember i could see the big sign on the plant from my bedroom window. He told me how when they were shutting the place down they were just scrapping (literally) tons of band new, unused tooling. Huge crates of taper shank drill bits etc. Now, the expanded Buffalo airport covers the site.
 








 
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