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Looking at powermatic 100 planer

I wanted one of those for a long time. Finally settled on a Parks, then s soon as I finished that I decided I wanted a helical head and went to a jointer/planer.

That one looks like its in great shape and I think it's a good price based on that.
 
I have an older model but as far as I know it is the same design over the years. I rebuilt mine and I love it. Only complaint and not really a complaint is that feeds slow, but good results. I can high recommend one.
Powermatic restore

For my neck of the woods, the price is probably a little high. But if you look at a comparable new machine (if there is one) it's a bargain. So it just a matter of what your comfortable with. My thinking is if you going to use it for many years what is $200? I am very frugal but I have passed on a couple of things over price and having it to do over I realize the usefulness outweighed the price.
 
That's a brute of a 12" planer. For similar money, you could probably get something with a bit more capacity if you think you'll ever need it. I have a PM 65 table saw and am impressed with how simple it is to maintain. It would be interesting to compare how many fewer parts it has compared to similar cabinet saws out there. Built like a tank and relatively easy to work on. I'm no PM expert, but i wouldn't be surprised if all of their machines (particularly the McMinville era ones) were designed and built with the same basic approach.

Before settling on price, it would be good to know if it's single or 3 phase. For most people, that's an issue. Phase conversion or a motor swap bumps the price up a few C-notes. Also, condition and completeness.

If i were in the marke for a planer, i'd probably have a look at it.

Have fun with it and let us know how it turns out.

paulh
 
A little bit off topic, but a couple of weeks ago I was at Bohnhoff Lumber in Los Angeles and one of the guys was putting fresh knives in their big old Powermatic planer. I didn't ask the width (looked like 30" or so), but the guy told me the planer had a 10 hp feed motor and a 25 hp motor on the cutter. I'm guessing it's not too easy to bog that one down.
 
Paul Hubbman said:
That's a brute of a 12" planer. For similar money, you could probably get something with a bit more capacity if you think you'll ever need it. I have a PM 65 table saw and am impressed with how simple it is to maintain. It would be interesting to compare how many fewer parts it has compared to similar cabinet saws out there. Built like a tank and relatively easy to work on. I'm no PM expert, but i wouldn't be surprised if all of their machines (particularly the McMinville era ones) were designed and built with the same basic approach.

Before settling on price, it would be good to know if it's single or 3 phase. For most people, that's an issue. Phase conversion or a motor swap bumps the price up a few C-notes. Also, condition and completeness.

If i were in the marke for a planer, i'd probably have a look at it.

Have fun with it and let us know how it turns out.

paulh
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I found out that its single phase, I'll have to see if the price is negotiable, I know I don't have 750 left in the tool budget
 
it looks well taken care of from the pics. All the 12 inch powermatics ive seen have been single phase, most likely a 3 hp motor. I think the only differences between this one and the larger powermatic planers are this doesnt have adjustable rollers and may not have a segmented feed roller. If you have enough space id keep looking for something bigger but for a 12 inch planer you wont find a better planer... the price does seem alittle high but for the condition its in I does sound pretty reasonable considering the 16 and 18 inchs goes for around 1000-1500 from what ive seen
 
I picked it up yesterday for $500, its in nice shape except for scuffs on the paint. The owner previous to the guy I got it from replaced all the bearings or at least thats what I was told, I tried it out and it works well, I think it could used a tuning up and blades sharpened. It also came with 2 extra sets of knives so thats a plus.
 
I doubt you will regret that purchase. Once I got mine set up and tuned I simple love it!

Here is you an idea for a base. Simply some full 1" oak screwed and glued together. Everyone told me it would never work and I guess they are right. Someday it probably will fail. ;)

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After a year and a half I decided to finally tear the planer down and paint it as well as convert it to variable speed feed. I used a 1750 rpm 90vdc motor and a kb electronics dc drive to control it. I went with a slightly untraditional paint scheme.
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Very nice, Dave. How about some details about the rebuild? Any difficulties or issues someone should be aware of if they were to do the same? How does having a DC motor work? Do you have a converter?
 
The rebuild went smooth. There really wasn't anything wrong with it to begin with. I just wanted the variable speed and to paint it. The reduction for the feed on this planer is accomplished via a couple belt pulley reductions off the planer head. I simply mounted the 90vdc motor in the cabinet and eliminated the one pulley from the reduction system to give me the right speed for the motor and motor pulley I'm using. I used a kb electronics kbic120 dc drive to control the motor. I have the gearing set to give me a 30 fpm at fill motor speed. I have the drive set for a minimum speed so There won't be problems with turning down too low and having the feed stop.
 
yes it was a good purchase, I used to spend tons of time running rough lumber through my lunchbox planer because I couldn't take much off in 1 pass, if i want I can go from the jointer to 1 pass though this planer and be done, before I did the variable rate feed conversion I would usually make 2 passes, a heavy then a light so I got better finish. Now I usually just do a single slightly slower pass and I'm done. I also believe that Im getting better results since the rebuild because I took the time to correctly align everything really well. I get very little snipe with this planer, its hard to even see it. By the way it really didn't take much money to convert it to variable feed rate. Maybe $100. If I ever needed a larger planer I would be looking for one of the lager powermatics of the same vintage.
 
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