Micro mill and planer

[Haliburton]

I have a friend looking to get rid of his dewalt planer (model 724) and proxxon micro mill (mf70).  When I say 'get rid of' I mean sell!  I'm thinking about buying them with a view that they may come in handy for some serious scratch building down the road, but I'm wondering if I would/will ever get to the point where these tools would be worth it. Any thoughts?

Scott

[mtaylor]

I'll give you my thoughts... I started buying tools while building kits.  

 

The planer is questionable.  I had one and got rid of it as it was too big and powerful for what we do.  And not that accurate.  I use a drum sander from MicroMark but have been giving thought to their planer as it's more in keeping with the size of wood and the accuracy.

 

As for the mill... that's the last thing I'd buy after a small table saw (Jim Saw, MM or Proxxon saw) and a hobby lathe and maybe a scroll saw.  I'm just not using the mill that much but then, I'm not a machinist.  It's useful for a lot of things but I've just not used it that much.  If the price is right, grab it and see what you can do with it.  Be advised that accessories can eat up a lot of cash (same for a lathe).

[Haliburton]

Thanks Mark, I have the Jim Saw and scroll saw and lathe, so I'm pretty well equipped. Sounds like between them the micro mill has the greatest potential of being used, but even so, it's use might be limited. 

[davyboy]

Hi there Haliburton,you should definitely buy the MF 70 mill. I bought one earlier this year and wouldn't be without it. There are only 2 extra accessories made for this tool AFAIK,a rotary table #24264 and a machinists vice #24260 and they're not very expensive. 

 

Dave  

[Haliburton]

Hi Dave, thanks for advice, do you have any examples of things you've made with it that you can share?   Scott

[Roger Pellett]

I own a 12in Dewalt Planer.  I bought it to mill 3/16 rib stock and 5/32in planking for wood canvas canoes from rough cut Northern White Cedar.  The planer has worked beautifully.

 

I have also used it to mill rough cut pear wood into finished billets for ship models. Again, the planer worked fine.

 

 For both of these projects I also used a  10 in  table saw and a small but well built jointer.  To do its job, the planer needs one surface of the board to be flat and that requires a table saw and/or jointer.  Feeding a twisted board into a planer will either cause the planer to jam or if the planer is powerful enough will result in a twisted planed board.

 

For me, an enjoyable part of modeling is producing my own milled lumber and I have the space for the two essential tools, a large table saw and a jointer as well as a nice to have planer.  Usefulness of a planer without the other two tools is limited.

 

Roger

[davyboy]

Hi Haliburton,

 

Sorry but I don't have any pics. So far I've made the gratings,gun carriages,pump bodies and milled mast/yard sheave slots for my Cheerful build. I intend to make all my own blocks and will fit sheaves in all but the smallest. I also made my mast coat using the mill. I've really enjoyed doing this plus it saves one money. My next buy (when I can afford it) will be a lathe. I could kick myself for selling my Unimat SL back in the 80's when I stopped modelling.

 

Regards,

 

Dave