My new skil plane

[D_W]

How do you like my new skil plane?

I saw a sander like this in a chris becksvoort video and was taken by how it's designed vs the more modern sanders (I have the pc 362 4x24 sander but have only ever managed to use it on floors).

It has a big rigid casting and better belt tensioner, and a very flat platen. It's also slower in speed and doesn't send much dust into the air.

Only drawback is belts have to be 23 3/4 to tension.

 

[Droogs]

I like the overall design aestetic very Atomic Deco. i bet Flash Gordon had one in his shed

 

[D_W]

I like the overall design aestetic very Atomic Deco. i bet Flash Gordon had one in his shed

Yeah - not sure how old it actually is. It's grounded, which was a bit of a surprise. Guessing the orientation of the motor is due to Skil's design efforts embedded in their worm drive saws. The drive setup does soak a little power from it, but the low belt speed makes it so that it doesn't need that much in the first place.

It is 100 times more controllable and better at working accurately than the PC362 (which when I look at it, does have a pretty good platen design, but it's just not as controllable as this or as comfortable to run).

I don't have a zillion uses for this thing, but sanding off glue on things before planing and on the bench here, where metalwork can lead to a top that's best sanded before scraping or leveling (or just to clean the top off), this is a lot more pleasant than a big dual mode sander.

 

[D_W]

one other side comment - this ties into hand tools. I looked these up after seeing becksvoort sand the glue and proud tails off of a drawer. I would typically plane that (because it looks better) but I think it might be nice prior to planing - who wouldn't rather plane the drawer sides with the tails and glue off?

What I found of the makers of this type of sander (some quite old, some very much heavier than this and under interesting brand names like "American", who made a bunch of tools and still makes commercial floor sanders. Mall was another name (mall made chainsaws in the 40s and 50s. Prices all over the board, from $50 to $350. This one was the princely sum of $65 (but they do cost a fair bit to ship in the US and ebay adds a huge ripoff premium to the automatically calculated shipping). Shipping from the west coast was nearly the same as the price.

But notice from the hand tool perspective, the handle orientation. This was made to be used on a bench. The american machine was labeled "the plane sander" or "sander planer" or something of that sort. Coming from people using handplanes a generation or two before, the visualization of this was a dude using it like a rolling hand plane, and it feels a lot like that.

The PC 362 and the makita sanders now, if you go track them down, have handles that make them look like they're intended to be used by someone on their knees (like on a floor). Not advocating people find these - as mentioned, this one needs a one-off belt size, but that size is available without too much premium. It has carbon brushes and uses oil lubrication, too (which somehow makes it feel kind of cool).

 

[Inspector]

They get called locomotive sanders because of the resemblance.

Pete

 

[D_W]

They get called locomotive sanders because of the resemblance.

Pete

yessir - that's the ebay search I used. Some of the different makes are super cool looking (i think this one looks interesting, but some are even more streamlined).

 

[Trafalgar]

You bought it!

 

[D_W]

Indeed - it took two tries to find belts that work with it, but it works a treat.

unlike the PC downhandle version, it just sort of intuitively goes with you instead of you feeling like you're walking a large dog pulling on a leash with a handle that's not quite right.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

PC had a 2-1/2” X 14” belt sander that was great, very easily used with one hand. Don’t know if it is still made or not. Somewhere I have their 4” X 24” beast, bought maybe 25 (or more) years ago. I’ve tried letting it lay out, but nobody wants to swipe it!

 

[D_W]

Same for me with the 362 - I have the same sander (but did get the VS version of it.

I have to admit, I don't know what good the variable speed is on it (it was $15 extra) as when you're using it on floors, you're just along for the ride with it waiting for the ride to end - running less than flat out doesn't seem like a great idea.

I started woodworking somewhere around 2004 or 2005 and some of the old FWW articles referred to a belt sander as a valuable tool but capable of ruining work quickly if not used with discretion.

 

[D_W]

(there are little 2 1/2 x 14 sanders on ebay still - I noticed when looking them up that you can't really tell which sanders are 4 1/2 x 26 vs. 2 1/2 x 14 if someone doesn't mention the size or show something scaled in the view).

 

[kinverkid]

I like the overall design aestetic very Atomic Deco. i bet Flash Gordon had one in his shed

My first thought was Dan Dare.

 

[baldkev]

Elu did a big aluminuim belt sander too, but more sloping towards the front

 

[D_W]

Elu did a big aluminuim belt sander too, but more sloping towards the front

I found a picture of it on google - looks almost like an old remington chainsaw format.

 

[Orraloon]

Flash Gordon was also the first thought in my head soon as I saw it. Anyhow hope you get plenty good use from it as it looks built to last.
Regards
John

 

[D_W]

I landed the bigger one for cheap on Ebay today, too. That'll give me an excuse to dump my old PC big sander.

 

[clogs]

it was Dan Dare for me......
great looking thing andtheir old sidewinder circ saw's....
another classic in my eyes is the Dualit toaster.....mines at least 20 years old now and only replaced the element one (just 1 failed).....
it's a pity it's not easier to get stuff from the States.....(duties etc)...
or perhaps pay us what were worth (say a double up) then it wont matter....lol....

 

[whitty]

We had a Wolf belt sander in the 60s just like the one shown. Ours was slower than the modern ones.

 

[D_W]

to my surprise, I slipped up yesterday sawing out two guitar neck blanks (forgot to plane the saw marks off of the one blank - not handsaw marks, but rough mill marks) which leads to a neck that's sprung. You could create a fixture to support the back of the neck, but I sanded the saw marks off with this "plane" style sander and just as you can feel lack of flatness with a plane, i could feel the high spots with the sander thanks to the fact that it's not overpowered and over speed) and the situation is more or less resolved to *close* to flatness. it took longer than planing would've by a good bit and is less accurate, but is a good compromise (the surface of the neck will be hand lapped shortly anyone so that I can hang the neck for a week or two to make sure that if it moves, none of the movement is twist).

 

[D_W]

I got a second skil plane. Waiting for belts for it (it takes an odd size, but they're not that hard to find NOS from american makers - as long as you don't have a wishlist of 8 specific types and a specific price (translation, i can find old 3M belts often for about $2 per belt).

The size is 4 1/2 x 26. why do I want this sander? Well, I don't really have an excuse other than it was cheap and I have a "just in case" porter cable 362VSK that I find miserable to use.

The PC sander is more powerful (both in numbers - in English terms, it's 1440 watts vs. 1200 for the big skil on the left - and from what I can feel, in speed (higher belt speed) and motor efficiency.

But I don't think the skil sander will come up short).

The difference between the two is the skil sander is actually a good bit heavier (!) and far smoother.

I don't do much with power tools, but with a controllable belt sander, there's something I might do once or twice a year where it's a good candidate.

It's not immediately obvious how bit the skil 324 is until you look at it next to the no 9 (which is a 3x24 sander - not a small sander, but already mid size).

These are not accurate like hand planes, but they are far more accurate and controllable than the 362PC and than the lightweight 3x18 makita smaller sander I had in the past (that is long long gone). Getting the older tools in hand bridges the gap between what you read (about a power belt sander being a useful tool in the shop) and what you find (the modern cheap ones just leave a surface of waives and deep scratches).

This type is slower, more stable and just sits on work and goes.