What is it?

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Apart from it being a small metal planer (bed is 4" wide and about 6" effective cutting length) does anyone recognise it, please? Maker, age, origin (guessing it is UK as threads are mostly imperial), or any other details would be appreciated.

I'm guessing it was a kit as some of the machining is not really up to a serial production finish – all adequate for use, but not perfect.

There are other (sideways) pics in an album.

ndiy

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Small and handraulic!

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

It's a planer

Roy

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Yes, Roy, we can see it is a planer, but is it just a toy or did it have a useful job in some industry (someone has suggested it might have been used for machining printing blocks, which would have been a soft material).

Clearly a good (right) wrist strengthener, being operated by that one bakelite knob.

But thanks for 'bumping' the thread. 423 views and only your posting/response seems to make it a quite rare – possibly one of a kind, even – item.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Have you looked over the ones on the Lathes site? You can look for a few characteristics even if it is not specifically shown.
For a given size/weight a planer gives a 50% longer working envelope typically so were useful but a long way from common with Model Engineers. A few specialist small scale engineers and instrument makers might have had one too so not unreasonable that it could have had a use for a print house.

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

The bakelite knob appears to be a later addition, planers were usually fitted with a capstan wheel. Small planers became obsolete many years ago, I've seen a few over the years, most dating from the 19th or early 20th century. Fairly common at one time, they are probably rare now because most of them went to the scrapyard.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Have you looked over the ones on the Lathes site?

Yes, that was my first port of call. Nothing like it, even among the orphans.

they are probably rare now….

They most certainly are, but a member actually made one fairly recently – well in the last decade or so!  Weighing 80kg, so quite robust.for its bed size. It appears to be a very good working model.  A credit to Richard's skill.

This one weighs just a tad over 12kg , including the wooden plinth.

The crackle finish on the main cast components reminds me of laboratory instruments such as Hilger & Watts.

 

 

Edited By not done it yet on 19/11/2017 17:33:58

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