Rigid Planer stand question

[Bill Stock]

Finally got some time to pull my Rigid planer out of the box and put the stand together.

I was surprised how poorly engineered the stand is. The holes for the carriage bolts are much bigger than the actual size of the studs and the studs aren't long enough to go through all the parts being joined. I can understand some play to make it easier to put together, but this seems a bit much. It wobbles around like at drunk at New Years. It's only the friction from the nuts giving it any strength at all.

A friend of mine owns one of these too and he suggested bolting the planer to the stand on the floor. The theory being that I could stand it up from the floor and save my back. But there's no way I would try that with this stand. Perhaps his older model has a stronger stand.

Have the stands always been this weak or is this the new improved model?

[J T]

Sat, Oct 28, 2006, 11:52pm (EST+1) [e-mail] (Bill=A0Stock) doth lamenteth: Finally got some time to pull my Rigid planer out of the box and put the stand together. I was surprised how poorly engineered the stand is.

I make all my own stands - out of 1/2" plywood. No problem making them, no problem with not sturdy enough. The only problem I had was with my saw stand - it wound up a bit too high for my liking, so I cut

6" out of it and put it back together - no prob. Shoulda painted it yellow.

JOAT If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

[Patriarch]

[e-mail] (J T) wrote in news:8180-4544DCD4-872@storefull-

3334.bay.webtv.net:

It's not too late to paint it yellow. With latex spray paint, even.

Patriarch

[efgh]

I have the Rigid planer as well and my stand is sturdy once I got it together. I've moved it around the workshop a few times and I don't think it's lost any of it's integrity. Once I get a few other projects out of the way, I'm going to build a movable stand for it.

[J T]

Mon, Oct 30, 2006, 12:39am (EST-1) [e-mail] (Patriarch) doth sayeth: It's not too late to paint it yellow. With latex spray paint, even.

Nah, what I meant was, if I'd painted it yellow from the start, it wouldn't have been too tall. LMAO

JOAT If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

[Patriarch]

"efgh" wrote in news:lCm1h.35368$P7.30320@edtnps90:

We built a welded steel tube mobile base for the Ridgid planer I have had for four or five years now (Who remembers exactly how long these tools have been around, anyway?) The stand is bolted together with the parts that HD sent, and other than having to retighten the bolts once, have been just fine since.

A better planer stand would have been a fancier planer, a lot more money, more room, and less portable. And I wouldn't have been able to talk myself into all of those handplanes as easily. YMMV, of course.

Patriarch

[Len]

news:lCm1h.35368$P7.30320@edtnps90:

and put

got it

I don't

other

for it.

I have had

these tools have

parts that HD

been just

more money,

talk myself

I mounted my Ridgid planer to an earlier version of one of these:

cut a couple of chunks of 4x4 to fit longways in the top, spaced them to match the mounting holes, then drilled pilot holes and ran four lag bolts with 'fender' washers through the shelf bottom into each 4x4.

Then I put the planer in place, marked the mounting hole locations, drilled the pilot holes, and lag bolted it in place. For stability, I filled the lower shelf almost full of 'quick set' concrete, leaving just enough space for a 1/2" piece of plywood laid on it to come out flush with the top of the shelf edge.

My cart originally came with four swivel casters. I changed these to two swivel/locking casters and two fixed/locking casters. This may have been overkill, as I find locking the swivels when needed is usually enough.

Len

[fredfighter]

Ridgid Planer. Ridgid tools were first manufactured in a plant on Ridge Rd in North Ridgeville, Ohio.

They used to publish a bi-annual calender showcasing their tools, but also, no more.