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?