Vintage Rockwell 653 Versa Plane Restoration

[BreeStephany]

I picked up a Rockwell 653 Versa Plane 10A 3" hand planer with a carbide spiral cutter head a few months and finally got all of the parts in for me to restore it yesterday.

I replaced all of the bearings, belt, cord, brush caps, replaced all of the screws with stainless, cleaned the housing and then buffed the entire planer to a quick somewhat mirror finish and took 250 grit sandpaper to the cutterhead to remove a little bit of rust.

I stripped the handle and dust chute, put on 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of flat black, 3 coats of high gloss black and 2 coats of clear coat.

Before
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Disassembly/Reassembly
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View media item 61279new bearings & retention ring

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View media item 61281new cord installed and cleaned field installed. The field and armature looked basically brand new when I removed them and still had all of the painted factory markings on them like they were brand new.

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Finished
View media item 61283I polished the entire house with a buffing wheel on my grinder, drill and dremel and a little bit of white rouge compound. I have never really buffed anything on a buffing wheel prior to now, so I was pretty happy with the results.

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View media item 61286Sharpening jig for the cutterhead

View media item 61287Sharpening bar and grinding wheel. The planer came with the sharpening jig, instructions for the sharpening jig and the planer.

View media item 61288Edge guide. I still need to polish the aluminum and strip the bluing on the still and redo the bluing on the guide plate.

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[7th Kahuna]

Nice job. Makes me think I should do the same thing to my Porter Cable 126 Door Planer. Is that sharpening jig designed to work with the carbide cutter head, an original steel cutter head, or both? I haven't seen one like it before.

 

[the gypsy]

that is some beautiful work. I really like that plane, I wanted to buy one many years ago but I never did. At the time it was quite expensive and I had no immediate use for it.

 

[BreeStephany]

Is that sharpening jig designed to work with the carbide cutter head, an original steel cutter head, or both? I haven't seen one like it before.

To my knowledge, the 653 came standard with a carbide cutterhead. The jig came standard with the planer, as far as I know.

I haven't read up a lot on Rockwell's history, so I could be wrong.

 

[BreeStephany]

that is some beautiful work. I really like that plane, I wanted to buy one many years ago but I never did. At the time it was quite expensive and I had no immediate use for it.

I have almost as much invested in this one as my Skil 100, which is a bit out of my collecting comfort zone, but I guess the polished aluminum caught me and I had to have it.

After ripping it down, I definitely think that the Skil 100 is a nicer planer, but the Rockwell definitely has a ton of power and the spiral cutter can take off a ton of material in a hurry.

 

[Zeke]

That is most definitely one of the best tools of its type and class ever made. The polishing is nice workmanship but somewhat on the bling side for me.

The way the cutter head in HSS v. carbide has always worked for me is that the grinding fixture works for the HSS but not the carbide. You can have the carbide professionally done but it's spendy.

 

[nine4gmc]

Great job!!

 

[7th Kahuna]

The way the cutter head in HSS v. carbide has always worked for me is that the grinding fixture works for the HSS but not the carbide. You can have the carbide professionally done but it's spendy.

I've never had my hands on the sharpening jig for the PC 126 but I seem to remember reading that you had to order a second (different) stone if you wanted to use it to sharpen carbide. I'd love to know whether it actually worked or not.

BreeStephany, one of these days you are just going to have to lay out all these tools you've been refreshing and take (and share) a 'family' photo.

 

[the gypsy]

I have almost as much invested in this one as my Skil 100, which is a bit out of my collecting comfort zone, but I guess the polished aluminum caught me and I had to have it.

After ripping it down, I definitely think that the Skil 100 is a nicer planer, but the Rockwell definitely has a ton of power and the spiral cutter can take off a ton of material in a hurry.

What about the Skil 100 makes it a nicer planer. Post a picture of the Skil 100 please.

 

[BreeStephany]

Here is my Skil 100. I replaced the bearings, spring washers, brushes, brush caps and cord. I had it acid washed and powder coated and then polished the bottom of the shoe to a mirror finish. The nameplate was very bleached out so I hand painted it and shot it with several coats of clear coat. I had the blades professionally sharpened and replaced all of the hardware with stainless steel hardware.

Nameplate before restoration

The Skil has a much more quality casting, is free of casting marks and casting defects. It also has a better frame size and fits your hand a lot better. The construction overall is a lot easier to work on as well. The drive pulleys are pressed on the Skil with a key, which makes removal for servicing much easier, where as the pulleys on the Rockwell are screwed on and don't have a means of removal outside of using a set of pump pliers on them, which risks breaking the armature or damaging the teeth on the pulley. There are a lot of small details on the Rockwell that I didn't like in comparison to the Skil.

The Skill had a heavier and large frame size armature and field, despite the fact that it was 2.5A less powerful.

I do like the spiral cutterhead on the Rockwell versus the straight knives on the Skil. The Rockwell out of the box has on the fly adjustment whereas the Skil has detents for height, making adjustment not as smooth in certain shaping applications, though this can be easily modified by removing the detent plate.

Just my two cents.

 

[the gypsy]

That is a beautiful planer and aesthetically pleasing. Is this why you like it more or is there a technical or mechanical advantage.

 

[Outlawmws]

Nice job on both Planers Bree!

For getting the final on the polished aluminum, Try some Mothers aluminum polish. I've gotten aluminum almost to a mirror finish.

 

[BreeStephany]

That is a beautiful planer and aesthetically pleasing. Is this why you like it more or is there a technical or mechanical advantage.

I prefer the Skil because of its quality construction, its smaller format and overall, how it feels in my hand. With that said, both planers have their own unique advantages. Lets say I had to remove a ton of material in a hurry (1/8 - 3/16+), I would grab the Rockwell. Its heavier, has a more powerful motor and the spiral cutterhead doesn't bog down when taking 3/16+ of material off in one pass.

If I'm going to be using the planer all day for a huge project, I would go for the Rockwell and let it do the work.

If I need something that needs precision and an almost perfectly consistent height across the material, I would go for the Skil. Its a bit lighter and much easier to maneuver.

If I'm shaping or adding character, I would go for the Skil. Its actually great for giving beams a hand hewn appearance.

Now, lets say your a surf board shaper... the difference between the Skil and the Rockwell are night and day. The Skil is the go to planer because its lighter, easier to maneuver, its simple, and mechanically, its next to impossible to kill, even when your filling it with foam dust. Most shapers won't touch the Rockwells anymore because of the large format size and the weight, which aren't necessary unless your shaping wood blanks or longboards.

 

[the gypsy]

Thank you for taking the time to explain your experiences, it is much appreciated.

 

[Don-T]

How did you get the cutter off the shaft? Did you take the shaft out of the planer. I am trying to replace mine but do not have a puller that fits.

 

[BreeStephany]

How did you get the cutter off the shaft? Did you take the shaft out of the planer. I am trying to replace mine but do not have a puller that fits.

Hope you got this figured out, but figured I would respond just in case.

The cutterhead should slide off the shaft, provided the shaft isn't rusted and is clean. Over time, sawdust, dirt, oil, etc. can collect between the cutterhead and the shaft, making it more difficult to remove.

If the cutterhead can't be removed by hand, remove the cutterhead and shaft from the planer body, soak the shaft and cutterhead in solvent and then carefully press out the shaft out of the cutterhead with a hydraulic press.