First off, I was so close to buying a new 2013-2014 Clark foam Hitachi recently, but I hate that they did away with the handle relocation this year. Why is that? Not to mention it is ugly as hell also. And after searching through the threads about this, I quickly came to the conclusion that no one, that I could see, ever really came up with an inexpensive way of replicating the “On the Fly” adjustment for their shaping planers. I may me mistaken but i only seen people talk about having kits made, then sell it to the DIYourselfer. Well people after literally hours of wondering isles, I found everything needed to do it at my local Lowes for $32 bucks. That consits of materieals for the handle, black non slip grip dip and the most essential part, the coarse gear mechanism. Now I am waiting for my virgin P20SBK to be delivered here this week to do the mod to, but i have a fully modified Makita KP0800K that I have done the shoe mod to and it works awesome even after over 100 SUP’s and surfboards. I will have to take pics of the makita and post them.
Now this is definitley not a “plug and play” set-up and it will take elbow grease, cutting, grinding, gluing, epoxying, nipping and tucking to do the mod. But since I did it once on the makita, I am going to do a series of videos on how to do it to the older Hitachi P20SB’s. But I may buy a few of the hitachis up and do all the mods and resell them before posting the videos. Now one thing I must mention is that the mechanism I am using is not as coarse as the true clark foam planer, but DAMN CLOSE!!. Clark foam uses 1/4 turn to fully open. This mechanism I found will need about 1/2 or less turn to fully open the cut. Now it is seriously not that noticable to me but it may be a deal breaker for the production shaper who has used clarks for years. Anyway once I post pics of the mechanism, most people will be like wtf, why didnt I think of that “Hint” Everybody has more than one of these items in their house or apartment…
Show us your stuff. It’s been demonstrated with Photos here on Sways before with the use of a Bendix. The handle is no big deal. Just cutting, brackets etc. Relocate the cord; More drilling. For guys that like them I’m sure they will be interested in your thread. I did one once, but had all the parts necessary off of a junker that I bought at a well know shaper’s estate sale. The hardest thing was getting the knob and depth adjustment apart. The Clarks were Epoxied together. Putting the old parts into my $59 Lowes Hitachi was no sweat once I got the old one apart. The biggest hassle with the handle is being sure of the relocation and making exact cuts so that you don’t cut wrong and ruin the handle therefore winding up with a handleless planer. Luckily for me I had a parts box that I got at the estate sale. In the box were a couple of already cut handles and the brackets. You’ll be doing alot of guys a solid if you came up with all the parts at Lowes and can post up pics and how to. The problem as I see it is that the quality of the Hitachi has gone down as they are now made in China. Even the ones from the Clark era were never up to the task. It is possible for even a Backyarder who only does a few boards to burn up the bearings and melt the case. Bosch or Makita conversion would be a better choice. But ----- Can’t wait to see it. Lowel
I have seen the bendix and thought of using that as well but was not interested in going to marine repair shops and ask for spare parts. Also the bendix used was geared backwards so would fully open the cut oposite of that of the Clark models. And I agree about the Makitas and Bosch over the Hitachi but I plan on doing the sealed bearing swap as well. Hopefully I am not getting over my head with that. I know the Makita already has seald bearings and I use it 5-6 hrs a day and no problems plust the 5-6 amp motor is great.
But anyway with these parts, it will look almost exactly like the clark foam “on the fly” knob dipped in the black plasti-dip.
The list of parts are as follows
1 - 1/2" threaded Grey coupling = $2.19
1 - 1" white pvc cap = $ .66
1 - 1/2" threaded male to 1/8" female brass fitting = $5.58
1 - 1/4" x 3/8" x 1" steel spacer = $1.15
1 - 1/4"-20 x 1" x 1/2" socket Hd cap screw (comes in a pack of 2) = $3.17
1 can of Black Plasti-Dip = $6.98
And Lastly the main mechanism 1 - Price Pfister Hot and cold faucet stem part # 12H-1H/C = $11.99
Who would of known right?. I personally have never seen a faucet handle stem go bad so honestly I didn’t know that these parts existed. Not to toot my own horn but I thought this would work ideally. And for the DIYer, who can do all of the other mods, this should be no biggie.
Never even thought about it before. I’d imagine that with a little searching you could find valves with greater travel per turn…Some valves open full in half a turn and others take several turns.
Your right mako but it is kinda hard to figure that out at Lowes because all the stems are in sealed plastic packaging, the kind that needs a razor blade or scissors to open. I lucked out and found one already opened and got to inspect it before purchasing.
Once you’ve found something you can use for the depth adjustment; the rest of it should be a piece of cake for just about any of the Sways Crew. We’ve got guys on here that start out with a blank. shape and glass a board out of it and then strip and reshape the same blank out of a perfectly good board about ten times just to save a buck. Once you know what part to use; the installation can’t be any bigger pain in the Ass than stripping glass and reshaping the same blank multiple times. Lowel
Ok mako I took ur advice and found a stem that is almost the exact 1/4 turn as the Clark hitachis. So everyone disregard the stem I listed and supplied a pic of. I will list the new part number shortly once I am done at work.
Newleaf - how do I know wheather my Hitachi is new or old version? Mine is a p20sb - that’s all it says.
Anyway, how to disassemble this sucker! Mind you I don’t care to mod my handle…i’m just interested in going fly mods. And switch to sealed bearings. T I a
Hi all, I have been looking for an easy way to modify the handle of my planer, and that looks promising. However, I have hard time picturing the implemention! Are you planning on cutting out the thread part and drilling a hole in it to fit the screw of the shoe?
Carl it is an honor to hear that from you, You and Nick are big influences of mine. I have done a few resin type boards along the same lines as 2 Crows but not as detailed as Nick and minus the graffitti style writing, Also Tom Stack lives in my area and always gives me great tips and advice. He said he used to work at Pearson with you as a quality control. Love your website as well.
