Looking for HL850 tips--levelling and smoothing

[endgrain]

The power planer...the one power tool I have which I haven't been able to tame. I started with Makita, never could get a good cut out of it. Then got a Bosch which quickly got returned when even "zero" setting removed material. Got the HL850 around Christmas time. Turned a couple board feet of wood into sawdust but I still couldn't get the hang of using the thing for planing a piece of board flat.

My use for this thing was to flatten and smooth large piece$ that don't fit into my 13" planer, that is, level the board, take out high spots and if possible smooth the surface. I noticed that at zero setting, I'm still removing material when the blade goes over the (incoming) edge...probably I'm not holding the shoe flat to the wood and the blades do what they're intended to do. I suspect that, from looking at what happens when the blade passes the edge, I need to put more pressure upfront coming into the piece. An ever bigger problem for me though is once I've gouged the board some, I can't seem to get it in a flat state again no matter how hard I try.

So I'm looking for some pointers on how to use the HL850 for flattening and smoothing surfaces. Practice more? Forward pressure coming in, backward pressure coming out? Give up and get a jointer hand plane  :-\? So far, it's only been useful to make some cauls...

 

[tiralie]

Because of the length of the 850 it best used as an edge planer vs. flattening or taking out twists in boards. You can use it to do what you want you just need to take lighter passes.
Back off the blade setting past the zero mark as far as it goes and make pass. You should get no cutting on the board. After establishing this, turn the setting a couple notches and make a pass  and repeat until you take just the slightest amount of wood off. Use this setting to plane your boards. To level the boards, plane at an 30 degree angle across the board. Ideally the 850 needs the support of a board of equal thickness on the back and front of the pass to maintain a level entry and exit.
Once you have gotten one flat face but still rough, turn over and repeat. I find using a hand plane to smooth the boards out is much faster and results in a much better surface than a power planer.
Tim

 

[aloysius]

Your planer; any planer, will take its cutting "reference" from the relative position & angle of attack of the soleplates' toe.  All cutting follows on from the setting & angle of this toe.

The previous poster's recommendation to take initial cuts @ some 30 degree diagonals has merit.  It's also important to initially take stock of your plank by referencing it against a true plane.  A flat floor or even a pair of winding sticks will work to be able to "highlight" with pencil or lumber crayon the high spots to be removed.  To this end, initial cuts may not necessarily begin or end at the ends of the plank, but may need to be intermediate, shorter cuts.

I suspect that when you reference,  mark & then plane away these high spots only things will become more straightforward.  Additionally, a reasonable quality prewar Jack or Foreplane may make for a slower but more accurate flattening process.  A power planer can be a bit coarse & rough in such roles, as you've found yourself.

 

[ear3]

The HL850 might be good for hitting the high spots and dealing with major board deformation, but have you considered other methods for final smoothing, like a router sled or even a jointer plane?

Here's a good video on flattening with a (non Festool) power planer, though he is only doing one face in preparation for the thickness planer:

 

[sancho57]

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...gh-sawn-to-workable-ts75-and-850-power-plane/

Good Video, for what your interested in check out the 7 minute mark