Planer Pal W1226A Mini Planer Pal

This little tool makes blade alignment so much easier *BUT* I had to make a small modification to make it work with my Delta TP300 planer. I couldn't find a spec on the TP300 cutter diameter but apparently it's a little narrower than this tool is designed for and thus it leaves the blades extended too far out.Rather than return it I decided to just try adding a shim to the magnets that holds the cutter blade in place - which in turn would keep the blade recessed more. I happened to have an old blade-style automotive fuse in my junk drawer and found that the thickness of the fuse blades were probably close to what I needed so I just cut them off and epoxied them to the alignment magnet. With this small mod my cutter blade was exactly where I wanted it.This was a pretty easy fix considering this tool isn't designed for my planer. Money well spent IMO.

Reviewing "Woodstock W1226A Mini-Planer Pal, Pair" - I used this to install and align new blades in a 30 year old Sears 12 1/2"" planer. Worked perfectly. The magnets have plenty of strength to easily hold the new blades in position while the gimbal screws are tightened. My sears planer is model 351.233731. The cutterhead assembly is about 2" in diameter and only holds two 12" long blades. Removing the dust collector gave me access (5 minutes). I was able to remove both blades, clean pith from the cutterhead with carburator cleaner and using this tool to hold the new blades in position I tightened the gimbals screws. The entire job was completed in about 30 minutes. There was a tool that came with the planer to do the same job, but only one tool. So you'd have to move it back and forth left to right over and over to make the same adjustment. The Pair of magnetic tools gets the job done in minutes. Very pleased with how easy it made the job.

Does a good job of holding planer blades at correct distance. Magnets are not too overwhelming, which is good. Took a little practice to get used to how to find the best procedure to use these. At first it seemed tricky to find proper seating on the planer drum but just make sure the fixture magnets are actually contacting the drum and the locator spur is touching the drum slot edge. I used a small flexible mirror to confirm these attributes- it helped immensely !

I was dreading pulling the knives out of my Delta portable planer but the cut quality was just too rough. After considering buying another copy of the Delta knife setting jig that came with the planer (the original was lost) I decided to try this little Planer Pal as it was cheaper and well reviewed. I am SO glad I tried the Planer Pal. It took all of 5 minutes to get my knives set perfectly with this great little tool. I found it to be well made and cleverly designed. It is actually 2 tough little plastic brackets with 4 positioning magnets that hold it to the cutterhead while a 5th magnet holds the knife at the correct depth. One bracket goes at each end of the cutterhead with a locating pin that positions each Pal correctly in the knife slot. The bolt heads are easily accessible so you can cinch them down while the Pals hold the knife in place. It takes less time to do than it does to write about it. I won't be at all hesitant to sharpen my knives from now on, knowing I have this little gem handy to set them perfectly.

I found this very simple to use. Quick, accurate and smooth. 1) Loosened the blade retainers so blade could slide free, 2)set jig on cutter-slightly slid away from the plastic stop on the jig, 3)slowly slid it in place against the plastic stop (as you slid jig up and down, you can see blade slide in and out...it works well) 4) gently snugged blade retainer, a little at a time, working back and forth on the set screws, removed jig, and mine has (2) screws down inside to adjust height without gauge, I just backed them out, so they are snug to blade.....this new jig does the work, so they aren’t used to adjust blades.

I almost returned them when flipping the knives on a Delta 22-540. I eyed the original position of the knife using the beveled edge before removal. When I used these to install the flipped knife, they looked to be higher and thought I should try another product. After reviewing other products, I decided to set the knives with these Planer Pals and use a little extra caution when testing. Everything worked well in testing and I've been planing 11" cherry with great results. Boards feed great and the sharp knifes are a plus.

I immediately noticed the magnets inside the devices were different in how much they stuck out of the plastic. This resulted in a slanted blade, but I was able to finagle the positioning to work and create a consistent blade height in my Delta 22-540.When I used the planer, however, I had a dangerous kickback situation (but luckily was to the side) because the blades on the planer were so high they engaged with the wood when the infeed roller only had a marginal hold on the stock. It’s not good. This product needs to have better QC and an actual list of compatible planer models, and that 22-540 better not be on there. I ended up lowering the blades by hand and finally had great results. The purpose of this tool is completely missing.