Clark 2003 Model Foam Planer, User Manual

By 2003 four things had clearly changed.  First the cost of the Skil 100 parts and planers had

increased dramatically.  While they are incredibly durable they are slowly wearing out.  Some

spare parts are being manufactured, but at a very high cost.  Second it had became very clear

the P-20SB is durable and a good value rather than a “plastic toy”.  Third some shapers had

gotten really good at using the modified P-20SB and evidently preferred it to the Skil 100 for

some or all of their shaping.  One of the major factors was weight.  Last some serious shapers

were identifying problems with the modified P-20SB and were making some pretty trick

modifications.

By 2003 we realized that Clark Foam had made some serious errors.  First we did not include

a manual such as this one with all of our modified planers.  A lot of shapers were really

struggling with the required maintenance and repairs.  Furthermore, many shapers did not

know we carried parts, could offer phone help, and did repairs.  Last, and most serious, we

had not made a commitment to the continued development of the planer.

The commitment was made to fix our errors.  As a first step we again looked at all planers

available in the United States.  We now have a very contemporary planer collection at our

factory.  The Bosch 1594 clearly won the overall design, power, and RPM award for an out of

the box small planer.  Our analysis showed the Bosch 1594 would be difficult to convert to a

surfboard planer so we stuck with the P-20SB.  In our opinion it is still the easiest planer to

modify and it has some other significant advantages.

As a first step in the development process we got a lot of input from shapers.  We also checked

out numerous modifications made by shapers.  We carefully studied the Skill 100.  During

our development work we concluded that the original 1930’s Skil 100 designer went on to

design the first atomic bomb.  What a design!

During testing and information gathering we noticed the majority of shapers were running

their planers on dull blades.  This is the equivalent of reducing a planer’s power.  It also limits

the amount of the final shaping that can be done using a power planer.  This is how we came

up with the idea of a blade exchange and a blade sharpening service.

Once we had the power planer sharpening service in place we extended the service to the

hand planers we sell.

SUGGESTIONS

We welcome any suggestions for improving our planer and improving this Manual.