Global Machinery Company 420W User Manual

OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

GMC PPM 420W Magnesium Palm Planer - Full Product Review

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Review By Dean Bielanowski

GMC Website -

http://www.gmcompany.com

GMC 420W Magnesium Palm Planer

Review

By Dean Bielanowski

If you are a power tool junkie, like me,
it's always great to get your hands on a
practical and useful power tool to make
those common woodworking tasks a more
simpler affair.

This is not to say a good hand tool is
worthless. In fact, hand planes are very
handy to have around the shop and on
construction sites for fine-tuning of
lumber or joints, in their many forms.
While the hand plane is often associated
with fine woodworking, the hand power
planer is more often found on
construction or building sites, but it too
can be used for fine woodworking tasks.

Today we are looking at a power planer,
but one with a little twist. The GMC
Magnesium Palm Planer is smaller than
your average power planer, fits in the
palm of your hand allowing one handed
operation and offers something unique in
the world of power tools.

The GMC Magnesium Palm Power
Planer

The Palm Planer ships in a small-sized

GMC PPM Photos

All photos copyright onlinetoolreviews.com.

Use without prior written permission prohibited

The PPM Palm Planer

Depth adjustment knob up front

Go

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OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

black plastic molded case. Naturally, this
affords it good protection during transit,
and consequently, it arrived damage free
and ready to go. This same case will offer
good protection for the end user if they
also transport it around from site to site,
so it is well worth retaining and using it.
Inside you will find the planer itself, a full­color product manual, plus several
accessories including;

● Blade spanner

● Chip extraction tube

● Spare drive belt

● Spare set of blades

This is a fairly stock-standard set of
accessories for a power planer, except for
the spare set of blades. This is the first
planer I have acquired that offers a full
set of spare blades in the case. A nice
addition and a good little money saver as
quality replacement blades can consume
a bit of petty cash in the stores. Be aware
however that these blades are not the
standard 82mm size, only 60mm, so grab
a set of spares with your purchase, or
when you find them in your retail outlet.
They may be hard to find in a few years
time.

The Palm Planer (Product Code: PPM)
features a 420W motor. This is about half
the power of a solid regular sized power
planer, but given that this tool does not
take as much material off in a pass, due
to its smaller blade and max depth
cutting capacity, a larger motor doesn't
seem warranted. Plus, to have a small
power tool such as this, you can't go too
big in the power department, otherwise it
is no longer a "small" tool. 420W of
power proved to be more than ample for
all cutting tasks I engaged the tool in.
Even on full width planing passes at close
to maximum depth in dense hardwoods,
the PPM did the job with little trouble,
although consideration to feed rate on
harder woods needs to be taken into
account. The PPM features a no-load
speed of 14,000 RPM and combined with
a two-blade cutterhead delivers smooth
planing results with sharp cutters. The
TCT cutting blades themselves are

Lock switch release and power

on/off button

Dust extraction port and blade

protection foot at rear of tool

Light and durable magnesium covers,

here shown protecting the belt drive.

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OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

reversible so you get double the life out
of them over a normal single-edged blade
set.

The power controls are located in easy
reach of the thumb and forefinger. The
switch lock release button is located up
top (with the chevron markings). The
power on/off button is located below and
lateral to this. To power up the tool the
top lock switch must be push down/
forward and held there while the lateral
on/off button is pressed to power up the
tool. To turn off the tool you simply
release the on/off button. The lock switch
does not have to be held down/forward
once the tool has been turned on. Both
switches have a rubber mold grip for
better grip/control.

The PPM's body features a mix of light
weight magnesium (belt drive cover, front
control area) hardened plastic, and
rubber overmolds for grip and comfort
throughout. Despite the light magnesium
and plastic casing, the tool doesn't feel
like a toy. It still weighs in at 1.9kgs,
which does seem to be a comfortable
weight in the hand. Not too light to feel
flimsy and vibrate excessively in use, and
not too heavy as to make it
unmanageable (and dangerous) with
single hand control. The whole tool
features a smooth, slimline design. The
motor housing, which is also where you
grip the tool in the palm has a rounded
barrel shape that easily contours to the
curve of your hand as you grasp the tool.
In fact, the tool is very comfortable to
hold and use.

A fully cast metal base is machined flat
and was verified to indeed be flat by my
shop straight edge. The fixed rear base is
solid and flat while the adjustable front
base features numerous (3) V-grooves to
allow edge chamfering to be achieved.
Each V-groove is milled at a different
depth too for versatility, to mill a specific
depth chamfer, or to use a different
groove each time to even out blade wear
by not using the same part of the blade
with each pass. In terms of depth
capacity, the PPM can remove up to

The cutterhead

Grooved front plate for chamfering

and edge work, flat rear plate for

accurate results.

PPM shown planing a door edge

Knocking off the sharp corners

using the chamfering grooves

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OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

1.5mm of material with each pass. The
adjustable front base and depth control
knob allows changes in 0.25mm
increments with click stops for each

0.25mm setting. Maximum cutting width
is 60mm, about 22mm less than a
conventional full sized power planer, but
still more than enough for the majority of
planing tasks, and certainly plenty for
door edge planing and edge chamfering.

At the rear edge of the tool is a dust
extraction port where the supplied
shaving adaptor tube fits. You can use
this to either guide shavings and debris
away from the user, or to hook up a shop
vacuum hose for more efficient
extraction. In use the dust extraction port
works reasonably well. I won't say very
well as it can sometimes get clogged
easily, particularly when taking full width
passes on softer materials like pine. The
curly shavings this softwood sometimes
produces can block the port, particularly
if you make a planing pass too quickly,
not giving the tool enough time to
efficiently remove the mass volume of
shavings and debris it creates. The
problem seems less evident on
hardwoods, and almost non existent
when chamfering or making smaller width
passes. In these instances the dust port
works a treat.

A nice feature of this tool is the blade
protection foot mounted on the back end
of the rear base. It is a little pivoting foot
that lowers under gravity to provide
clearance for the blade and cutterhead
when the tool is put down on a work
surface. This ensures the blade does not
gouge your workbench, table or concrete
floor (!!!) when the tool is placed down
and the cutterhead is still spinning. It
readily pivots up and out of the way itself
as you make a planing pass and the edge
of the timber pushes against the
protection foot. This was a feature I first
noted on some of Ryobi's power planers,
and it has proved very useful and handy,
both protecting your work surfaces and
your blades from damage. Thumbs up for
that inclusion on the PPM!

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OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

In Use

In terms of use, the Palm Planer is not
really used any differently to a full sized
planer, except for that fact that is a one­handed-use tool. Planing technique is
similar to a full sized unit; there are very
few differences in this regard. While a
planer like this can be used for a variety
of different purposes, it tends to see most
use in planing down door edges to fit a
door opening, or to fix "stuck" doors or
doors that have expanded over time and
no longer close properly. It is used for
general width or dimension reduction on
building or construction sites (in the
woodworker's shop, this task is often
done by a dedicated thicknessing
machine). The quick and easy chamfering
a power planer offers is often preferred
over a hand plane or block plane by
many, especially if your hand tools
haven't received the sharpening attention
they deserve in recent times! While the
PPM can also cut rabbets on the edge of
timber, it is not specifically designed for it
(no rabbeting fence included) and these
must be done somewhat free-hand to
start off with, then there is a limited cut
capacity for rebates because of the tools
body design and shape.

In terms of use and practicality, I think
that if you already own a power planer,
there may not be a lot to offer you in this
smaller unit, unless you have a specific
need or desire for a smaller portable
power planer, or for one-handed use. If
you do not yet own a power planer
however, and are looking for a starter or
smaller unit for all those odd jobs around
the home, or for quick chamfering of
edges, then the PPM would indeed fit the
task nicely.

Priced at around AUD$89 (street price as
at February '07) it offers good value for
money and basic features all packaged in
a uniquely sized portable planer with
magnesium casing. It will probably not
satisfy a trade user, but is ideal for the
DIY enthusiast, home owner or occasional
carpenter.

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OnlineToolReviews.com - GMC (Global Machinery Company) PPM Palm Planer - Detailed Review

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