Patent ID: 6886615

Claim:
A power planer comprising: a base defining a reference surface; a cutterhead that defines a cutting plane; a carriage assembly housing the cutterhead; a carriage elevation mechanism coupling the carriage assembly to the base to thereby permit a distance between the reference surface and the cutting plane to be adjusted; and a height setting device for preventing a distance between the reference surface and the cutting plane from being set to a dimension that is smaller than a selected dimension, the selected dimension being selected from a plurality of predetermined dimensions that are defined by contact between a first stop and a second stop, the first stop defining a datum and being threadably coupled to one of the base and the carriage assembly to permit a distance between the datum and the reference surface to be selectively adjusted, the second stop being coupled to the other one of the base and the carriage assembly, the second stop including an adjustment portion that is rotatably mounted about a pivot point, the adjustment portion being segregated into a plurality of sectors, each of the sectors having a sector surface that is configured to be selectively abutted against the first stop when the carriage assembly is lowered toward the base, each of the sector surfaces being spaced outwardly from the pivot point by a different predetermined distance, each predetermined distance being related to an associated one of the plurality of predetermined dimensions.