axminster aw106pt

[bob_c]

Today i was thicknessing some stock and ive been having to push /pull almost every piece of wood through it. Does anyone know this machine well and can suggest any way of adjusting it so the power feed works.
Ive just polished and waxed the thicknessing bed and it hasnt improved things.

 

[OLD]

Check for debris stoping the action of the spring mechanisms for drive and smooth rollers just lift to check also contamination of them.
The m/c seems to drive harder on the side nearest the removable cover.

 

[bob_c]

Hi thanks for the reply,ill try this,can this be done simply by lifting the table and moving the dust hood out of the way?
I did notice it works slightly better on one side ,but its just a right pain to use.The planer part works great since ,even better with the cast fence upgrade.
I hope it doesnt involve removing that side panel,with all the cogs and chains everywhere

 

[OLD]

Here is a link to the manual
http://www.stapeley1.plus.com/manual_aw106pt.pdf
You should be able to check as you describe .When the side cover is off you will see that the main drive has a clutch connected to the drive lever and a number of reducing gears to feed the wood via the rollers check that its not slipping.
Waxing the bed usually fixes this m/c

 

[WellsWood]

First thing to check is the sharpness of the knives. Since they cut towards the feed direction (i.e. they try to push the work back out the way it came in) dull knives can have a profound effect on a machines powerfeed capabilities.

 

[motownmartin]

Hi Bob, I have the same piece of kit and had the same problem and the feed roller was jamming, have a look at this thread

 

[dickm]

Don't forget the need to wax the tables to aid movement through the thicknesser.
If the suggestions so far don't work, check that the feed rollers are bedding down to the bottom of their travel. My Lurem needs regular cleaning to get chips out from the bottom of the roller slides, as otherwise it prevents the rollers gripping properly, and in extremis can stop feeding altogether if the rollers settle above the level of the knives.

 

[bob_c]

Well i removed the side panel and found this? The large wheel i removed and found that it had been rubbing on both sides caused by the cog that its mounted on being totally loose .I cant budge the thing with a screw driver to try to tighten it ,are some bearings missing or something?
Is this whats causing my lack of power drive?
I thought the machine was getting a little noisy.
In the top picture the cog in question is the bottom cog with the large flywheel removed.

 

[bob_c]

I managed to get the cog assembly out and have concerns about it.There is a pin/shaft (threaded one end) going through the cog,which has what looks like bearings in.But at one side the hole going through the cog is slightly larger in diameter that the pin/bolt/shaft going through it and at the outer side hole of the cog the hole is several mm,s larger in diameter than the bolt/pin.There is either some serious wear happening or the hole is supposed to be tapered so the large wheel (one with large rubber `o` rings round the diameter,last pic in post above)which attaches to the cog assembly rotates at an angle????
Totally confused

 

[bob_c]

Heres the cog fitted to the big wheel with the rubber o rings/tyres.When the power lever is engaged the wheel lifts up and the rubber tyres press up against the end of the spinning cutter block spindle.

 

[OLD]

This is difficult, from the pictures it look like there is a bush or bearing missing which must be from new or there would be bits of it to be seen is it offset to be able to adjust the chain tension. Actually i think you are in the best position with the components in front of you to resolve this that clutch wheel should not be rubbing.

 

[bob_c]

Problem solved hopefully,thanks to Richard from Axminster who posts on here. Excellent customer service.Apparently the bushing is totally worn away ,i did notice a spray of fine metal particles all over the side panel.On more recent machines(mine is around 6 years old) they have bearings instead of a plain steel bushing.They are sending a replacement part.

 

[OPJ]

Pleased to hear you're on your way to getting this sorted, Bob!

I've got the same machine and, until you mentioned that yours is actually six-years-old, I was getting quite concerned. :wink:

 

[bob_c]

Well after being on the phone at around 4.00 pm to axminster,the replacement part arrived at 9.00am today.Cant fault that for service!!!
I looked at the new part and some dimensons were slightly different,the new part had a 10mmx 1.5 metric thread on it ,the old one has M8.The three cross head screws that hold the cog to the large wheel have been replaced with better hex head screws.
Heres 2 pics of the new part compared to the old.Nice bearings with no play . I can use the old spacer as the dimensions are the same.

First thing i had to do was drill out the thread in the arm where the cog fixes to.I used a 8.5mm drill and tapped the hole with a M10x1.5 thread.

I fixed the cog into the hole with the chain attached and hand spun the drive.The chain was catching on the weld where the powerfeed handle attaches. So i removed the cog and ground some of the weld back.

I fitted the cog and chain again and spun it,noticed that the new cog was sitting further out from the face of the machine than the old one.It was out of plane with the other larger cog that the chain meets with.So i removed everything again and drilled a slight 12.5mm recess a couple of mm deep in the outer face of the threaded hole id just tapped.The cog sat much better and was almost perfectly in plane with the other cog.Heres it all fixed back on.I bolted on the large wheel with the two rubber tyres.

Finally after all this its still not feeding properly,it must be the rollers that are out.Ive cleaned the serrated feed roller.Ive noticed the outfeed roller seems way too low.So its back to adjusting these.Do any one know how to adjust them accurately without some sort of height gauge???I only have s disl gauge on a magnetic base.

 

[dickm]

From experience, the rollers don't need setting with the sort of precision you'll get with a dial gauge. Both in and out feed rollers on my Lurem are sprung, so provided they rest slightly (1mm or so) below the level of the blades, they should be OK. IMHO, measuring from the thickness table up to the blades with a ruler is probably good enough.

 

[OLD]

As mentioned previously are the blades sharp and sticking out of the block the correct amount. I remember trying to thickness some maple with poor blades it did not like any depth of cut one bit .

 

[bob_c]

From experience, the rollers don't need setting with the sort of precision you'll get with a dial gauge. Both in and out feed rollers on my Lurem are sprung, so provided they rest slightly (1mm or so) below the level of the blades, they should be OK. IMHO, measuring from the thickness table up to the blades with a ruler is probably good enough.

From my fiddling about with the dial gauge today(which is not metric it looks like the rollers are more like 2mm below the cutting blades.I read an article on the web and he reckoned on 0.86mm.This must be a design fault/or? and if i want to raise them id need to shim the ends of each roller.One positive is the cutter block is only out 1/1000" end to end between it and the thickness bed.

 

[bob_c]

As mentioned previously are the blades sharp and sticking out of the block the correct amount. I remember trying to thickness some maple with poor blades it did not like any depth of cut one bit .

Thats my next job,is there any way of sharpening the blades without sending them off.I have a Jet version of the Tormek but not the planer blade jig??I also have various sharpening stones ,like a 12" DMT?

 

[OLD]

My local hire center did mine thursday to thursday service £10-£12 all three but worth obtaining a set from axminster to cover sharpening or damage situations, may be best to hold further adjustments to after new blades.
Blades need to be sharpened all the same to keep block in balance.

 

[bob_c]

Today ,ive spent hours shimming up the rollers and it hasnt made any difference,the rollers are still around 2 or 2.5mm lower than the cutters.They must have been more like 3 to 3.5mm lower before i shimmed the rollers.