Axminster AXMINSTER PROFESSIONAL AP330ST PORTABLE THICKNESSER

[ChrisPrice]

I have had the above machine for about a month now and have been very pleased with the results. Used it this morning no problems, but this afternoon !
A piece of Elm I had been working on in the morning with no problem suddenly had lines all over it - raised lines where the cutters would be.
Anyone any ideas please?

 

[Ollie78]

The harder the wood the more you will notice this effect. Is the head helical or are the cutters set square to the barrel ?
This effect is reduced on some heads as the cutters in each row are offset so overlap each other.

As the knives get blunt I find taking lighter cuts is better.
It looks very minimal and a quick waft with some sandpaper or a scraper will remove it.

 

[TRITON]

You can expect marks really as the thicknesser is only really a demensioning tool. Gets stuff down to a required thickness before you finish off with handplane or sander.
Or invest in a drum sander, but again you'd need to change the drum paper grits till theyre small enough, and even than you're probably still going to have to sand or plane it by hand

 

[HOJ]

A finish off a thicknesser like that suprises me, on my machines one being a Tersa, unless I have hit something and nicked a blade the finish is fairly flawless (joinery quality mind) is this a cautionary tale about helical cutter blocks?

 

[HamsterJam]

Is the extraction OK? My straight bladed thicknesser can do this if the chips aren’t whisked away fast enough or the cut too heavy.