Dodge
Established Member
Hi folks,
Now I know a number of you out there have the same thicknesser as myself - the Axminster TH410 - well let me start by saying that I have had mine now for a couple of years and I have not been able to fault it in any way.
During use though today had a real "brown trouser" moment - Half way through thicknessing a 24mm thick 380mm wide iroko board that was about 1500mm long, just as it was getting to the end of the cut there was one hell of a bang, the whole cast table assembly fell to the bottom of the casing (i.e. its lowest position) and the end of the board kicked up into the still running cutter block which initially pulled the board back up into the head of the machine before it jammed against the infeed roller!
Having stopped the machine and completely disconnected the power I managed to free the wedged board before I started investigating what had happened!
Basically after finding various bits in the base of the cabinet managed to get the whole thing re-assembled and luckily with the exception of a severely chipped set of blades there was no other damage to the machine.
What had happened was that a small, probably M5 allen key headed screw had worked loose having not been fitted with either threadlock or a lock washer when manufactured - this small screw holds on the plastic cog for winding the table up and down as marked on the picture below:-
Basically this small screw holds the whole weight of the centre column, cast table etc and when the holding screw came loose allowed the whole assembly to drop as described.
On re-assemble I also found that the two bolts that hold the casting which the thread runs in to the bottom of central column were also loose - again marked on the photo below - Again these were re-tightened and transpires that the slack in these were causing the thread to cant slightly tightening up the winding action of the rise and fall which had gradually got worse over time but I hadnt really realised was happening. I had put it down to some saw dust in the acme thread.
So please if any of you who have these thicknessers take off the side inspection cover (as shown below) and check the security of both the bolts on the bottom of the column but more importantly the small one which locks the plastic cog to the top of the thread - I refitted mine with threadlock as well as lock washers which will hopefully prevent this from occurring again but I must admit I have put a recurring note in my diary to check it all regularly.
Please in no way think that I am having a go at Axminster, nor saying avoid the machine because it is without doubt the best thicknesser I have ever owned and if it died tomorrow would have no hesitation in replacing it with an identical one, mine had worked really hard over the last couple of years - I spoke with Richard in the technical dept at Axminster and he is going to take this forward with the manufacturer to ensure that future models have these items suitably secured.
Luckily I am not going to have to replace it at this stage - just stump up for a new set of blades unless Norfolk Saw Services can grind out the damage!!
Now I know a number of you out there have the same thicknesser as myself - the Axminster TH410 - well let me start by saying that I have had mine now for a couple of years and I have not been able to fault it in any way.
During use though today had a real "brown trouser" moment - Half way through thicknessing a 24mm thick 380mm wide iroko board that was about 1500mm long, just as it was getting to the end of the cut there was one hell of a bang, the whole cast table assembly fell to the bottom of the casing (i.e. its lowest position) and the end of the board kicked up into the still running cutter block which initially pulled the board back up into the head of the machine before it jammed against the infeed roller!
Having stopped the machine and completely disconnected the power I managed to free the wedged board before I started investigating what had happened!
Basically after finding various bits in the base of the cabinet managed to get the whole thing re-assembled and luckily with the exception of a severely chipped set of blades there was no other damage to the machine.
What had happened was that a small, probably M5 allen key headed screw had worked loose having not been fitted with either threadlock or a lock washer when manufactured - this small screw holds on the plastic cog for winding the table up and down as marked on the picture below:-
Basically this small screw holds the whole weight of the centre column, cast table etc and when the holding screw came loose allowed the whole assembly to drop as described.
On re-assemble I also found that the two bolts that hold the casting which the thread runs in to the bottom of central column were also loose - again marked on the photo below - Again these were re-tightened and transpires that the slack in these were causing the thread to cant slightly tightening up the winding action of the rise and fall which had gradually got worse over time but I hadnt really realised was happening. I had put it down to some saw dust in the acme thread.
So please if any of you who have these thicknessers take off the side inspection cover (as shown below) and check the security of both the bolts on the bottom of the column but more importantly the small one which locks the plastic cog to the top of the thread - I refitted mine with threadlock as well as lock washers which will hopefully prevent this from occurring again but I must admit I have put a recurring note in my diary to check it all regularly.
Please in no way think that I am having a go at Axminster, nor saying avoid the machine because it is without doubt the best thicknesser I have ever owned and if it died tomorrow would have no hesitation in replacing it with an identical one, mine had worked really hard over the last couple of years - I spoke with Richard in the technical dept at Axminster and he is going to take this forward with the manufacturer to ensure that future models have these items suitably secured.
Luckily I am not going to have to replace it at this stage - just stump up for a new set of blades unless Norfolk Saw Services can grind out the damage!!
