BAOS planer tables, HELP!

[Giles55]

Hello everyone,
I am a member of South London Maker Space, it’s a community/ social enterprise. We have a Wadkin BAOS planer thicknesser. I was planning to get the tables lined up with shims, until I saw the slides( rods sitting within grooves). I had assumed it would have dovetail slides. So how do I true the tables? I see four bolts attaching the table to the slides on the schematic. It would appear to be the only place to insert shims. Is it going to require significant dismantling just to access the bolts ? It looks like a pig of a task. Speaking to others who have replaced the gear box feed mechanism, it’s not an easy machine to maintain. The planer function is awful presently, vibration, wood not registering out feed table. I am looking for someone who has experience of this machine, this specific task. Thanks.

 

[Myfordman]

Depends if the errors are due to local wear/lack of lubrication or if the error is consistent over the operating range, hopefully the latter?
assuming the rods are fixed to one part then you should be able to shim those after a through cleaning. For normal use as a planer shim the outfeed ideally as that rarely needs to move

 

[Giles55]

Depends if the errors are due to local wear/lack of lubrication or if the error is consistent over the operating range, hopefully the latter?
assuming the rods are fixed to one part then you should be able to shim those after a through cleaning. For normal use as a planer shim the outfeed ideally as that rarely needs to move

Thanks, I just checked out the schematic and I have found bolts attaching the table to the slides. It is the only place where it can be shimmed by the looks of it. The question is now about access and ease of disassembly and reassembly.

 

[deema]

Are you sure it needs shimming?
Have you checked that the tables are parallel with the spindle?
Chancers are that the tables or intermediate slide brackets have been reversed at some point in time by someone not knowing what hey are doing. Swap them around and check again.

 

[Giles55]

Well what you say is possible as I believe the entire machine was taken apart. So I need to check both tables are aligned with the cutter block. When you talk of intermediate slide brackets you refer to the steel rods set into a semi circular groove on either side of the tables?

 

[deema]

Item 276. The manual is freely available from the Wadkin Library.

 

[Giles55]

Item 276. The manual is freely available from the Wadkin Library.
View attachment 112077

I just did a back of a fag packet calculation. As the slides amount to four components, if they became mixed up there are 24 possible combinations, times two if the tables were switched. So to establish the original set up it would be necessary to work through 48 combinations noting the alignment with the cutter block. Like I thought a complete nightmare.

 

[deema]

I’d only worry about the tables and the intermediary slide brackets, giving 4 permutations. The tables are normally shimmed if needed between the tables and the intermediary slide brackets (ISB), which is easy to do.
When you take the ISBs off the tables look for a witness of shims that might have been originally used have been removed by the numpty not knowing what they were for.

 

[Giles55]

I’d only worry about the tables and the intermediary slide brackets, giving 4 permutations. The tables are normally shimmed if needed between the tables and the intermediary slide brackets (ISB), which is easy to do.
When you take the ISBs off the tables look for a witness of shims that might have been originally used have been removed by the numpty not knowing what they were for.

Okay great,
I will take a look and see if we can try what you suggest. The schematic makes it look complicated, I hope it becomes self explanatory once I get eyes on. I will take photographs and number any similar parts so I don’t reassemble incorrectly.
Thanks