Machine Repairs

[Gill]

What should you do if a major piece of woodworking kit breaks down and you've not got a mechanically inclined bone in your body? My Kity P/T isn't feeding in the timber properly when I try to thickness it. If anyone can suggest how I should go about repairing it, I'd be very grateful.

One thought that's crossed my mind is that the P/T takes up a lot more space in the workshop than a #7 plane. Moreover, if I learnt to thickness wood by hand then I wouldn't have to worry about repairing machines if they broke down. My only concern is that thicknessing timber by hand strikes me as being a time consuming procedure and it would be difficult to achieve consistently accurate thicknesses. Are my concerns unfounded?

Gill

 

[Noel]

First thing to do is give the beds a good clean and then a proper waxing and buffing. Briwax or any paste wax will do. Worth a try and generally speaking it's something that should be done on a regular basis anyway.
Hope the drive belt or chain that powers the feed rollers isn't lose/banjaxed?
In an ideal world a no 7 alone would be good. But in the real world I find handtools and machine can live in perfect harmony, almost Coco Cola like............


Rgds

Noelo

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Gill,
Is it taking it through at all? If not, it's probably the belt broken. If it's just not pulling it much, possibly the belt has stretched and is not driving the roller properly. Either way you need to replace the belt, which is done by removing a bolt from inside, which allows you to remove the pully. It's not as difficult as it sounds.

If the belt is fine, try cleaning the serrated roller with paraffin and a toothbrush (best to wash it before you use it again, I guess), and use a wax paste on the bed.

I think I know the Kity pretty well, so we can have a chat about it if you like.

Cheers
Steve
PS Noel beat me to it!

 

[Chris Knight]

Gill,
Thicknessing by hand is for folk that can live "The Good Life" and happily heat their water with gas produced from the methane that their pigs' manure makes. Personally I believe thicknessing is why electricity was invented!

 

[jasonB]

When my Kity combi starts to have feed dificulty it is usually just a case of the wood sticking on the bed, I've still got half a tube of "Kity-speed" that came with the machine. And the feed roller can fill with chips especially if you have been thicknessing resinous timber like pine.

Jason

 

[Keith Smith]

Is the blade sharp? Slow feed is the first thing I notice when its time to get the sharpener out.

Keith