No. 5 Jack Plane - Lateral Adjustment won't work?

[Dissolve]

Hello,

I've been using a Dakota/Quiangsheng No. 5 plane for a couple of years now and it's always been great. However I went to sharpen my blade today, put the assembly back together now the lateral adjustment only work on one side.

I've looked and all I can see is slight wear to the back of the cap iron that sits on the lateral adjustment pad, could this be the issue?

Could anyone advise me on what the problem might be?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Difficult without actually handling the plane. However, try the following (if you haven't already!). Dismantle the plane, and check that the lateral adjuster works as it should. Then replace the cutting iron without the cap-iron attached, and see if the lateral adjuster fouls anywhere. Then replace the cap-iron, and ditto repeato. Then put the lever cap back on, and try again. That should show up where the problem is, and the solution will probably be clear once diagnosed.

Many years ago, when I knew even less about tools than I do now, I gave myself a problem with a Record plane by sharpening the iron off-square. The lateral adjustment wouldn't cope with the offset to square things up, and it took me quite a while to work out that sharpening the iron square again would cure the problem. Might be worth an eyeball, just on the offchance, to see that the iron's edge is square enough.

 

[David C]

It is possible to bend the lateral lever disc, down into the recess, so that it no longer engages with the slot.

David Charlesworth

 

[bugbear]

Hello,

I've been using a Dakota/Quiangsheng No. 5 plane for a couple of years now and it's always been great. However I went to sharpen my blade today, put the assembly back together now the lateral adjustment only work on one side.

I've looked and all I can see is slight wear to the back of the cap iron that sits on the lateral adjustment pad, could this be the issue?

Could anyone advise me on what the problem might be?

I'm not clear on what you're describing. " only work on one side" ; do you mean all the adjustment is "one way", so you can't square up the blade?

Does the adjuster move the blade at all?

BugBear

 

[Dissolve]

Hello!

When I say only one side works, I mean, With the blade manually set central so it physically has space either side of it, and the lateral adjustment lever centered, when I push the lever one way, it works fine, but whenI pull it the other way, the blade does not budge from the far side positiin.

I have not had time to take it apart yet but I'll upload photos, the space that the lever disc should grab has worn a bit, you can see because the edges are a bit chwewd but nothing that would make me assume the disc can't make contact, I will try lightly bending the disc further against the iron and se if that makes any difference.

I never over-tighten my planes so I'm not sure how this has happened either?

 

[speeder1987]

It would only be a guess without a seeing the plane, but I doubt it can be the lateral adjustment lever not gripping. If it works one way then it is gripping and this shouldn't change whichever way you are moving it .....

It sounds to me like something is blocking the blade, but impossible to diagnose without photos at least

 

[Dissolve]

Right, now my stuff is out of storage I'm getting all my tools back up to speed. Heres photos of the lkever which looks fine and then the back of the blade. Obviously it look worn where the adjustment lever sits and makes contact and I'm guessing this is the source of the problem.



But more importantly, how did it happen? It's the original Dakota/Quingsheng iron and I haven't had the cap iron screwed down tightly at all and I usually leave it set up for very light "finish" work.



I'm going to order a new iron and I'm 99% sure that'll set things right, but I would like to make sure this doesn't happen (So quickly) again!

 

[Bod]

The plane has been reassembled wrongly, after the blade was last sharpened.
Remove any burr on the blade that the lateral lever may have made.
Place the blade/chip breaker, back on the frog.
View where the lateral lever end in the blade slot sits.
Adjust the lateral lever end to sit fully in the slot. ( making sure the blade is properly on the frog.)
Refit cap iron. (If the cap iron screw has been moved to allow incorrect fitting, it may have to be corrected.)
Check all adjustments of blade. Up/down. Left/right
Do not force anything. Force means something is Wrong!!
If this plane worked previously, you don't need a new blade.

Bod

 

[David C]

Does the tab on the lateral adjuster stick up far enough to engage with the slot in the C/B? (over the full range of movement).

Sometimes they can get bent down into the recess.

David