planer thickness question

[radicalwood]

Hi Everyone,

I have a Perform planer thicknesser, it seems to work ok, however in thickness mode should it feed the wood through itself ? i am not sure if it should or not . Stupid question I know.
I saw a different machine at Harrogate and it fed the wood itself think it was a schanp (not sure of spelling).
I have had it a while but just got it into the workshop last month.
Any ideas or information will be appreciated.

Thanks Neil

 

[Adam]

Yes, it should feed the work though, the brand you may be thinking of is a Scheppach, on which there is a lever to start and stop the infeed rollers (which is what pulls the timber through).

Adam

 

[Noel]

Yes Neil, I think it should. Other than the usual infeed and outfeed table setting checks, give the tables a good wax and polish and tou should see an improvement.

Noel

 

[radicalwood]

Cheers guys. Will give the table a polish, and also have a look to see if the drive roller is rotating before I panic too much :roll: .

Thanks Neil

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Neil,
I don't know about that particular model, but in general, power feed is by take-off from the cutter block, (ie the motor drives the cutter-block and the the cutter-block drives the feed roller).

Is there a lever which engages and disengages this feed roller? If it is disengaged then...

This is to reduce wear on the belt when planing. However, if there is no such lever, and the feed roller is feeding all the time, even when planing, it could be that the belt has broken (the one between the cutter-block and the feed roller). You should be able to see if the feed roller is working or not, although a torch might help.

It's true that a good waxing (don't use anything with silicone in it) will help, but I'd be surprised if that was the only reason you are not getting it to feed.

HTH
Steve

 

[StevieB]

Hi,

I have the perform PT and yes it should grab the wood and pull it through the bed. THe only problem I have is that the grab is on the infeed roller, so as soon as the end of the timber passes this it stops feeding and you have to manually pull throught from the outfeed end to finish the cut. This obviously wastes the distance from the cutter head to the infeed roller as its almost impossible to pull through manually in the same plane as the table. If you are doing one or two passes then this is not a major problem, any more and compound snipe ensues! A roller stand may help but I dont think it would be perfect.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[neilc]

Hi,
I have the combined SIP p/t. Not sure of the model no. but it looked like a copy of the one TW had on his workshop show last week. The infeed worked for maybe the first month I had it. Even though I plan to replace it next year it would be nice to get it working till then. Anyone have the same problem and got a solution for fixing it. It's a real pain pushing the stock through with a push stick not to mention dangerous.
Neil

P.S. Been lurking around for a while. Really great to find a site like this with a more european outlook rather than the american ones which while good some of it just doesn't apply this side of the pond.

 

[DaveL]

Hi Neilc,

Welcome to the forum. Glad you have found it useful. 8)

RW,

I have the Perform planer thicknesser, yes it should self feed, on both the in and out sides. I do find that with wide stock, waxing the table makes a huge difference. The feed is as Steve suggests driven by a belt from the cutter head and it does not have a great deal of grunt but with a waxed table it should pull/push most stock though. The other thing to check is the state of the rollers, they are knurled and could be full of fine dust making them slippy instead of grippy. :roll:

 

[Scrit]

...It's a real pain pushing the stock through with a push stick not to mention dangerous....

Hi Neil

For the sake of your continued good health I urge you to desist from a very dangerous practice [-X and contact APTC about the cure. You really chancing your arm here :? (pun intended).

Scrit

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Neil,

I believe that I have the same P/T as you (mine is a 10 inch surface planer, but only a 6 inch thicknesser is this usual?). Mine usually pulls the timber through OK (and also for the rubber out feed roller). Recently I had trouble which appeared to be due to "stickyness" on the thicknesser bed. I put on a coat of furniture wax which was handy and the problem was resolved.

Does anybody know if furniture wax will be OK or is there something else that I should use?

Just incase there are others with the 6 inch thicknesser, I can confirm that I have sucessfully thicknessed 9 inch wide hardwood boards with it, but some fettling to the lever that works the microswitch underneath the table was required afterwards, and the chip extractor got clogged rather frequently. I wasn't entirely sure if the 6 inch reference was the maximum thickness or the maximum width , but now I'm working on the principle that it's 6 inches wide, and working towards the left hand side (so as to avoid more undertable switch fettling )

Cheers,

Dod

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi NeilC

Welcome to UKW. Great to have you onboard.

Is Navan man still on the radio?

Cheers
Neil

 

[Jake]

I wasn't entirely sure if the 6 inch reference was the maximum thickness or the maximum width , but now I'm working on the principle that it's 6 inches wide, and working towards the left hand side (so as to avoid more undertable switch fettling )

It is going to be the maximum thickness, surely.

 

[neilc]

Is Navan man still on the radio?

unfortunately no neither him nor the drunken politician have been around for a few years now

Neil,

I believe that I have the same P/T as you (mine is a 10 inch surface planer, but only a 6 inch thicknesser is this usual?)

It sounds like the same one all right, I'll try wax on the ticknesser bed

neilc

 

[OPJ]

Hi,
I have the combined SIP p/t. Not sure of the model no. but it looked like a copy of the one TW had on his workshop show last week. The infeed worked for maybe the first month I had it. Even though I plan to replace it next year it would be nice to get it working till then. Anyone have the same problem and got a solution for fixing it. It's a real pain pushing the stock through with a push stick not to mention dangerous.
Neil

I have the Perform CCNPT combination planer and thicknesser - the very same one we breifly caught a glimpse off in Tommy Walsh's SHED. I bought it back in the summer, but recently noticed the same problem.

Upon removing the drive belt cover(?), left side of the outfeed table (facing thicknesser infeed) I noticed that the largest pulley seems to keep coming loose, this appears to be the problem.

I haven't had a chance to contact Axminster yet as I've been in hospital are can't do too much in my unheated "garage" right now anyway - but thanks for reminding me. I'll have another look and see what I can find out.

It might also be worth you getting in touch with your own supplier too.

 

[Noel]

Hi Neilc, welcome to the site, the more Paddys the better around here....

And N Neil, you've listened to Today FM? I'm impressed.
Spot on, no bother.

Noel

 

[neilc]

Cheers Oswaldo!
Just removed that side cover and sure enough the pulley that drives both the infeed and outfeed rollers is loose and starting to split. Hopefully I will be able to source a new one.
neilc.

Cheers Noel,
At least we still have Doctor Bill and Gift Grub. For anyone thats wondering what we're on about ye can get a flavour here. Check out the Bosco one, he was on TV when we were kids. There was a great one last week about the mighty Roy's departure from ManU.
neilc

 

[OPJ]

No problem Neil.

Do you also get that awful squealing noise when it runs?

I think I may have encouraged the problem myself by feeding two pieces of timber, how ever small they were, through at the same time. Or perhaps intermintently. Despite the fact that it's clearly stated somewhere in the manual that you should only feed through one length at a time, I think?

I thought I knew better... I didn't.

 

[Scrit]

Just removed that side cover and sure enough the pulley that drives both the infeed and outfeed rollers is loose and starting to split.

I find that absolutely appalling! How old is your machine?

Scrit

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Noel

And N Neil, you've listened to Today FM? I'm impressed.
Spot on, no bother.

I have customers in Dublin and Cavan.

Cheers
Neil

 

[neilc]

No problem Neil.

Do you also get that awful squealing noise when it runs?

Yeah it makes quite a racket all right. Can't really run it after 9pm for fear of upsetting the neighbours. Its also a real pain to set up in the planner mode. Every time you change from thickness mode it seem to require at least 10-15 minutes setup time. I have it around 12 months now but can't wait to replace it.
neilc