Planer/thicknesser trouble

[devonwoody]

I have the well known 10x6" planer thicknesser and rang the technical dept Friday afternoon left a message but did not get a telephone reply.

My problem is;-
I put 4 pieces of reasonable planed timber through the thicknesser and they pass through OK, I reduce the thickness required, 2 or 3 pieces pass through again but sometimes the 3rd or 4th piece jams in the thicknesser, a whacking great trough appears. I have to release the thicknesser handle to get the timber out.

Can anyone please tell me what is happening?

 

[Chris Knight]

Devon,

It sounds as though you are trying to take too big a cut - the fact that a few pieces went through OK notwithstanding.

Have you waxed the thicknesser bed? Reducing the friction in this way makes a huge difference to the power needed to drive the material through the machine.

 

[Keith Smith]

Devon, I'm having similar problems with a machine I've got at the moment. I waxed the thicknesser bed and it pretty well solved the problem.

The other things to check; are the blades sharp and set properly, if they are set to proud it puts extra strain on the machine, are the rollers clean, some of the metal ones especially get clogged with resinous dust.

And a problem I have just had is that the machine I have at the moment has little lugs at the corners of the thicknesser bed, seeminly designed to keep the timber away from the edges.This is OK at the input side but the wood has a nasty habit of snagging on the output side ones causing exactly the same problem you describe.

Keith

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks for info

I let you know if in trouble still but going to have to wait for the new blades.

 

[dickm]

I had a possibly similar problem with my <very> old Lurem P/T. Discovered that there was a build-up of chips, dust etc under the bearings of the feed rollers, which ultimately stops them pressing down on the wood unless the table is raised to the point where the m/c was trying to cut off a vast amount. There's a bit of dismantleing to do to clear this, but it worked a treat.