Stanley No 50 plane

[Pete Hughes]

Hello fellow woodworkers ,
I am looking for a some advice help please. I have a Stanley No 50 plane in excellent condition, however, I am am having problems using it.
When I try to cut a groove/dado it jams in the cut, believe me this is a real pain in the rear and it takes all my control to stop myself from launching it. The cutter is sharp and I have followed the advice of starting at the end of the cut and working backwards but as the cut deepens the plane jams.

Any ideas please.

Pete

 

[Bod]

Reduce the shaving thickness.

Bod

 

[Pete Hughes]

Thanks Bod,

I have tried that, I have even taken the cutter away form the workpiece just to see what happens.

I get the feeling that it's the skis that jam in the groove, just as if the cutter is too narrow, but the cutter is standard
Appreciate you taking the time to reply tho'

Pete

 

[heimlaga]

Are the skids parallel to each others?

When you tighten the nut holding the blade trhe skids tend to splay out in front. There is an adjustment screw in the back that should be tightened to counter this.

 

[deema]

There are normally three things that can cause your problem.

1. The cutter needs to slightly overhang the skid, like a rebate / shoulder plane. If it's not just a smidge over it will bind as you go deeper.
2. The skids are not parallel to each other, check at the nose and the heel.
3. The fence is not parallel to the skid, a common problem with the No 50. A tad out and it will bind as you go deeper.

Good luck

 

[undergroundhunter]

I always set the fence with a little relief at the back end (and I mean 1mm or less) and I wax the skates and fence to reduce friction just like a bench plane.

Matt

 

[Argus]

Well, I have a couple of these Stanley 50s, both almost unused when I got them, both over 40 or 50 years old and both needed some basic attention before they would work properly.

These were post-war planes from the 1950s and 60s and I came to the conclusion that it was the way they were made; the original owners had the same problems I had, then put them straight back in the box.

It isn’t confined to just the No:50; the same applies to a greater or lesser extent to Record 043s, 044s and a lot of other planes that employ parallel skates.

I’m happy to let you know what I did to get these things to perform, but it does involve a bit of work on your part.

All best

 

[Pete Hughes]

Thanks to all that replied and offered some advice/guidance, I must be honest, I am in agreement with you Argus, I was beginning to wonder if it was a manufacture problem. This plane was inherited and my belief is that it is from the 60's era.
I am tempted to emry the skis so as to make them narrower than the cutter.

Thank you again,

Pete

 

[Argus]

Pete,

There should be no need to remove metal from the sides of the skates. That's an absolute no-go area!
But there is work to be done on the skates, then the blades; the whole process is one that demands a methodical approach. I doubt very much that the plane is unusable.

When the whole thing is assembled with a blade and the fence removed there should be about 0.5 overlap on the blade where the blade edge sits over the side of the skates. It is this that allows the skates to sit within the groove. The sides of the skates should not be in contact with the wall of the groove at all.

First. look within the angled groove that the blade locates in on both the fixed skate and the movable one. The blade should slide in easily and there should be no swarf or plating debris that interferes with the fit of the blade. When it is assembled with one of the widest blades, you should notice the overlap.

Both mine misbehaved from 'new' and needed a little work done on them to make them behave. You're welcome to get in touch if you need detail.

All best

 

[Pete Hughes]

Thanks again Argus,
Apologise for the late reply, I had a very quick look and from what I can see it is looking as though one side of the blade/cutter is not proud of the skates? Will mic' the blade and skates and let you know.
Appreciate your help/advice.

Pete

 

[Argus]

That could do it, Pete, though there are other things that, either individually or in combination, can impair the action of these twin-skate type planes

From what I can see of the ones that have come my way, very few would work properly straight from the box. The commonest symptom is that they take a few cuts, then stop cutting or jam in the groove.

You need to have a slight blade protuberance on both sides of the blade to avoid the skates binding. So, to eliminate a rogue blade, try it with other blades, too. A digital Vernier is useful but good eyesight and a thumbnail will usually tell you. Overall, both sides, it should be less than 0.5 mm.

If you do have one side slightly flush or proud, look carefully with some magnification, inside the grooves that the blade locates in - it's not unknown for a piece of stray plating to get lodged inside. The grooves should have straight, clean edges with square corners - a fraction of a millimeter each side can make a huge difference.

Again,look carefully at the blades' cross sections: they should be very slightly trapezoidal - i.e. 'keystone' shaped so that the section tapers from the back of the blade to the front. There's only a couple of degrees in it and it's almost imperceptible, but important. Parallel edges or blade sections that taper the wrong way tend to jam in the groove and produce trenches with raggy sides.

All best

 

[bugbear]

May I suggest a simple experiement? Try cutting a freehand groove without a fence (or with the fences set way outside the workpiece).

If it STILL jams the issue is with blade/skate, if it doesn't jam it's a fence setting issue.

Narrows the diagnosis a little.

BugBear