Thicknessing

[motownmartin]

Hi all

I have been thicknessing some timbers down to 10mm but have hit a problem, the drive roller gets clogged up with chippings and fails to drive the timber through, is there anything I can do or is this a common problem.
I have the Axminster 106PT with it connected to the RSDE1 via a 100mm dust hose.

 

[Philly]

Martin
Two solutions - get a more powerful extractor or take a finer cut so your existing extractor can "keep up".
Hope this helps (a little bit :lol: )
Philly

 

[motownmartin]

Martin
Two solutions - get a more powerful extractor or take a finer cut so your existing extractor can "keep up".
Hope this helps (a little bit :lol: )
Philly

It does help Philly, I have been taking fine cuts but it seems that the extractor does not take it all away.

My Mrs will go bonkers if I buy anything else :roll:

 

[catface]

hello,
seems odd that a few chippings is enough to prevent the wood still being fed through. you might need to lower the infeed roller a bit to get more pressure. A less technical solution which might help a bit is to grease the bed (eg liberon lubricating wax or beeswax)(Ive even used household furniture polish in an aerosol when stuck. spray on wipe off usually theres not enough left to stay in the wood & mess up your finish or glueing). That should make the work pass through easier. You may have to repeat this after 20 or so pieces through if using the furniture polish, it doesn't last like the others mentioned).
Make sure the bed is clear between each pass (blow through, dont put hands in of course).
If the infeed roller is rubber covered give it a clean with spirits eg meths.
Clean roller equals more grip.
Lastly, sharp knives means more power available to drive rollers (I assume this machine has one motor only). Hope this helps, regards, Catface.

 

[motownmartin]

Hi catface,
I spray the bed with ptfe, the problem is that the drive roller, which is made of steel and has splines along the length, gets clogged up between the splines in no time, every time this happens I get indents in the timber, I have to lower the bed to swing the guard out of the way so I can clean the roller, most annoying.

 

[catface]

hello Martin,
now I understand. Cant see any obvious solution to your problem. I suppose if its the indents in the finished wood which is really the problem, you might try a Deeper cut, aiming to remove the indent caused by the chippings pressed in with the roller. Ive had to do that on a scheppach planer thicknesser before. Failing that maybe a phonecall to Axminster for their advice ? hope this helps regards Catface

 

[Calpol]

could you not fix a wooden stop to a sheet of ply or something and just sit the timber on top of it? Then raise the height of the thicknesser by the thickness of the ply, maybe best to use a vernier or the likes though and adjust it according to that. If that makes sense

 

[Chris Knight]

Martin,

I sometimes use an air hose to blow chips away between passes (more to prevent chips making indentations in the lower side of the wood than for any roller issue). If you have an air line, this might help.

 

[Another Dave]

Martin,

I have the same extractor and don't find it too efective for thicknessing as it leaves a lot in the machine, which may be the source of your clogging.

Instead I use one of the two-cloth-bag jobs, but I hear what you are saying about buying something else! :? It was bought from Lyndhurst specifically for the thicknesser and TS and cost about £120 and makes a big difference.

A tip for the RSDE1 is to make sure you knock the filter (bag) clean now and again to keep the airflow up as much as possible.

Dave.

 

[SeanG]

I blow out the loose chippings every now and with the exhaust end of the shop-vac, is the wood sticking to the splines because it is resinious? perhaps some chalk dust or talc or polish on the roller would reduce adherance?

HTH
Sean

 

[Harbo]

When using my P/T I had to upgrade my single motor Camvac to the twin motor Record DX5000.

It is so powerful with both motors that it sucks the bag in! :lol:
So for most other tasks I just switch on the one.

Rod

 

[motownmartin]

Thanks for all the advice, there are a few things that I can try, it seems as though the biggest problem is removing the chips whilst thicknessing thin boards, I had a look this afto and I think it is the anti kickback teeth causing the problem, with the bed up so far the anti kickback teeth are actually touching the bed causing a build up of chips.

I'm going to write a letter to Santa to ask him to bring me a more powerful chip extractor :lol: you might laugh but they already have some decorations up in Leicester, mind you that was for Dwali :?

 

[Richard@Axminster]

Hi Martin,

Hope I can be of help with your thicknessing issues. I have spoke to our guys in the workshop and they have never heard of this exact problem before but they have come up with a possible solution.

The in feed roller could either be too tight or too slack. If the roller is marking the wood they suggested turning the tension back by half a turn, a fairly easy fix too... You will have to remove the large side panel to adjust one, and the end requires you to remove the panel that is on the inner side of the thicknessing area (think it is only 6 screws that holds this on).

The only other problem I could see you be the Extractor. Although the Vac type extractors are great for power tools and small machines they don't really have the pulling power to cope with chips. The Bag extractors have much higher flow rates and are much better suited for this application. If you need any more advice please feel free to call Technical on 0800 371 822.

Thanks, Richard.

 

[ByronBlack]

I'm a little late to the party on this one Martin, but I thought I'd share my experiences in case they are of any use to anyone.

I get the same problem, the solution for me is to clean away the beds after every pass-through of timber, and to also make sure there is candle wax on the beds this makes both the timber and chips pass through easier, basically it comes down to extraction, you do need something with good air flow, and it's the same situation I am in; I need to get a decent extractor as it's quite tedious cleaning away the beds before each pass.

I do have a compressor and sometimes use this to blow away chips while it's going through. A wire brush is also useful to brush the chips out of the corrugated roller.

HTH someone.

 

[motownmartin]

Hi Martin,

Hope I can be of help with your thicknessing issues. I have spoke to our guys in the workshop and they have never heard of this exact problem before but they have come up with a possible solution.

The in feed roller could either be too tight or too slack. If the roller is marking the wood they suggested turning the tension back by half a turn, a fairly easy fix too... You will have to remove the large side panel to adjust one, and the end requires you to remove the panel that is on the inner side of the thicknessing area (think it is only 6 screws that holds this on).

The only other problem I could see you be the Extractor. Although the Vac type extractors are great for power tools and small machines they don't really have the pulling power to cope with chips. The Bag extractors have much higher flow rates and are much better suited for this application. If you need any more advice please feel free to call Technical on 0800 371 822.

Thanks, Richard.

Hello Richard, thanks for reading and replying, I will have a look at this sometime this week but not sure if we are on the same wavelength because its the build-up of waste around the roller that stops the feed, but I will certainly check it out.

 

[Philly]

Martin
I know you don't want to spend (we all know that feeling :roll: ) but I solved the same problem with my thicknesser by buying one of these.
Some monster suction at a very good price. I guarantee this will solve your problem!
Philly

 

[motownmartin]

make sure there is candle wax on the beds this makes both the timber and chips pass through easier, basically it comes down to extraction, you do need something with good air flow, and it's the same situation I am in; I need to get a decent extractor as it's quite tedious cleaning away the beds before each pass.

Candle wax, it's got to cheaper than my PTFE, got to agree with the extraction though, if the chips weren't there, there wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks Byron

 

[motownmartin]

Martin
I know you don't want to spend (we all know that feeling :roll: ) but I solved the same problem with my thicknesser by buying one of these.
Some monster suction at a very good price. I guarantee this will solve your problem!
Philly

Thanks Philly, I might have to sweet talk the Mrs.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your beds need waxing, use a candle.
Use my P/T a lot and find I get a similar prob with softwoods, all I do is run a piece of Oak thru and it seems to clear the feed rollers.

Koolwabbit

 

[Woodmagnet]

Martin, just send your P/T to me. Problem solved. :lol:
Sorry i can't help with this, i have'nt got a P/T (yet)