Replies

1. 
   BG | Apr 29, 2003 05:40pm | #1

   Thebluesky,

   Are your blades seated tightly against the posts? How much out of wack are your blades?  Have you measured the thickness of the wood coming out of the planer?

   I don't have any solutions for you but have a similar planer and am curious.

2. 
   stancalow | Apr 30, 2003 05:22am | #2

   THEBLUESKY

   I have the same planer.  My understanding is that it was not adjustable because of the disposable blades.  Curious as to whether they were right before you re-installed them.  Can you tell if the mounting holes are off the mark, or is the blade not square?

   Stan

3. 
   forestgirl | Apr 30, 2003 05:31am | #3

   Those blades are self-indexing, quick-install blades, hence the posts that they mount onto during installation.  If there is a problem, then it was either there with the last set (mis-placed pins) or the blades are defective.  Did you have the head locked when you measured?  As mentioned before, are the knives seated fully and the screws tightened well? (not overly-tight though!  been there, done that), no sawdust or other debris interfering with the mount?

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

   
   

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   Edited 4/29/2003 10:32:41 PM ET by forestgirl

4. 
   JohnWW | Apr 30, 2003 05:57pm | #4

   John,

   The problem, I suspect, isn't in the cutterhead or the knives, though it is possible that the index slots in the knives could have been milled off center or the knives vary in width.  You could check for either condition with a caliper.  The likely problem, and it is fairly common, is that the cutter head assembly isn't parallel with the machine's table.  Machines occasionally aren't aligned properly when they're assembled at the factory.

   The fix is fairly straight forward.  The cutterhead assembly is positioned by two drive screws, one on either side of the head.  Normally both screws rotate together to move the head assembly up and down.  The screws need to be disconnected from each other and just one of them turned a fraction of a turn to bring the head parallel to the table.  It's possible that the machine's manual will take you through the alignment process, if not use the instructions below.

   The screws are hooked to each other by a chain, cogged belt, or gear drive, depending on the model of the machine.  The screw drive is either under the top cover of the machine or under the table.  If it is under the table, you can get at it by flipping the machine over and removing a cover on the bottom.  Once you locate the screw drive linkage, it should be simple to undo the linkage between the two screws by removing the belt, the chain, or the connecting shaft.

   You can set up the machine by making test cuts with two boards run at the outer edges of the table.  For the test, run both boards at once and set the machine's head lock, if it has one.  After running the boards, compare their heights with a caliper.  Adjust one of the screws until you get the same reading on both sides.  Don't forget to release the head lock before you adjust the screw, then reset it to make a test cut.  Once you get the same reading on both sides, reconnect the linkage, replace the covers and you're back in business.

   John W.

   
   

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   Edited 4/30/2003 7:01:38 PM ET by JohnW

1. 
   thebluesky | May 02, 2003 06:15pm | #5

   So far I’ve discovered that the knives are not uniform width, varying .006” from end to middle, skinnier in the middle.  Also discovered, easy to notice when I looked, that the stainless steel covering the bed flexes.  So there is variance which I don’t know how to measure or account for.  I fed a 2x6 piece of stock through the middle of the bed and there is .01” variance from one side to the other.  Wondering if this is the best achievable.  John W’s suggestions are my next step.  Wondering why a small machine can’t be more readily adjusted.  There is the obvious, which is to buy larger machines, but I enjoy the portability, the ease of handling with this planer.  By the way, the instructions are terse, reminding me more of notes than actual instruction and the pictures are blurry.  Difficult to adjust the output rollers, which I believe is causing some snipe.  Will report more in a few days.  Thanks for all your questions and suggestions. 

   Thanks, John Buckley

1. 
   MVAgusta | May 02, 2003 07:22pm | #6

   I have exactly the same problem with mine, but I've decided to not waste too much time fixing it's shortcomings.  I'm  glad I only spent $200 on it as a closeout, because it really is a POS compared to the DeWalt I used to own. The blades dull if you look at them, lasting for a hundred board feet on Sassafras, not the hardest wood out there. Maybe that's why Delta made them so easy to change! Anyone out there got a Parks planer they want to sell?

2. 
   JohnWW | May 02, 2003 09:08pm | #7

   John,

   I was taking a long shot on the knives, I'm really surprised to find out that they were off.  I'd call Delta about them, they should be better than that.

   The chromed or stainless steel table surface is just a thin sheet of metal, it flattens out against the base casting under the pressure of the rollers. The sheet metal popping up shouldn't have any affect on the cut unless saw dust has gotten between the sheetmetal and the base, it might be worth checking.

   You should be able to adjust the cutter head to achieve considerably better than .01 difference across a 6 inch wide board.  The method I outlined for adjusting the machine for parallel isn't all that difficult and should only have to be done once in the life of the machine.  The same problem crops up on big machines and the fix is identical.

   Adjusting the outfeed roller on your machine may help to reduce snipe but it probably won't cure the problem.  On these light weight machines the primary cause of snipe is the entire power head lifting when the leading edge of the stock pushes up against the stiff springs above the outfeed roller.  When the trailing edge of the board clears the infeed roller the opposite happens, the head drops slightly, sniping the trailing edge of the board.  Head locks are supposed to reduce the shifting but they can't prevent the lightweight castings from flexing. 

   One trick you can try to minimize snipe is to lift up on the trailing edge of the board just as it starts under the cutting head but before it reaches the outfeed roller, in effect you are preloading the head.   At the end of the cut, just before the trailing edge of the board passes out from under the infeed roller, lift up the leading edge of the board.  I've had very good luck with this technique.

   John

   Edited 5/2/2003 2:39:09 PM ET by JohnW

1. 
   forestgirl | May 03, 2003 12:22am | #9

   I have the 12.5" Delta planer also, and have found that I can (almost) always eliminate the infeed snipe by firmly holding the stock to the table as it enters the feed roller.  I wasn't able to perfect the "lifting" technique to get it to work.

   Still working on the outfeed anti-snipe technique.  It's a off and on sorta thing right now.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

5. 
   ChasStanford | May 02, 2003 11:29pm | #8

   You should change your name to BulletTheBlueSky.