So I am new to big boy planers. I have only ever used my small Dewalt benchtop. We recently upgraded to a Grizzly G0454 20" planer (http://www.grizzly.com/products/20-Planer/G0454) and just cannot get this thing to give an even halfway decent finish. It's hard to get a photo of it, but basically we're seeing massive chunks being removed from our wood, no matter which way the grain is facing. This is from trying to remove 1/16". I am attaching a photo of a piece of scribe so that you might be able to see what I'm talking about. I spent 3 hours this afternoon going through everything with a rotocator and trying to get it within spec and that just raised more questions.
The manual (http://cdn2.grizzly.com/manuals/g0454_m.pdf) has the following specs outlined in it.
Dist. Below Knife Edge at BDC (Figure 42)
A. Infeed Roller.......................................0.040 "
B. Chip Breaker.......................................0.04 "
C. Pressure Bar.......................................0.008"
D. Outfeed Roller .................................... 0.020"
Bed Roller Height Range ..............0.002"-0.020" (We set ours to .010" for a first run adjustment)
1. The instructions in the manual say that to adjust the feed rollers, chip breaker, pressure bar, to set the blade to BDC. This took a lot of effort to find and I think we finally got it there, but I'm not 100% sure. It's hard to tell. Am I missing some secret technique on ensuring I am at absolute BDC on the knife?
2. When I set the Infeed roller to .040" below the tip of the knife, my piece of wood had deep imprints in it from the feed roller (It is a serrated metal roller, not rubber so it left a uniformly distanced line in the stock). It was so low that it was digging in to the wood. I had to raise it up considerably to remove those marks but now I'm way out of spec according to the manual.
3. What piece of the puzzle would most contribute to those chunks missing?
4. After going through and adjusting everything, we greatly reduced the number and severity of chunks missing, but still randomly one would occur in the middle of a board. Why????
5. Any other tips or advice? I'd really like to get this thing in top shape by the weekend as we have a lot of stuff to push through it before next week.
Thanks in advance!