how do you guys set your planer blades after sharpening?

[dale rex]

Im gonna replace the stock blades in my Grizzly G0454 with a set of T1 blades form Holbren soon. Never had them out yet, so I was wondering what the best method is to set such large 20" blades accurately? I use mini Planer Pals for my 12" lunchbox planer, but they wont fit the larger cutterhead of the Grizzly. Is the setting jig that Grizzly supplies with the planer any good? Or would it be better to get an aftermarket jig like Woodcraft sells? They have Planer Pals for $150 and their own version of magnetic setting jigs for around $60. I already own a One-Way Multi Gauge for my jointer, but I dont think it can be used to set planer blades, can it? It would have to be used upside down, to set the blades to the table, not the cutterhead..........Any opinions?

[Chip Lindley]

Jack screws on a planer head make knife setting fast and easy. If your planer head is referenced parallel to the bed, a dial indicator with magnetic base can be used to indicate the height of each knife above the surface of the head. Each knife can be quickly set to within .001" of each other. Set knives at one end and then set the other end. Recheck the both ends for accuracy. When both ends are set to proper height, push down on the knife with a block of wood while tightening the gib screws. Total time is about 15 minutes (for 3 knives--yours has 4, so, 20 minutes)

[Tom Adger]

I have a Delta planer, and the knives are indexed so there is no way to adjust the blades individually. What I had to do was remove the side covers to get to the large vertical threaded rods with double nuts on each side. I used two 1-2-3 steel machinist blocks on each side, then adjust the dbl nuts until the blades just kiss the blocks on each side.

[Peter Quinn]

On my 15" delta planer I use the jig that came with it to set the knives. It works well enough though it took a few attempts to get the hang of it. We have the planer pals at work, and one guy takes them home to set the knives in his 24" planer. He swears by them. I don't know why we have the planer pals at work as all the planers have either spiral heads or terminus heads at this point, so I have never used them, but I hear they are great.

[Harvey Pascoe]

I just use a good Starrett steel ruler. Setting the blades tends to look more intimidating than it is. Its actually quite easy even without fancy tools, but it does take some patience. Don't be in a hurry to get it right and be sure to get all cutters exactly even, otherwise the high one will wear out very fast.

You also might want to check whether the bed is parallel to the cutter head. Mine wasn't and that caused problems for a long time until I discovered it. I shimmed the ways with hammered out brass strips to the right thickness.

[Russ Massery]

Here's I cant remember where I saw the idea. But the originals were made out of wood.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-572604587960322121&q=bob+vaughn&hl=en#docid=-986589700074242027

Here's a video for setting up a planer.

[Alex Shanku]

Here is an excellent tutorial from Bob Vaughan over on OWWM.

http://wiki.owwm.com/Getting%20Peak%20Planer%20Performance.ashx

There is also an accompanying video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-986589700074242027&hl=en#

I have used these two with great success.

[dale rex]

Russ, did you make those dial indicator bases or buy them somewhere?

[Jeff Nolan]

I have a Tersa setup now so (thankfully) the whole process is pretty foolproof now. When I used to do it on my jointer I would use a machinist square set on the outfeed table. Not fancy by any means but it did produce reliable results time and again.

[Russ Massery]

I made them but they can easily be made of of wood. There are earth magnets counterbored into the faces of the "V" to hold them in place.
Here's a link were I got the idea from http://benchmark.20m.com/articles/SettingPlanerKnives/SettingPlanerKnives.html