Jet 15in planer help!

[todd bourassa]

Well I picked up a good deal on a Jet 15cs 3hp planer today. Kind of a gloat for $400. Its in good shape but needs a new column lock handle, knive and a good set up. I am having problems getting the roller out/in feed tables lined up. Are all 3 rollers suppose to be in line with the table? I would think they would. When i line up my straight edge from the table to be in line with the 3 rollers I have about a 1/8th gap at the edge of the table. The roller a little higher then the table. I cant adjust the roller bracket enough to get my straight edge to lie perfectly flat. I think I would have to elongate the hole in the bracket to allow for more play. The roller bracket itself is not completely straight as there is a slight downward angle to it so the 1st roller sits slighter higher as the other 2 tip downward. I can line up the table with the 1st roller fine but then there is a gap of a least a 1/2 between the straight edge and the last roller. As I tip up the back roller to compensate by using the set screws and bracket bolts I then get my gap at the end of the table. I have the same problem on both sets of extension tables. I hope I explained this clearly. Any help would be great. Thanks
Todd

[Stephen Cherry]

I've got a similar jet planer, and I think that you are overdoing it a little. I just make sure that the rollers closest to the table of the planer are a little high (not much, just a little). You want to make sure that the board starts and ends the cut without raising up inside of the planer.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Todd,
I own the older version of that planer with a single roller indeed and outfeed tables. The outermost rollers on most planers are usually set slightly high to apply upward pressure on the stock decreasing the amount of snipe. I believe my rollers are set at about 3/32" higher than the table and they sit about 14" from the cutterhead. I'm just guessing guessing on both numbers since I am not in my shop right now. If you can't get the rollers to your liking, could you flip them over and use them upside down?

-Andrew

[Mike Cutler]

Todd

I used automotive feeler gauges to shim the rollers flat and level. It was a pain,a nd took quite awhile.

I ripped 2 boards about 3" thick and made sure that they were straight, parallel and true along bothe edges.
I then put them into the planer, on edge and on both sides, so that they extended beyond the ends of both sets of the rollers.
I brought the table up until the pressure rollers applied pressure to the edges. This gave me a straight edge reference to bring the rollers up too.
I then adjusted the rollers and put feeler gauges as necessary to to make the rollers just "kiss" the underside edge of the boards.

Before you drive yourself nuts like I did, realize that those rollers a pretty "junky", and are not made well. Try to to set them as best as you can biasing your efforts to having the set(s) closest to the infeed and outfeed of the table level and making sure that the other rollers are not higher than the sets closest to the table.

[todd bourassa]

Thanks for the info guys. Mike I like your idea and will try that!!!

[Brian Backner]

Go here and view:

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

Brian

[todd bourassa]

I will take a look at the video. I watched that once before a long time ago.
I do have another question. I was going to replace the gear oil. How much do i use to fill it? Just fill it until it is level with the fill hole? or is there a specific amount. The manual says nothing on amount.