Delta 13" Planer Cutterhead Adjustment

[mike mcilroy]

Anyone adjusted the cutterhead for parallel before? Nothing in the manual! The left side of mine is @ .02" higher than the right. The knives sit on index pins so they can't be moved. I assume if I take off the chain that connects both columns height adjustment I can adjust one side independently. I am just hoping someone has does this before to let me know if there is another way.

[Mark Carlson]

Mike, can the bed be adjusted instead?

~mark

[Curt Harms]

This is the 22-580? If you haven't done so, you might call (whoever owns 'em now -- Black & Decker, Stanley, ??) and ask. Taking the chain apart is the only way I can think of. I had one and sold it, never tried to adjust the cutterhead.

[phil harold]

.02" ?
come on thats 1/50 of an inch
wood moves 3-6% in the radial direction
so I think you are over thinking the situation

but it would be easier to adjust the blades if you you are that obsessive...

[mike mcilroy]

There were no instructions in the manual about the bed, only the infeed/outfeed tables, but I will take a look and I did email Delta whose auto response email said the usual wait time for a real response is 8-10 days so I decided to take it to the people. That measure was a guess based on the feeler gauge and wood block I used but it is noticeable to the naked eye. Yeah 3-6 % across the whole board, I am trying to edge glue a few pieces together and use clamping cauls for a flat wide top without having to shim each piece to keep one side flat, besides gotta be obsessive about something.

[phil harold]

I have a delta lunch box planer and there is not much adjustment on them
I remember i but washers under the the roller feed springs to reduce snipe
can you adjust the pins or shim the pin

or
set the blade with with a magnetic planer pal

and was the board flat on one side (jointed) before passed thru the planer?

I still think that a belt sander would make quick work of that variation

[mike mcilroy]

Phil, the board was jointed flat and unfortunately the planer blades sit on index pins so can't be adjusted. I ended up tipping it over taking off the chain and adjusting and reassembling. The problem i have with belt sanding is the project is a butcher block table top made of 1 1/2" wide strips and would be glued up in three 10" segments. Each piece was coming out uneven and would have to be sanded then glued into the big board and sanded again. With the planer adjusted properly I'm hoping that clamping cauls will leave me with three equal pieces requiring no belt sanding, (I don't get consistent results with the belt sander) and then one large top with only a little random orbital sanding. That is the hope anyway.
Just for anyone looking to do the same it wasn't hard you will have to take the sprocket off and right out of the chain because the sprocket is keyed and if you leave it in the same position in the chain it will mess with any adjustment you do make.
Hope this helps and Thanks for the responses!