Trouble keeping thickness setting on my planer

[Greg Urwiller]

A friend gave me some rough sawn ash a while back. The boards are approx 13' long, about 11" wide. Wanted to plane them down today so I could see what I had and rip what I needed to. I've got a Jet 16" 3hp planer. So far I've only had a chance to run some construction lumber through it. I had a heck of a time keeping the head from moving today on the ash. It's got locks on opposite corners, front and back. These don't seem to hold and I had to put a bungee on the hand wheel to keep it from rotating. To keep everything even, I'd run all boards thru, then lower the head and run them all through again. But, I didn't notice the head coming up right away, so the next pass, I might be taking off way too much. Tripped the breaker a few times before I figured it out! So, I turned on the Wixey to watch exactly what was happening. Even if everything was locked down, the head would still be forced up about .020/.030. One thing I think I have to do is to change blades. Never had any issues with the soft construction lumber, but obviously the ash is a lot harder. I thought if it cuts easier there might not be as much pressure on the head. Does that seem reasonable? Any other suggestions? Thanks. Greg

[fRED mCnEILL]

When I first got my Grizzly 20 inch planer I had the same problem. Call customer service and they told me needed sharp blades. Corrected the problem.

[Jim Matthews]

I wonder if your blades have picked up some pitch from the construction lumber.
That would present a blunt edge to the work.

Tripping breakers are an indication of an overheated motor.

[Gary Redden]

The knifes are dull would be what I would say. Just because they are new does not mean they are as sharp as they should be. I would also say that running the construction lumber though it before the ash through it is also a contributing factor to dulling the knifes.

Gary

[glenn bradley]

+1 on knives. Without a good cutting edge there are some considerable forces at work.

[Lee Schierer]

In addition to what the others said, it would appear you are attempting to take off too much material in one pass. While shaving 1/8" off pine might be possible on a 3 Hp machine I would advise against removing an more than .050" in a single pass on hardwoods. Removing less material means more passes, but it will give you a better finish with less tear out where grain reverses. Also if you don't already do it read your lumber to get the grain heading the right direction to limit tearout. the ends of the grain should be fed like this \\\\\\\-> not ///////-> into the planer (assuming the cutter head is on top).

Lee

[Bill White]

Listen to Lee and make sure that your blades are in top condition. Hogging on any planer is a sure fire way to get less than good results. I hope that this didn't sound like a smart a$$ed response. I was guilty of the offense early on.
Bill

[David Lawhorn]

Wow, interesting to hear that dull blades will cause the thickness to vary.
Does this apply to the lunchbox/benchtop planers too?

[Greg Urwiller]

Actually I was only trying to take off approx 1/32" (.030) with each pass on the ash. But when the head would be forced up, then that would easily double or worse. Even tho I said I had only just used it on some construction lumber, the planer was bought used so the blades weren't new. The original owner included a new (or used and sharpened, whatever, I don't remember which!) set of blades with the planer. Anyway, it certainly sounds like a change over is needed. I'll give it a try and see what happens. Thanks. Greg

[David Nelson1]

Let me pile in on this Greg. You most likely notice a reduction in noise as well since the dull blades are beating the wood instead of slicing it.

[Don Jarvie]

Have you dusted off the manual and set up the machine? You would be surprised what's in them :). This is coming from a guilty party.

Here's an example. I rebuilt my Delta 900 RAS. Noticed I wasn't getting square cuts. So I adjust this, adjust that and still isn't square. Get out the manual, find the section and it says to turn this bolt and it works.

A lot of times we overlook the manual because the machine is fairly straight forward.