Sven Asnien
11-14-2014, 9:25 AM
Good Morning,
I have owned this 15" Delta planer for about 5 years now (second owner) and have been generally happy with it. I decided to bite the bullet and disassemble/rebuild it in hopes of resolving a minor oil leak and truing it up a bit. Its never really planed a board perfectly parallel, but since most of the boards have been 4-6" wide, I have been flipping the board over to level out the differences. On average, I'd say a 4" board might be off 0.01" across the width.
Here's what I've done so far:
Aligned the planer bed with four corners of the top (head). Before I started, the unit was off 0.018" left to right. Took the better part of an afternoon messing with the gears and chain assembly, but I am happy with the new state of 0.003" from left to right (left side is lower) and believe that is the best I'm going to get.
Installed new blades and have them sitting within +/- 0.001 across all three blades. I used the original Delta knife setting gauge and feeler gauges. I had the motor completely off which really helped me get my hands around the situation. Don't think they have ever been this good!
Replaced both bearings.
Buttoned everything back up, and planed a 4" wide board. While it did turn out glass smooth (new blades will do that), I measured a difference of 0.011" with my dial caliper.
Measured the distance between planer bed and the four corners of the top, and it is holding true at 0.003.
I then measured the distance from the planer bed to the cutterhead (Actual Cutterhead, not the knife blades) and was shocked to see that I was off 0.022" across the full 15" length of the cutterhead.
Fortunately, It is high on the right hand side of the planer, so I am going to try inserting a 0.025" shim between the gearbox housing and the head. I'm hoping that will do the trick.
Any other thoughts/suggestions/experience any one can offer? Am I going down the wrong path with shims? What is an acceptable difference that you accept when planing a board. Is it realistic to expect something within 0.003" across a 4" board?
Thanks!
Sven
I have owned this 15" Delta planer for about 5 years now (second owner) and have been generally happy with it. I decided to bite the bullet and disassemble/rebuild it in hopes of resolving a minor oil leak and truing it up a bit. Its never really planed a board perfectly parallel, but since most of the boards have been 4-6" wide, I have been flipping the board over to level out the differences. On average, I'd say a 4" board might be off 0.01" across the width.
Here's what I've done so far:
Aligned the planer bed with four corners of the top (head). Before I started, the unit was off 0.018" left to right. Took the better part of an afternoon messing with the gears and chain assembly, but I am happy with the new state of 0.003" from left to right (left side is lower) and believe that is the best I'm going to get.
Installed new blades and have them sitting within +/- 0.001 across all three blades. I used the original Delta knife setting gauge and feeler gauges. I had the motor completely off which really helped me get my hands around the situation. Don't think they have ever been this good!
Replaced both bearings.
Buttoned everything back up, and planed a 4" wide board. While it did turn out glass smooth (new blades will do that), I measured a difference of 0.011" with my dial caliper.
Measured the distance between planer bed and the four corners of the top, and it is holding true at 0.003.
I then measured the distance from the planer bed to the cutterhead (Actual Cutterhead, not the knife blades) and was shocked to see that I was off 0.022" across the full 15" length of the cutterhead.
Fortunately, It is high on the right hand side of the planer, so I am going to try inserting a 0.025" shim between the gearbox housing and the head. I'm hoping that will do the trick.
Any other thoughts/suggestions/experience any one can offer? Am I going down the wrong path with shims? What is an acceptable difference that you accept when planing a board. Is it realistic to expect something within 0.003" across a 4" board?
Thanks!
Sven