Looking for help setting up Rockwell RC-33 / Delta 22-650 planer

[Pete Givens]

Hi guys,

I inherited this planer from my grandfather. Yesterday I cleaned it up and sharpened the blades. I do not have the original blade gauge that came with the machine so I set them as best I could with feeler gauges. When I took them out, my grandfather had the blades set so that the back of the bevel was almost exactly at the level of the cutterhead. Like this:
315859

From reading through this thead (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?196783-Found-Knifte-Setting-Jig-for-Rockwell-RC-33-planer-Delta-22-650), I believe that is the right setting. I don't know the exact height that the blades are supposed to protrude above the cutterhead.

So I put it all back together and it won't cut. Not only that, but there seems to be a very small window where the planer will even pull the board through. By that I mean if I lower the head assembly too far, the board won't fit in at all. But if I bump it up even the slightest bit, then the feed rollers don't seem to grab it. This makes me think that the blade depth is fine and my issue is with the level of the anti-kickback fingers or the infeed roller or something. Full disclosure, I have no experience using a planer. Maybe there is a small depth window on all of them. But something is definitely not working correctly with mine. Any suggestions?

[Jerry Miner]

Have you checked the feed roller height? The manual for that machine says the outfeed rollers should be .040 below cutting circle of the knives. You can also adjust the feed roller tension.

Are you sure the knives are facing the right way? You wouldn't be the first guy to install them backwards.

[Paul Murphy]

If you don't have the manual for your planer I'm sure you can find it online. It's better to use the Delta factory knife height setting, that way you might not have to change lots of other settings to accomodate a non-factory setup. Here are some good generic discussions, and links to the type of gauges that help setup planers [and jointers]

FWW #70 p78
FWW #107 p72
http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Getting%20Peak%20Planer%20Performance.ashx
http://www.woodmastertools.com/NS/accessdetail.cfm?PID=43 [planer knife height primarily]
http://oneway.ca/Multi-Gauge-Product?search=multi-gauge [level bed to cutterhead, set bed rollers, jointer knives, etc. A very flexible gauge, download instructions for details]

[Pete Givens]

I got it to start cutting by raising the outfeed roller which was set too low. I did check all of the roller heights using a stop block and a .040" feeler gauge so I think those are set correctly now.

I'm kind of confused by the settings actually. It says the chipbreaker should also be .040" below the cutterhead. How does it cut at all if the board has to pass under the chipbreaker first which is lower than the cutterhead?

[roger wiegand]

The chip breaker rides up as a board goes through, it's not fixed in position, you're just setting the lower limit of the height.