Adjusting thicknesser rollers on Minimax CU300

[mark mcfarlane]

I am having a small problem where my thicknesser table jumps up and down at approximately the time when the board hits the rubber outfeed roller.

I recorded a video of this issue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5SYvaO6o4U). Watch the mm depth gauge to see the movement, which is also annotated by captions.

I assume the fix is to remove some tension from the outfeed roller by turning the hex nut adjusters counter clockwise....

Also, I can't tell if this rubber roller is rotating, but assume it is under power.

Cheers,

[Warren Lake]

back your table rollers down to flush or below so you are running off the table only and see what it does.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Mark, this is typical of single post planers.

Normally it has no effect on the work as the table is rotating in a concentric fashion with the cutter.

Using the table elevation lock can help with this.

It’s also worth checking that the out feed roller can actually move up and down, use a 1 X 2 to lever it up and down, it should have couple of mm movement.......Regards, Rod

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks Warren and Rod for offering you help, you guys are both awesome.

Backing off on the outfeed roller's spring retainer 3 full turns seems to have eliminated most of the bump, and the rollers push out a 2' * 8" oak board, but the spring retainers are 'approaching falling out' at that point, they are loose enough that I can wiggle them with my fingers. I've left it backed out to 2 3/4" turns. I still get a small bump but I don't think the retainers will vibrate out. 2 1/2 turns from the factory setting might be the magic number, until I put in an 8' * 2" * 12" board and it doesn't get pushed out at the end.

The bump is slightly problematic in that my DRO reads ~.02" thicker before you put in the first board, but it seems to stabilize in my brief testing today. This change makes going back for repeatable thicknessing a PITA, but if the .02 fudge holds during a session I should be OK.

The outfeed roller does move vertically, but not much. With a 4' long 1*3 of white oak I could only get them to move maybe half a mm. It was too small to see clearly but I could feel the movement with a second hand placed on the roller.

I'll keep monkeying with it, knowing that due to the single post design, some movement may always happen.

My next step is to lighten up on the serrated infeed rollers and see what happens to performance. I'm not doing the infeed adjustment to avoid the bump, but I'd like to be able to take 'shaving passes' on lower density wood without stripping it on the serrated roller.

I guess these adjustments are somewhat of a compromise between being able to make light passes on soft woods and moving heavy material through without it getting stuck.