Lateral adjustment lever is loose

[Bob Jones 5443]

I love my 1922 Type 6a Bed Rock No. 607. It predictably produces the finest shavings. I've used it to flatten faces and edges even when I was having trouble with my jointer.

Lately, however, the 607's lateral adjustment lever has not held its place. After a few, or sometimes several, shavings, the iron lurches suddenly all the way over to the right, protruding out the side. It happens all in a single stroke. It goes so far over to one side that even the cambered iron gouges the work! I reset things to the middle, only to see it happen again.

There is a ton of play in the lever. I suspect that the fulcrum can be tightened to bring friction back into the mechanism, but I have no idea where to start. I'd love to hear how to fix this problem. (My 1931 Stanley Bailey No 5-1/2 keeps its position all day long, giving me a tight 20 mm wide shaving down the middle of the plane; its lever has no play.)

Thanks in advance.
Bob

[ken hatch]

I love my 1922 Type 6a Bed Rock No. 607. It predictably produces the finest shavings. I've used it to flatten faces and edges even when I was having trouble with my jointer.

Lately, however, the 607's lateral adjustment lever has not held its place. After a few, or sometimes several, shavings, the iron lurches suddenly all the way over to the right, protruding out the side. It happens all in a single stroke. It goes so far over to one side that even the cambered iron gouges the work! I reset things to the middle, only to see it happen again.

There is a ton of play in the lever. I suspect that the fulcrum can be tightened to bring friction back into the mechanism, but I have no idea where to start. I'd love to hear how to fix this problem. (My 1931 Stanley Bailey No 5-1/2 keeps its position all day long, giving me a tight 20 mm wide shaving down the middle of the plane; its lever has no play.)

Thanks in advance.
Bob

Bob,

The fix is simple, peen the pin. Use a small anvil, hammer, and small punch to lightly peen the pin until the friction is as you want it. I have done it many times on older frogs.

ken

[Frederick Skelly]

Bob,

The fix is simple, peen the pin. Use a small anvil, hammer, and small punch to lightly peen the pin until the friction is as you want it. I have done it many times on older frogs.

ken

What Ken said.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Sounds "easy," but I'm not an experienced peener. I'll have to do some research to see how to do this without damaging the frog.

[Jim Koepke]

Bob,

The fix is simple, peen the pin. Use a small anvil, hammer, and small punch to lightly peen the pin until the friction is as you want it. I have done it many times on older frogs.

ken


What Ken said.

Be careful when doing this as if done carelessly there is a possibility of cracking the cast iron.

The lateral lever does very little to prevent the blade from self adjusting.

There is also one other issue you may want to address. The screw holding the lever cap can have this kind of effect with as little as 1/16th of a revolution.

My #4-1/2 was giving me fits and deep tracks until the lever cap screw was correctly set.

One way to test this is to set your blade to cut. Then back up the adjuster a little in to its backlash. How long does the blade hold its setting without the adjuster holding it?

Once you get this set you will likely find that your lateral lever may wiggle a little but the blade will stay where it was set.

jtk

[ken hatch]

Sounds "easy," but I'm not an experienced peener. I'll have to do some research to see how to do this without damaging the frog.

Bob,

Set the bottom of the frog where the pin goes through on a anvil or other hard metal surface. I use a short piece of a old railroad rail, the flat on a metal working vise would work as well. use a small, 1/4" or less, flat face punch placed on the peened over area of the pin and using light taps, tap try and repeat until the lever has the desired friction/stiffness.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

Here is a simple set up for peening:

422363

This is from a post of about 10 years ago > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373

There is a bit more there about bench plane rehabilitation.

jtk

[steven c newman]

I have a large 32oz ball pean hammer....I can clamp it into the vise on my bench. With the "ball" above the jaws just enough that the frog can sit there. I have a pin punch abouth the right size. Tapping the punch with a light-weight hammer, to pean the pin over.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Jim, the lever cap has also crossed my mind. When I did a week with David Charlesworth, he used the drill press to mill a little bevel into the set-screw hole on the lever cap of my L-N 4-1/2 (my only plane at the time). This created a little “smile” about 270° around, which enabled the beveled screw head to nest into the hole more completely, providing a little more holding power to the level cap. My 607 cap could use a little of that.

So I have two potential remedies to try.

By the way, treat yourself to one of David’s one-week classes. Truly life-changing. It turned me into a Neanderthal.

[Marinus Loewensteijn]

It does not matter how easy the lever moves. If your blade moves then most likely either the lever cap sits too loose or there is a lot of lubrication between blade and frog. A previous owner may also have bend the chip breaker and you may even find that the blade itself is twisted.

edit: Also check if the blade is flat - I recently had a blade that was banana shaped and only seemed to rest around the srew holding the lever cap. Makes one wonder how it even got to that stage.

[lowell holmes]

I think the previous responses nail it. I would start by gently peening the post it rides on.

[david charlesworth]

Bob,

I think the lever cap is very likely moving. The small countersink may help.

Also I agree that the seating of the blade C/B assembly on the frog, should also be inspected.

Most c/bs bend the blade slightly so that it only touches the frog at top and bottom (i.e. the heel of the bevel).

Happy new year,
David

[Jim Koepke]

Bob,

I think the lever cap is very likely moving. The small countersink may help.

Also I agree that the seating of the blade C/B assembly on the frog, should also be inspected.

Most c/bs bend the blade slightly so that it only touches the frog at top and bottom (i.e. the heel of the bevel).

Happy new year,
David

As David mentioned, your chip breaker may be a cause of problems. Some people tend to think if a little bit of spring in the chip breaker is good, then a lot of spring will be a lot better.

Here is how too much spring in a chip breaker might look:

422478

A little careful work re-shaping the chip breaker can correct this.

jtk

[Charles Guest]

Turn the lever cap screw a quarter turn or a little less to make it cinch tighter. A loose lateral adjuster has nothing to do with the iron moving during actual planing. I used a plane for years after its lateral adjuster snapped off.

[Jim Koepke]

Turn the lever cap screw a quarter turn or a little less to make it cinch tighter. A loose lateral adjuster has nothing to do with the iron moving during actual planing. I used a plane for years after its lateral adjuster snapped off.

One of my #6 planes is a type 4. Those didn't have lateral adjusters.

jtk

[Bob Jones 5443]

I’ll be away for a few days of merrymaking. When I return I will take to heart these fine insights. Thank you, one and all.

[Charles Guest]

One of my #6 planes is a type 4. Those didn't have lateral adjusters.

jtk

Absolutely. They are not compulsory in any way whatsoever.

[Jim Koepke]

Absolutely. They are not compulsory in any way whatsoever.

Agreed, this was mentioned in my first post in this thread/string.


[edited]

The lateral lever does very little to prevent the blade from self adjusting.

There is also one other issue you may want to address. The screw holding the lever cap can have this kind of effect with as little as 1/16th of a revolution.
jtk

Just out of curiosity, when does a thread become a string? :eek:

jtk