13" Delta planer issues

[Jason White]

Hi folks. Long-time lurker, first-time "creeker."

Anybody here ever have issues with the 13" Delta thickness planer? I've had trouble with the thing pulling wood through. I've tried waxing the bed, cleaning the rollers, pushing it through manually, etc. Sometimes it'll get part-way through and just stop.

Any ideas?

JW

[Larry Fox]

Yep - I have had the same problem. However, for me it goes away when I clean the rolers and/or spray Topkote (sp?) on the bed.

You might also want to check the rolers. One of mine has a chunk missing and it soemtimes gets hung up on that.

Very annoying when it happens as it always seems to be at the worst time - like when you are taking off that last litttle wisper on an perfect piece.

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like you've already done what cured my problem but, I'll elaborate. I raised the cutters high enough to see 'something' on the bed. I removed the bed platen and found that something hard enough to gouge the plate had been fed through.

While glad this didn't occur with this side up (visions of dead knives) it was enough to make the planer unusable. I was able to carefully file the ridges down, steel wool the platen,wax it and reinstall. Although functional, I'll probably pop for the $20 for a new platen.

I would have thought I would feel the ridges while cleaning and waxing prior to removing the platen but I did not so you may want to look really close.

[David Hayes]

I had a similar problem with the wood not wanting to feed through and after cleaning everything, it still happened.

I flipped the cutting speed switch from coarse to fine and then back again and the planer started working fine again. I think the clutch or however it shifts, had gotten loose - I know, not a technical description, but it solved the problem in the short term.

Dave

[John Marshall]

I have had the same problem with my planer. It gets better after cleaning it, but when the fine dust coats the rollers it happens again. When it happens, I VERY carefully give it a nudge or a slight tug to get it the rest of the way thru, then clean everything real well and back to planing.

Just my .02
John

[Jack Dickey]

I've got the TP305 , does it occasionally .. Little cleaning seems to do the trick .. Also if it's long stock , hafta support it a bit while it feeds thru ..

[Steve Wargo]

I've found in the past that this is usually a good indication that you need to change the blades. I've owned a few lunchbox planers and with all of them, after it stopped feeding, I changed the blades and the problem went away. Something to do with the fact that it is requiring much more effort for the blade to cut efficiantly and robs the machine of it's overall power. Good luck. Hope this helps.

[Matt Calder]

Jason,
I have the same problem. I always felt it was me trying to push either too large a board through, or too deep a cut. When I slow it down, it works fine. Now I am not so sure given all the comments here.

Matt

[Robert Mickley]

Only times I've had that problem on my delta either I had switched speeds and it did not fully engage, Or the board had taper to it and it got stuck between the platen and the frame of the head.

You can adjust thhe height of the rollers in relation to the cutter head.
Tells you how in your delta manual

[Ralph Barhorst]

I have had the same problem. It occurs when I try to cut at the slow speed (90 cpi). My planer won't stay in this position and when it pops out the drive mechanism stops.