changing planer blades

[Mike Hedges]

Changed blades for the first time on a PM 15 inch planer, could not get the blades in correct with the jig supplied. Woodcraft has several that range in price for 49.95 to 149.95(Magna Set). Not sure why the big price difference. Made an adjustment on the pressure wheels , I probably made a mistake on that move. Need to start over and get the blades just right . Any suggestiuon on a good jig , or do I need to get another planer ( just kidding). Mike Hedges

[Bruce Wrenn]

Mark Dugenskie said it perfectly- "Changing jointer and planer blades are as much fun as hanging drywall, or getting a root canal." Only practice will help you get the hang of it. Didn't your planer come with that cheap stamped steel jig, that does a GOOD job of setting blades, once you know how to use it? You might want to get a copy of John White's book "Care and Repair of Shop Machines."

[Joe Jensen]

Changed blades for the first time on a PM 15 inch planer, could not get the blades in correct with the jig supplied. Woodcraft has several that range in price for 49.95 to 149.95(Magna Set). Not sure why the big price difference. Made an adjustment on the pressure wheels , I probably made a mistake on that move. Need to start over and get the blades just right . Any suggestiuon on a good jig , or do I need to get another planer ( just kidding). Mike Hedges

I've tried many jigs and I ended up with a dial indicator setup. The problem I had was how much the knives moved when the gib screws were tightened. Each screw across the head would move the knife a diffent amount. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about the screws that lift the knife, I'm talking about the screws that tighten the knife in the head. I ended up "practice tightening each screw to see how much the knife would move, and then doing a real knife alignment later. How well set the knives are is a BIG determinent of how well the tool will cut. I have an old Powermatic 12" planer and with about 3 hours of work, I could get all three knives to +/- 0.0005". That said, I recently gave up and put a Byrd head in the planer and I'm thrilled. Not only do I have no more knives to set, the Byrd head has zero tearout...joe

[Kirk Poore]

Read this article:

http://www.owwm.com/Parks/FWW/tuning.asp

You'll need to get a dial indicator and make a couple of jigs to hold it, but it won't cost any more than another blade setting jig. Using this method, it took me about an hour to set the knives on my 18" Oliver, not counting the jig construction time. It took another two hours to tune up the planer itself, which is pretty much a one-time thing. There is also a video out on Google that demonstrates this, but I don't have the link handy.

Kirk

[David True]

Hope you find a fix before I have to chang my blades. if i will follow you to Hati and Mexico i guess i will follow your planner knife lead.........

let me know if you need another set of hands to hold someting

David