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View Full Version : Practical Accuracy with Planer


Martin Gerber
02-03-2007, 2:39 PM
What is the practical accuracy required with a planer?

I have a new Grizzly planer that I have gone through all of the calibrations including blade, bed, parallelism, rollers, etc. When I run a 7" wide board through, I get a variation of about 0.050 from side to side. I am using a digital calipers and figure I have measurement repeatability in the .010 range. Not sure if this is considered with in the accuracy range of the equipment or if there is still more work I need to do. Perhaps I am being too anal about it.

What accuracy do you set your equipment up to and what do you feel you need for woodworking?
lou sansone
02-03-2007, 2:43 PM
that is too much for a 7" board. I used to have a grizzly 20 inch job and it was about 0.02 side to side. Sounds like your table may be misaligned
Lou
Bruce Page
02-03-2007, 3:10 PM
I agree with Lou, .050 is way too much. I have a PM15 that I bought right at the time that Jet was buying out PowerMatic. Suffice to say, the QA on it left a lot to be desired. I went through it and basically reassembled/readjusted everything. Long story short, it will plane within .005 across a 13” board. I wasn’t happy with .005 but that was as close as I could get it.
Martin Gerber
02-03-2007, 3:39 PM
I went back and remeasured and calculated the variance I am seeing. I had an error in the data I posted. I was off on the decimal point. I am seeing a variation up to about .008 accross the 7" board.
Ron Blaise
02-03-2007, 5:56 PM
That's still too much. You should be able to get within .002/.004 in 12" or better. I have a Jet 15" and regularly see .002 or better in 14" boards. That's with just using the setting jig that came with the machine. I had to learn how best to use the jig. Once I did I got the results I wanted.
Bruce Page
02-03-2007, 5:58 PM
I went back and remeasured and calculated the variance I am seeing. I had an error in the data I posted. I was off on the decimal point. I am seeing a variation up to about .008 accross the 7" board.
I still think that is more than you should see in a 7” wide board, but I don’t think it’s worth the hassle to correct.