Ridgid 4330 planer

[Brian Keith]

Any owners have poblems with the belt shreading or the cutter head binding up? I purchased the Ridgid TP1300ls reconditioned from HD for $190, when opened it had no stand,extra knives,crank knob and no key. Back it went, for my troubles the manager at HD swaped it for a new Ridgid 4330. Brought that one home Wednesday turned it on and nothing but smoke so much I had to oped a window and exhaust it with a fan. The belt was binding so back that one went today. Manager exchanged it for a new 4330 but this time I had him plug it in and run it. Same thing smoke from belt and cutterhead wouldnt move. So he brought over the last one they had and youll never guess what happened. Yes you are correct. That makes a total of 4 planers that were junk. Bad run of planers or are these not well built any more. I see good reviews of them on the web and on the creek. Should I have them bring one from another store or get money back, keep in mind that I do have a $400 planer for $190. If I do get money back it will only be the $190, or should I go with another brand?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

I have a Ridgid 1300 IIRC. I've had it for 5 years or so and it's worked well. I can't help but wonder if there was a lock on the planer heads that hadn't been released....or a shipping bolt. I can't imagine having 4 of them go the same way and it being an actual "problem". But then again.....I've been wrong.

[Brian Keith]

Ken if there was a lock or a shipping bolt wouldnt they make the buyer aware of this in the manual or on the box?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

I'd think so but you never know. It's just that the exact same symptoms on 3 in row would make me wonder.

Surely they fire these thing up at the factory for a quick spin.

A lot of the equipment I work on....we pin or clamp using clamp blocks some rotating parts before we ship it. The folks installing it take out the shipping blocks. I just can't imagine any company having that kind of a failure rate and making any money at it.:confused:

I will tell you that my Ridgid 1300 works well. I had not used it for a couple of years. Last month I hooked it up to my new DC (Before I was using a 16 gallon shop vac which filled OH so quickly) fired it up and it worked like a dream. I still have the spare set of blades that I've never used.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

[Greg Cole]

My 1300TP didnt have anything locking the cutter head adjustment from the box, but mine's a couple years old now too. I actually can't say a bad thing about the little lunchbox, other than she's a screamer.:rolleyes:
Kinda like a TS, there's a bracket to keep the motor from bouncing about in shipping... there might be something holding the cutter on the new planers?

Greg

[Brian Keith]

Well after days of aggravation from HD I finally received a new 4330 that works. I had the manager tell me that the other HD in surrounding cities wouldnt ship one to their store for me. Things got so heated cause I couldnt get and answer from any manager that I was threatened to be escorted out of the building after the manager looked at me and said "you are starting to irritate me". Ill be calling the 800# and lodge a complaint against that manager. How I finally received the new one was I took a shot and went across town and spoke to a manager there, explained the situation he looked at my receipts and took one off the shelf and we were even. Also told me that as long as an item is for a customer they can send to any store. This whole time I was given wrong info. In the end I did get a new in the box 4330 for $190. One question I do have is, was there two different dust chutes for the 4330? The first broken one I bought seemed to have three bolts holding the chute on. Is this correct? Thanks

[Matthew Hills]

When testing the R4330, did you have the dust hood firmly in place?
(if not, the blade lock is engaged and the tool makes a horrible sound. you'd almost think they'd packed a cat in there)

two thumb screws on my dust hood.

Matt

[Bill Huber]

I have the 4330 and there are only 2 bolts that hold the chute on, I have never seen any other setup.

Just make sure that you put it on and is seated right or the blades will not turn and will or could burn it up.

On the left side as you are standing in front of it on the chute side there is a RED lever that the chute has to push down to unlock the blades.

[glenn bradley]

Ken if there was a lock or a shipping bolt wouldnt they make the buyer aware of this in the manual or on the box?


Ah, here you go; from your manual:

 Remove the dust hood.
NOTE: The cutterhead lock will engage when the head is rotated. Do not operate thickness planer without the dust hood in place or the planer will be damaged.

[Rod Sheridan]

Ah, here you go; from your manual:

 Remove the dust hood.
NOTE: The cutterhead lock will engage when the head is rotated. Do not operate thickness planer without the dust hood in place or the planer will be damaged.


WOW!

What a design, my planer has a limit switch on the dust hood, if it isn't in the correct position. it won't let the planer start.

It doesn't engage a cutterhead lock and damage the machine.

Makes you wonder what the Engineer was thinking, aside from lowest cost.

Regards, Rod.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Makes you wonder what the Engineer was thinking, aside from lowest cost.

Often it's not the engineer that makes such calls - unless he is forced to. However - I work with lots of software engineers, and it's amazing how often they'll say things like "But that should never happen".

[Curt Harms]

Ah, here you go; from your manual:

 Remove the dust hood.
NOTE: The cutterhead lock will engage when the head is rotated. Do not operate thickness planer without the dust hood in place or the planer will be damaged.


The Delta 22-580 I had used the same mechanical cutterhead lock. Handy when changing knives but I often wished the knives locked a bit more toward the back of the machine. It would have been easier to loosen the screws. On the Delta though it'd have been a scary proposition to start it without the plate in place; the cutterhead was fully exposed.

Curt

[Corey Wilcox]

I am completely disgusted with my Rigid 4330 Planer and with Rigid tools in general. I know others have had good luck with this brand, but my experience has been completely negative. This is the second Rigid planer I've owned. I had the previous model, but the feed rollers were ineffective at drawing the wood into the blades. Even after a good cleaning and a 1/64" cut they would just slip on the board surface and I would have to push the board through manually. Very annoying. It was like Neanderthal meets modern technology. So I returned it and convinced myself I was just unfortunate in getting a dud. The BORG had the new 4330 in so I figured it must be better than the old, right? Well, it seemed to feed better than the old version and it did clean up some pine and a small amount of hardwoods for me. When I tried planing some clear ash tonight I noticed the blades were sounding pretty dull. Odd I thought seeing as how I've barely run anything through them and what I did run through was clean, no sand, dirt, rocks, nails, etc. So I turned it off, took the shroud off and discovered that only 1 of the 3 blades was dull. Two of them had barely been contacting the wood surface, but the last blade was extremely dull. I thought this was very strange so I went to remove the blades to look for obvious causes, but no go. The very last screw on each jib opposite the cutter head crank was frozen solid. I managed to get 2 of the 3 out, but despite being very careful, but not careful enough, the last one stripped. :mad: Now I can't get it out and will end up having to take it to a service center so as not to void the warranty. So, now I am left to wonder:

1- why the blades were not indexed properly?
2- why did the screws in the jib get so tight to begin with?
3- what brand/model I should get as soon as I get this thing repaired and sold?

Is it just me or has anyone else had trouble with this tool??

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I did experience a "burnt rubber" smell once while using my R4330. I found that the small bolt that adjusts the height slider had become loose. That allowed me to move the cutter head lower than it would have been able to go if the bolt had been in place. The belt ended up rubbing against the height slider. Reinstalling the bolt and tightening the lock nut fixed the problem.

I've had no other problems with it. It's been a great machine.

Paul