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Thread: What is wrong with my planer?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Greensboro, NC
    Posts
    127

    What is wrong with my planer?

    I have a new Grizzly G1021X2 and often, when I feed a board through it gets stuck right at the front and I have to move it around a bit and push it in before the rollers will grab it. Also on the back end it will stop feeding and I have to pull the board through. It's like the rollers can't pull the board through for some reason.

    Also, the snipe is terrible.

    I assume that is some adjustment, but I'm not sure what?

    I have emailed Grizzly, but have gotten no response.

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
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    11,247
    Hi David, have you tried cleaning and waxing the planer bed?

    Could you please provide a photograph and measurement of the snipe?

    The planer may require adjustment...........Regards, Rod.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,879
    Pressure bar and chip breaker are too low.
    Bil lD

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Rod Sheridan View Post
    Hi David, have you tried cleaning and waxing the planer bed?..
    YUP! ^^^^^

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  5. #5
    Could be some residue of the shipping coating. Clean thoroughly with acetone and then wax.

    Rollers, etc. should be set at factory, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Your manual will have alignment procedure. Personally I use a dial indicator rather than block as Grizzly suggests.

    If it has bed rollers, these can be a significant source of snipe. My machine has no snipe after doing this. Snipe can be inherent in any given planer, tho. Upward lift on the board as it’s going in and out will also help.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Another vote for cleaning and waxing being the first and easiest thing to try. Mineral spirits will break down the protective slime that comes on the machine. Simply wiping it off or and other lack-luster approach will leave residue that will torture you over time. Take the time and clean tables, platten and so forth thoroughly. Then wax the tables and platten. I have used paste wax (available in the floor care products area of your local BORG) for many years with good success. I only re-wax a couple of times a year but, this will vary with your locale and use.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    If you don't have one get a dial indicator with a magnetic base (or something like Grizzly's Rotacator). Since pretty much all 4 post planers are the same you can try the setting from Powermatic vs Grizzly to see which give you better results. Then go through setting everything up (the infeed and outfeed tables, the cutter head, lower rollers, the drive rollers, the chip breaker, and pressure bar). Of course cleaning it a must. There's also some tricks that may help. Setting the lower rollers flush with the table and setting the feed tables so the ends are slightly higher (maybe 1/8") than the main table.

    On my G1033X where the main table was machined for the lower rollers there was a sharp edge. Sharp enough so it could cut someone. If the lower roller was flush with the table that sharp edge would act like a plane and shave the wood. What I did was lower the rollers as far as they would go, wrapped a piece of cardboard around then and then carefully used a dremel with a fine grinding stone at an angle to take the sharp edge off. When I first got the planer it would do the same thing as yours. Between removing those sharp edges and going through the complete set up it now feeds board just fine and the only snipe is at the very tail end of the board that I should be able to resolve with some fine tuning. When it comes to new tools, especially Grizzly tools, going through all the setting is very important. I have a PDF, I think it's from Powermatic with settings. I'll post it later.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    Here are the settings I'm using.
    4 post planer.jpg

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Greensboro, NC
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    127
    Thanks everyone. I cleaned it with WD-40 after unpacking and cleaning the grease off, but I did not wax it. Not sure why, I keep all of my other cast iron/metal surfaces waxed. Going to do this today and hope it helps. If not, I'll start checking for needed adjustments.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    Falls Church, VA
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    David,

    I had the same problem in a different spot on my Powermatic 15HH. The way I found the problem was to feed a board and let it get stuck. Shut the machine down and clamp the board to the infeed table to immobilize it. Then lower the infeed all the way so you can see exactly what's going on. In my case, the board had just passed over the idler roller and stopped right where it should have transitioned to cast iron.

    In my case the problem was where the cast iron was machined flat and had created a very sharp edge on the outfeed side of the lower idler rollers. The board is fed in on the cast bed, then goes over the in-feed idler roller, then back on to cast iron. At that spot, the razor sharp edge caught the board. In my case, the solution was very simple. I took a file and broke that sharp edge with a little chamfer. The effect on the machine is negligible but I haven't ever had a catch since.

    I had a talk with the Powermatic tech support. The guy was really nice and listened intently and I think he understood the issue. He promised to bring it up at some future meeting. During manufacture, it would be trivial to take a file to those edges before the rollers are installed. With them installed, I had to be very careful not to scratch the rollers.
    Last edited by Roger Feeley; 07-15-2020 at 2:03 PM.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    2,282
    When I had the same issue as Roger (described above) I was finding shavings on the sheet metal below the rollers. As the sharp edge shaved it off it would fall down below the table. You might want to look to see if yours is doing the same.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Marina del Rey, Ca
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    1,934
    I clean the bed of my Delta 13" planer using acetone and then apply Bostik TopCote.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

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