Dewalt planer thicknesser problems

galwaydude18 · 05-06-2010 10:52pm #1

A while ago a friend I used to work with put through a plank of oak through my Dewalt d27300 planer thicknesser. I told him to check the thickness of the plank as all the planks we were planing were different thicknesses.

Any way he didn't check a particular plank and the plank wouldn't go through caus it was too thick. I turned around and saw him trying to push the plank through. By the time i got over to him and turn it off it was too late.

I couldn't lower the thickness table as he bent the alignment of it on the four supports that are threaded. We eventually got the plank out after a great deal of grief.

I sent the planer off to be fixed and when I got it bak all the table are completly off line. When I surface anything it comes off like a banana. I put a level across it and the infeed and outfeed table are completly off line to one another when the infeed table is set to zero.

The thicknessing table is all off to one side as well and is of no use to thickness as is planes more to one side then the other.

I can adjust all these tables no problem but what is the best way to accuratly ensure they are in line with one another particulary the infeed and out feed table for surfacing are parallel to one another in all directions and paralled to the cutter block? The infeed and out feed table are adjusted on eight nuts on each side of the table. Four on the bottom and four on the top to lock it in place.

I'm not sure how to do all this accuratly as the planer is of no use to me the way it is now and I want to plane up some timber in the next week or two.

Your advise is greatly appreciated.

kadman · 06-06-2010 12:50am

Personally I would realign the tables , by banging your friends head, on both tables. He,s your fekking enemy.................not your friend.

Do I know the abuser.

Theoretically it should be a straight forward process.

Position the infeed table down wel lbelow the cutterblock for starters. then get a long steel straightedge, or timber if you have to. Get a planer blade, and place it on the outfeed table, just so that its above the planer blade in the block. Set the outfeed table up or down , just so that when you revolve the block by hand, it lifts the blade forward about 6 mm. Now move the planer blade to the other edge of the out feed table, and check the same thing there. When you are happy with the out feed table, lock it in position

Get the long straight edge, place it on the outfeed table, and let it run in over the cutter block, and about 10 inches in over the infeed table. Bring the infeed table up to about.5mm below the steel edge, and check with a feeler guage or a suitable shim, near the cutter block, and at the end of the straight edge, over the infeed table. This should tell you if both table planes are parallel to each other

Does this make sense so far..............

as i,m off to the scratcher, and i,ll chat you tomorrow ZZZZZzzzz....

kadman

galwaydude18 · 06-06-2010 11:59am

No you don't know this abuser kadman. He started about 6 months after me but he is the same lad that broke the pressure plate in the four cutter that time... He even turned the spindle on one day and the blades went across the workshop because he didn't put them into the cutter block correctly and he didn't even have a lump of timbe in front of it when he turned it just incase something like happened.... Lucky someone didn't get killed when that happened..

Position the infeed table down well below the cutterblock for starters. then get a long steel straightedge, or timber if you have to. Get a planer blade, and place it on the outfeed table, just so that its above the planer blade in the block. Set the outfeed table up or down , just so that when you revolve the block by hand, it lifts the blade forward about 6 mm.

I dont have any spare planer blades to do this. Could I use something else to do this like a ruler? So I set the out feed table above the height of the blade in the cutter block and when the blade catches the straight edge and moves it forward about 6mm that is correct when done on both ends? Or is it specifically when the cutter block catches the straight edge and moves it forward 6mm on both ends its correct?

Get the long straight edge, place it on the outfeed table, and let it run in over the cutter block, and about 10 inches in over the infeed table. Bring the infeed table up to about.5mm below the steel edge, and check with a feeler guage or a suitable shim, near the cutter block, and at the end of the straight edge, over the infeed table. This should tell you if both table planes are parallel to each other

That makes perfect sense to me..

What would be the most accurate way then to set the thicknessing table parallel to the other tables?

galwaydude18 · 06-06-2010 11:49pm

Could I use a 4foot level instead of the steel straight edge as I don't have a steel straight edge? I could buy a steel straight edge if I will get better results using that instead of a 4foot level.

kadman · 08-06-2010 5:48pm

At a pinch a timber straight edge will do, until you get sorted with a steel one.

When you use the planer blade or, small steel rule on the outfeed table, over the cutterblock. Make sure that the steel rule is puled forward an equal amount on either side of the out feed table. This makes sure that the planer blade in the cutter block is parallel with the surface of the outfeed table. If its not, re check the blade in the cutter block, that its fitted correctly.

Its not absolutely essential that the thicknessing table is parralel with the infeed or outfeed tables. As this has no bearing on the ability of the thicknesser to perform. Its more essential to make sure that the blades are in the cutterblock correctly, and then check that the table is parallel with the cutter block. Otherwise you will be thicknessing differently on either edge of the thicknessing table. there should be adjustment to raise or lower either edge of the thicknessing table.

Hope it makes sense,

kadman

galwaydude18 · 08-06-2010 9:22pm

kadman wrote: »

Get the long straight edge, place it on the outfeed table, and let it run in over the cutter block, and about 10 inches in over the infeed table. Bring the infeed table up to about.5mm below the steel edge, and check with a feeler guage or a suitable shim, near the cutter block, and at the end of the straight edge, over the infeed table. This should tell you if both table planes are parallel to each other

Ok im nearly with u now.i bought an aluminum t square that i will use as the straight edge as i could not source a steel straight edge arounde me or in athlone either.i got a set of feeler guages as well.↲So when i parallel the infeed table using the straight edge& 0.5mm feeler gauge as u described and get it parallel with the outfeed table whats the next move?do i then try zero that0.5mm gap i created with the feeler gather&straight edge?↲What would be the most accurate way to achieve that so i dont lose the parallel between both tables?

kadman · 09-06-2010 6:17pm

Once you have made both tables parallel, with each other and the cutter block, you are more or less there. When the out feed table is locked , and it gives a 4-6mm draw forward with a straight edge. Lock it and leave it at that.

Your infeed table, when its fully pulled up should line up with the outfeed table. If it rises above it and the cutter block, its not a big issue, as it wont cut at that anyway.

Drop the infeed table, about 1 mm, and plane a piece of timber. If it rides up on to the outfeed table, and fails to plane the last few inches of the plank, then the outfeed table is too high. If when the timber passes off the end of the infeed table, it drops, giving you a sniped finish at the end of the timber, then the outfeed table is too low.

kadman

galwaydude18 · 09-06-2010 8:27pm

Ok I have you now. I will align the tables tomorrow if I am finished early from work

or else it might end up being the weekend. I'l let you know how I get on..

:)

Thanks for all your comments. Your a feckin ledgend and a master teacher!!!:D:D:D:D Just a pity you wern't in the same comany as me when I was there.

Imagine all the knowledge I could have learnt from you??

:p

Thanks again..

galwaydude18 · 09-06-2010 10:29pm

Well kadman just spent the last hour and a half aligning the infeed and outfeed tables. I surfaced two planks and they are almost perfectly straight when put together.

there is a small gap in between them but that disappears with light hand pressure.

I will perfect it even more so that there are no gaps when surfaced when I have more time and there is more sunlight out.

:D:D

One last question.

When I aligned the blades up and the blade pulled the ruler forward 6mm and say the other end of the blade pulled the ruler just short of the 6mm. I would say less than 0.25mm in the difference would that affect the surfacing? Or is essential that the blades pull the ruler forward 6mm excatly at each end?

galwaydude18 · 10-06-2010 9:46pm

Ok well I spent three hours today trying align the tables perfectly. I used the feeler gauge and a steel ruler to set the front of the outfeed table absolutly parallel with the cutter block. I then used the alumium t square and the 0.5mm feeler gauge to make the infeed parallel to the outfeed table as you described.

I reset the planer blades so that they pull the steel ruler excatly 5mm forward on each end on each blade..

Now when I surface the planks especially on their edge and put the surfaced edges together I am left with a gap of excatly 0.5mm in the middle (got that by using the feeler gauges until I felt just a slight drag in the gap.)

Have I done something wrong? The timber doesn't appear to be riding up from the infeed table to the outfeed table. I checked this by pressing down on the plank and moving it slowly toward the outfeed table and kind of put my head in such a position that I could see what was happening and it just went onto the outfeed table like it's supposed to do.

Any ideas? Maybe using the alumium t square is not accurate enough? What do you think?

Thanks again for your help

kadman · 10-06-2010 11:47pm

How long were the planks of timber you were straightening.

It sounds as though the ends of each table are lower than the ends at the cutter block, in other words not paralel. Re check them. Remember .5 mm, is a discrepency of .25mm on each length, so you are not a million miles away at the moment.

Before you move anything at the moment, try lowering the out feed table, about .2mm first. You are nearly there so dont panic.

When you feed in the plank on edge, about three inches onto the out feed table, turn off the planer, and double check that the outfeed table is not too high, and that the timber is not binding down hard on the outfeed table.

kadman

galwaydude18 · 11-06-2010 6:35am

The planks were just just short of 900mm.. I'm off to Dublin now to about 2minutes worth of work (what a waste of time if you ask me!) But I will recheck everything this afternoon or tomorrow.

JoeB- · 11-06-2010 10:49am

Fair play to you for continuing to try to get it perfect.

That mate of yours sounds like a nightmare, I'll have to remember the story when people ask to use or borrow my tools... I always refuse 'coz of the reasons you've given,.. safe working practices and correct use of machines, and verification of correct settings before slamming wood through.

I spent many frustrating hours trying to align a Scheppach HMS 260 planer thicknesser, and it is very hard. Well, it seems hard trying to get everything to align at the same time.

How many cutting knives in your block?, is it two? Have you tried to set these exactly the same?, or is one a fraction lower than the other?

Anyway good luck, let us know how it works out..

galwaydude18 · 11-06-2010 2:38pm

Ok progress report. Have spent the last few hours trying to get it all parallell and have checked everything about 100 times at this stage and it is not getting any better. :mad: In fact the gap has increased from 0.5mm to 1.00 :(mm.

I'm feeling defeated at this stage.

:(:(:( Just maybe that alumium t square is not accurate enough for this job.

Don't know how to make it better.. Everything is adjusted using nuts and a 13mm spanner. No other fine adjustment on the bloody thing..

Why oh why did I ever let that lad near the planer. It work perfect until he f****d it up.

It's just mighty annoying when making up wide panels and need to use unnecessary force with sash cramps to try pull the joints thight and then trying to stop the panel from bowing from all the pulling force..

Anyone have any idea how much this would cost to get all aligned perfectly

or even is there such a service that would do this as the dewalt service agents are a joke.

I have used two. One to fix the planer and the other to replace the bearing in my chopsaw and they left a screw loose inside the cover of the chopsaw and it was making a mighty racket until I realised it was loose and tightened it up.

kadman · 11-06-2010 3:41pm

Where is it located.

kadman

galwaydude18 · 11-06-2010 4:31pm

It's located in Galway but I would be willing to travel any where in the country to either get help to fix or get someone to fix it accuratly for me.

kadman · 11-06-2010 10:40pm

I thought you were athlone based. Leave it with me for the week end, I want to see if I can download a parts manual for your machine, to get a better handle on your model parts.

kadman

galwaydude18 · 11-06-2010 10:53pm

I moved back to galway just over a year ago with the girlfriend and her child because we found we liked for the right rent. Travelling is no problem as im used to it at this stage fitting shops all over the country.

Here is a link that shows the drawings and what the parts as well as part numbers are...

http://service.blackanddecker.com.au/Products/ProductDetailBDK.aspx?ProductID=5961

galwaydude18 · 12-06-2010 9:18pm

Ok well after another few hours of it today its still not correct. At this stage im putting it down to the aluminum t square not being straight enough for what im trying to do! Would u think this could be the case kadman?

kadman · 13-06-2010 6:18pm

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Ok well after another few hours of it today its still not correct. At this stage im putting it down to the aluminum t square not being straight enough for what im trying to do! Would u think this could be the case kadman?

Thats a possibility.

Have you tried to plane a piece of timber, that is the same length as the infeed table. And then check it after 1 run over the planer.

If you are planing a 900mm piece over a 450mm infeed table, it will have to be straightened first, before a final run over the planer block. If you place a 1000mm piece on a perfect flat surface, and there is a 1mm gap in the middle of the piece, above the flat surface, you have a pice that is bowed up in the middle. If you then run this the full length of the planer, it wont be any straighter, unless you first plane the last 300 mm at each end of the piece first.

I,m probably telling you what you already know, about straightening long pieces on short bed planers.

If you are in doubt about the straight edge you have, get a piece of laminate flooring, as they tend to be 100% straight.

Theres also the possibility that the forcing of timber into your machine , may have strained your machine, as the tables are diecast aluminium if memory serves me well.

kadman

galwaydude18 · 13-06-2010 8:25pm

kadman wrote: »

Have you tried to plane a piece of timber, that is the same length as the infeed table. And then check it after 1 run over the planer.

I havent tried that.I will try that tomorrow&see what happens.

If you are planing a 900mm piece over a 450mm infeed table, it will have to be straightened first, before a final run over the planer block. If you place a 1000mm piece on a perfect flat surface, and there is a 1mm gap in the middle of the piece, above the flat surface, you have a pice that is bowed up in the middle. If you then run this the full length of the planer, it wont be any straighter, unless you first plane the last 300 mm at each end of the piece first.

I'l check that on the solid oak table in the kitchen as i believe that is straight

galwaydude18 · 13-06-2010 8:32pm

Theres also the possibility that the forcing of timber into your machine , may have strained your machine, as the tables are diecast aluminium if memory serves me well

Ya the tables are die cast aluminum.Would the possibility be that the tables are slightly bent out of shape after the forcing of the plank to try get it through the planer when it obviously was too thick to put through. I didnt realise that could happen

JoeB- · 14-06-2010 11:38am

Kadman, why is it that you don't recommend the use of a spirit level as a straight edge? or perhaps a 1,000mm steel ruler? I can see that a spirit level may not be good, sometimes they have milled or grooved bottoms, whatever the correct term is... but the steel rulers are often quite good.

Is it possible to test several straight edges against each other in order to test for straightness?, .. eg, when I place several steel rulers side by side and flip them end for end there doesn't seem to be any gaps, although I don't have feeler gauges to check for certain..

ennisa · 14-06-2010 2:01pm

I know this is slightly off topic but I remembered this link when people started talking about measuring flatness. And it is especially relevant when measuring if two planes are in line with each other. I found this article ages ago and printed it out for myself if I ever needed it in the future for testing the flatness on my planar. It might help you out here. All you need is 3 peices of MDF and 9 screws.

Making Master Bars

Don't be put off by the name, it's all family friendly

Hope you get it sorted out galwaydude and I assume your mate is now banned from the shop!

kadman · 14-06-2010 8:32pm

JoeBallantine wrote: »

Kadman, why is it that you don't recommend the use of a spirit level as a straight edge? or perhaps a 1,000mm steel ruler? I can see that a spirit level may not be good, sometimes they have milled or grooved bottoms, whatever the correct term is... but the steel rulers are often quite good.

Is it possible to test several straight edges against each other in order to test for straightness?, .. eg, when I place several steel rulers side by side and flip them end for end there doesn't seem to be any gaps, although I don't have feeler gauges to check for certain..

Look at my post "2". I recommend a long steel straight edge:) Whether its a ruler , steel fence or what ever, so longs as its straight, it,ll do the job. Steel rulers that are rigid are fine. Flexible rulers would not be as good. I know what you mean with the aluminium levels, but their thickness might prevent you from seeing light below the edge when checking for straightness.

Straight edge against straight edge checking is good:)

Checking each table for winding is probably best done with a specialist level used for commisioning large woodwork machines. Although with the two tables zeroed for no cut, a straight edge on the inner edge of the 2 tables, and then on the outer edge, should show if there is any discrepency with a lead light behind the straight edge, it will show as light below the edge.

kadman

kadman · 14-06-2010 8:43pm

ennisa wrote: »

I know this is slightly off topic but I remembered this link when people started talking about measuring flatness. And it is especially relevant when measuring if two planes are in line with each other. I found this article ages ago and printed it out for myself if I ever needed it in the future for testing the flatness on my planar. It might help you out here. All you need is 3 peices of MDF and 9 screws.

Making Master Bars

Don't be put off by the name, it's all family friendly

Hope you get it sorted out galwaydude and I assume your mate is now banned from the shop!

Good link:)

Once galwaydude makes the master bars............. he can use them to beat the crap out of his shop mate:D

kadman

galwaydude18 · 14-06-2010 8:44pm

That sounds like a good idea ennisa. Kadman i tried planing2pieces of timber the same length as the indefed table&its the same result with the gap still there.
What would b the best way to check that the ends of table arent either lower or higher than the cutter block?

galwaydude18 · 14-06-2010 9:31pm

Hi here are pics of the planer thicknesser so you can see what's going on..

I broke one of the bolts just there 15mins ago so I am at my wits end now after that trying to align everything up.

:( You can see the bolt in the outfeed table bolts picture.. It's the one that needs to be adjusted using an allen key..

Kadman would you be interested in having a go at fixing this if you have the time?

:o I will buy a new bolt that I broke..

No bother if you can't. I'm going to galway city in the morning and can bring it to the dewalt service agents in there and hope that they will align everything up properly..

galwaydude18 · 14-06-2010 9:46pm

Hope you get it sorted out galwaydude and I assume your mate is now banned from the shop!

He doesn't work with me anymore!!!

:D

But if I had that jig I think I would have to beat him up with after all the hardship he has caused me by trying to force that bloody plank through it!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

kadman · 14-06-2010 11:49pm

Zero the tables, and place a straight edge across them. Its not about the table ends above or below the cutter block. Its about the table ends above or below each other.

kadman

kadman · 15-06-2010 12:00am

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Hi here are pics of the planer thicknesser so you can see what's going on..

I broke one of the bolts just there 15mins ago so I am at my wits end now after that trying to align everything up. :( You can see the bolt in the outfeed table bolts picture.. It's the one that needs to be adjusted using an allen key..

Kadman would you be interested in having a go at fixing this if you have the time? :o I will buy a new bolt that I broke..

No bother if you can't. I'm going to galway city in the morning and can bring it to the dewalt service agents in there and hope that they will align everything up properly..

Looks like you have good micro adjustment on the out feed table there. Maybe the infeed table is static, so you bring that up to zero, and micro adjust the out feed table to suit.

As you are based in galway , bring it to the de walt technicians to re align. If its still giving you problems after, I,ll have a look at it for you, but It would be the end of next week.

kadman

Dewalt planer thicknesser problems

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