Shopsmith Forums

Here on the forum there has been a great deal said about attempting to make measurements/adjustments with an objective of getting to within thousandths of an inch.

Saturday, during the Sawdust Session on Thickness Planer Tuneup, Nick made mention of adjusting the planer table height to get it the same on all four corners.

Now I am faced with making a decision. Do I attempt to make mine "the same" on all four corners or is it already "the same"? What sort of tolerances are we talking about? What is reasonable to strive for?

Mine measures as follows (moving CCW around the table from the Height Crank): 2.0015", 2.004", 2.008" 2.012". After a little arithmetic - the maximum difference is .0105".

On the infeed end - the side to side difference is .0025".

On the outfeed end - the side to difference is .004".

If I read PTWFE and the planer manual correctly, each tooth in the chain results in a change of .004". Do I really want to tear that planer down to improve accuracy 1 tooth worth?

The manual also warns against operating a planer that is not properly adjusted - damage will be done to the planer. Are we really talking about one tooth deviation doing damage?

Dusty,

I recently purchased a neglected MK V mounted planer (serial 00142) and
had to replace the bent table mounting threaded posts. I think you are fine.
It was a bit of a job getting those things close and then remounting the chain. Save yourself the trouble, I'll bet you are well within tolerance.

Dusty - Ask yourself - Does it work? Am I going to fix it anyway? I think the need should be based on - What kind of boards come out of it?:D

Results are what matters, not necessarily the thousanths of inches (once it's close) in set up!

Chuck's advice that you should consider the board that the planer produces as the most important indication of whether or not the planer is properly adjusted is right on the mark. Don't go tearing things apart because there are a few thousands of an inch difference beween corner clearances. I gave that advice because some of our owners try to power their way through a "chip-jam" -- when impacted sawdust jams the screws -- and the chain jumps a cog on the jammed screw. Afters this happens two or three times, the table can get seriously out of whack.

Based on your numbers, my guess is that there will be no more than a difference of .004" in thickness side-to-side when you plane a 12-inch wide board. I futzed around with the planer here at the shop for a day and a half and was delighted to get the difference down to .005". Wanna trade?

With all good wishes,

OK, I'll just go back to the shop and make sawdust. I'm really glad that charlese doesn't think I should do an alignment on my planer table. I didn't want to anyhow. It was Nick's comments on the Sawdusty Session that made me think about it.