Planer Uneven Planing / Synchronization Help

[ranchr]

Sorry that my first post to the forums is a maintenance question, hopefully I will now get around to contributing to the other topics now that I've created an account.

I picked up an older shopsmith planer off craigslist, took some time to clean it up, perform maintenance per the academy videos, and have planed some boards for a few projects, and it seemed to be performing fine.

I did some end grain cutting boards for Christmas presents, and on the initial (long grain) glue ups, ran them through the planers to clean them up, which looked good.

I then cut those into the pieces that are flipped for end grain, and found out (after cutting them all), that the pieces were slightly fatter in the middle than on the edges. So, shaped sort of like this: (). Not much (I didn't measure), but when multiplied by the number of pieces glueing up for the final cutting board, those differences were too much for me to overcome with clamping pressure. (I attached a picture, where I have the pieces tight at the top of the picture to highlight the gaps at the bottom of the pieces)

I worked around it via the belt sander and finished the projects, but now I'm revisiting the planer to see if I can figure out why they came out shaped like that, and I think that one problem may be the planer blades, during my calibration/maintenance I didn't sharpen them or check that they were set correctly. I have the sharpener and blade setting gauge now, so I will due that at some point. My thinking is that the previous owner(s) may could have planed a lot in the middle of the blades, leaving it duller in the center, and sharper on the sides.

The other thing I noticed is that the table might be out of sync. I have a 3-2-1 machined block that I place on the infeed table left side and raise the table until the upper tie bar touches the block. Then, moving the block to the right side, I can put a .005" (.127mm) feeler gauge between the 3-2-1 and the upper tie bar. On the outfeed side, I can get a .009" feeler gauge on the outfeed left (when facing the infeed), and a .017" feeler on the outfeed right.

So I started through the synchronization steps in the manual that I have, but I may have an older planer than the manual covers. The instructions state:

2. Check that the connector setscrews and barrel nut setscrews are tight. Check for any up-and-down play of the table. If there is any play, tighten the nuts on the bottom of the table elevation posts to the point where there is no vertical play in the table, but not so tight that the posts become difficult to turn

My problem here is that I don't see any set screws in the bottom, or any way to do that. Which will present a problem at step 4: Loosen the four set screws in the underside of the table at the connector. I don't see any set screws. That got me thinking my machine might be a tad older.

The model number is M5990. Serial number is 12261. Motor is 1 1/2 HP, and 3450 RPM. It is a grey machine, vs the black planers that I have also seen.

I also noticed my planer doesn't have the ability to use the table raising / lowering mechanism on each individual post, but just the left side of infeed table elevation post.

My questions:
* Are there different synchronization options for the older machines?
* Are those measured differences in table to upper tie bar small enough to ignore? Such that I just focus on sharpening the blades and setting them.

Other side information:
* Sometimes there can be a problem feeding stock through while planing, and the planer would sort of stall out on some pieces. I'd again think that dull blades could be the culprit here. I have tried double checking the spring tension and making sure no impacted stuff was under the roller arms.

Thanks,
-Randy

[ranchr]

Trying to add a picture showing uneven planing once I had made the crosscuts and turned the pieces for endgrain. It was too big so I had to reduce the size.

gaps

IMG_20161127_135605.jpg (210.07 KiB) Viewed 4320 times

[billmayo]

A quick reply. One tooth = .0041667" in height. I rounded off at .004" when doing this adjustment. So you should be within +-.002" at all 4 corners of the table. You have to keep the slack out of the chain when doing this adjustment.

[ranchr]

Thanks for the reply. I would like to synchronize it, but I'm at sort of a loss as to how to go about it. The instructions call for loosening set screws on the underside of the table and setscrews holding the barrel nuts, and I don't see either.

Here's a picture from the underside, the orange circle highlighting no setscrew on the underside.

underside_full_view

IMG_20161229_152938.jpg (113.68 KiB) Viewed 4279 times

Here's a closeup of what looks like could be a setscrew, but seems to be more of a rivet. I have no alan wrenches that would turn it, and looking through a magnifier it looks like a circle.

rivet closeup

IMG_20161229_153029.jpg (94.82 KiB) Viewed 4279 times

And from the top, I don't have holes to individually turn the table elevation posts:

top view

IMG_20161229_153105.jpg (177.66 KiB) Viewed 4279 times

So, I am sort of guessing now about how I would go about getting them more in sync. My thought is, forget the set screws since I can't see any, loosen the chain tension and remove it from the sprockets, then raise the table posts by somehow turning them by hand from the bottom or inserting a small wrench in between the top of the post and the case.

[ranchr]

One more followup. I just proceeded carefully and adjusted the posts without figuring out the setscrew instructions. I think my table must be an older type. I don't even know what material it is, but my guess is that it is an aluminum sheet over cast aluminum?

Anyway, I got the table height to within .004 for each side and I'll call it good for now. I don't think its a flat table, as I can still get some feeler gauge (.010") in the center section of the outfeed table, but hopefully it's closer now. Everything seems to turn fine without binding.

Now to sharpen and set those knives.

[rjent]

I think what you actually have is a Mark mounted planer. If it is on a stand, then someone mounted it after the fact. The mounted planers had aluminum tables wrapped in Stainless Steel to make them lighter so they can be put on and taken off the Mark X easier. I use one and absolutely love what it produces.

[JPG]

Those 'round things' are tension pins. They press in. They retain the table connectors on one side.(the BLACK THINGS WITH A BRASS INSERT)

The chain/posts are synchronized by removing the chain and adjusting the 4 posts for equal spacing the the cross bar. Care must be exercised to prevent the sprockets from rotating as the chain is reinstalled and the tension sprocket tightened.

As Bill mentioned, 0.004 is the resolution/tooth.

Check for table concavity across the table. If none, the blades are suspect.

Check cutter height(use the knife setting gauge) at both the ends AND the middle.