Shopsmith Forums

The manual states 0.004 per tooth. 15 or 16 tooth sprocket will get close to that.

Thanks all for the educational responses.

Just a bit of an update.

It is a bit better after resynchronizing the mounts so that the tolerances are a lot tighter. Now the difference in cross bar height on each side is only about 1/32 of one full turn of the handle that adjusts depth, which translates to about a 0.002" difference in height between the posts and that's just one of the posts, 3 of the posts are nearly identical in height with adjustments..

It still drifts a little bit, but the planing cuts are quite good. To be totally honest, a little light pressure to keep it from its slight drift and there are no issues. It still does drift a bit to the right of the outfeed table (when facing the infeed side) and I can not get it to drift the other way by playing with the tension rollers.

I don't know if it's some slight imperfection in the cast iron table or not. It is a unit I believe from the 90's and I know cast iron can warp a bit with age. It certainly doesn't look warped to me and as stated, the planer planes precisely other than the minor drift.

I guess it will remain a mystery. I'm happy with its performance now.

As an aside, I actually have two shopsmith planers, one of them is the non-pro version with the double rubber rollers for infeed and outfeed and it also experiences a very minor amount of drift to the right as well. I found that quite interesting.

Also, for testing purposes, I would just run the roller component motor and leave the planing function off to purely test the roller feed-through, the planing function didn't seem to adversely effect the drift when I had it on so left it off as less loud and less dangerous for testing purposes. It could be rollers that are just slightly off by a hair or so, but I think the cutter head alignment is pretty spot on.

So no perfect solution, but the enemy of good is better so I'll settle for Good.

Thanks for all of the information!

Cheers,
John

Thanks all for the educational responses.

Just a bit of an update.

It is a bit better after resynchronizing the mounts so that the tolerances are a lot tighter. Now the difference in cross bar height on each side is only about 1/32 of one full turn of the handle that adjusts depth, which translates to about a 0.002" difference in height between the posts and that's just one of the posts, 3 of the posts are nearly identical in height with adjustments..

It still drifts a little bit, but the planing cuts are quite good. To be totally honest, a little light pressure to keep it from its slight drift and there are no issues. It still does drift a bit to the right of the outfeed table (when facing the infeed side) and I can not get it to drift the other way by playing with the tension rollers.

I don't know if it's some slight imperfection in the cast iron table or not. It is a unit I believe from the 90's and I know cast iron can warp a bit with age. It certainly doesn't look warped to me and as stated, the planer planes precisely other than the minor drift.

I guess it will remain a mystery. I'm happy with its performance now.

As an aside, I actually have two shopsmith planers, one of them is the non-pro version with the double rubber rollers for infeed and outfeed and it also experiences a very minor amount of drift to the right as well. I found that quite interesting.

Also, for testing purposes, I would just run the roller component motor and leave the planing function off to purely test the roller feed-through, the planing function didn't seem to adversely effect the drift when I had it on so left it off as less loud and less dangerous for testing purposes. It could be rollers that are just slightly off by a hair or so, but I think the cutter head alignment is pretty spot on.

So no perfect solution, but the enemy of good is better so I'll settle for Good.

Thanks for all of the information!

Cheers,
John

I believe the manual for the planer says that the correct procedure for adjusting the spring tension is to screw both screws all the way down and then unscrew each one three full turns. If it still pulls to one side you are supposed to gradually loosen the screw on the side toward which the wood pulls until it goes through straight. Or you can tighten the opposite screw instead but do not do both.

It strikes me that a slight conical taper on the outfeed roller could cause the drift. Easy to check, if you have some calipers.

stephen_a._draper wrote:I believe the manual for the planer says that the correct procedure for adjusting the spring tension is to screw both screws all the way down and then unscrew each one three full turns. If it still pulls to one side you are supposed to gradually loosen the screw on the side toward which the wood pulls until it goes through straight. Or you can tighten the opposite screw instead but do not do both.

I have the Pro Planer manual and there is no mention of this procedure.

Anyway you could capture an image of the page which outlines this procedure. In the pro planer manual, it states to Not make more than 12 full revolutions of each spring screw and that you should tighten the screws down so they sit flush with the surface of the planer and that it should restore proper tension of approximately 30 pounds in each arm.

It's actually frustrating as it doesn't really tell you how to adjust the tension based on drift direction, so your information is new and much appreciated. I may try that approach. Seems that if you mention it, it was likely written down or printed at some point in time.

However, a picture or even a pdf capture of the page would be really great if you can find it!

Cheers,
John

BuckeyeDennis wrote:It strikes me that a slight conical taper on the outfeed roller could cause the drift. Easy to check, if you have some calipers.

Might try that out, I have a reliable vernier caliper I can bring out to see if this is the issue.

Cheers,
John

Well, tried the calipers and here are the numbers.

A bit harder to get because of the softer rubber roller material but:

When on the outfeed side:

Right side: 1.150 inch
Middle: 1.144 inch
Left side: 1.150 inch

But remember it always drifts to the right so the conical taper on the outfeed side doesn't make sense. If it were the very slight wear in the middle, then you would think it would drift inwards from the edges....

Looks like I'm not alone. My planer does the exact same drift as on Shopsmith Doug's planer. :-) It drifts toward the right.

See the 6:53 mark for when you see the drifting happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFa4q-tETQI

I actually would say mine drifts less than his planer drifts. I guess if it doesn't bother him, it shouldn't bother me as much either.

Cheers,
John

Just wanted to quickly update this issue. I have resolved it. It was simply the outfeed roller. I had another pro planer sitting around, waiting to be cleaned up and restored and simply switched out the outfeed roller into the planer with the drift issue and that completely fixed the issue. Doh!

I still have no idea why, the outfeed roller looks to be in very good condition and it really has a low amount of difference in caliber... maybe it is grip/textural issue.

Ah well, it's solved so if anyone runs into the same issue, at least the outfeed roller causing the issue will be catalogued and searchable on the forum.

To absolutely make sure it was the issue, I switched the old roller back and the issue returned and I even ran the roller in the other pro planer and it caused the issue in the other pro planer which was running boards straight through with no drift issues.

Cheers,
John