Pro Planer Table not level problems
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:35 pm
Hello Everyone,
This past year I upgraded the cutter head in my pro planer from the standard 3 knife head to the Sheartak helical cutterhead (I highly recommend it!). I was happy to not have to deal with fiddling with knife changes, sharpening and the like anymore.
I did notice when edge gluing panels that the boards themselves were not the same thickness. Butting two edges together would show maybe 1/16th" deviation. I also noticed that when running a board through the left side of the planer, if I immediately put it through the right side of the planer without making any thickness adjustments, the board would be planned again. The Sharktak head was rock solid so I figured this meant the planer's table needed to be adjusted (which I've never done since inheriting it from my Grandfather).
Following the manual I noticed the table had a slight wiggle when rocked up and down, I tightened the bolts on the bottom of the threaded rod and this helped eliminate most of the rocking (a tiny amount still persisted but any tighter and I couldn't turn the adjustment crank). Still, the boards weren't being planned properly. I decided to take apart the planer and level the planer bed to fix the problem.
I read the manual, and numerous posts on the forum for advice and went at it. I spend 3-4 hours slowly adjusting the table using my 1-2-3 block and trying to get the table as close to level using the guide bars as I could. I knew it would never be perfect as most people online could only get their tables level to within .004 - .005.
After putting the planer back together I tested it with a 12" wide pine board and measured the thickness at the middle of the board as per the manual with a pair of calipers and found .5 mm (0.019685") difference between the left and ridge side of the board. Is this acceptable? I figured it was good enough for me.
I only own SS's 4" jointer, so when milling rough sawn stock I use a planer sled and shims. The problem is no matter how much "rocking" I eliminate from the board using shims, the freshly thickness planed face of the board is never flat. There is always a minor rocking when testing it against my main SS table (flattest surface I own). Once I remove the planer sled, and place the "freshly planed rocking face" of the board face down on the planer bed, the opposite face is perfectly flat. I end up with a very flight "wedge" thicknessed board. When pressing down on the flat end, the opposite end lifts off the table about 1/8". Seems that no matter what I do, I can't get the "wedge" out of the board.
Does this mean I didn't do a good enough job with leveling the pro planer table? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind taking it apart again but I can't help but feel like I wasted the entire day and only made my problem worse.
This past year I upgraded the cutter head in my pro planer from the standard 3 knife head to the Sheartak helical cutterhead (I highly recommend it!). I was happy to not have to deal with fiddling with knife changes, sharpening and the like anymore.
I did notice when edge gluing panels that the boards themselves were not the same thickness. Butting two edges together would show maybe 1/16th" deviation. I also noticed that when running a board through the left side of the planer, if I immediately put it through the right side of the planer without making any thickness adjustments, the board would be planned again. The Sharktak head was rock solid so I figured this meant the planer's table needed to be adjusted (which I've never done since inheriting it from my Grandfather).
Following the manual I noticed the table had a slight wiggle when rocked up and down, I tightened the bolts on the bottom of the threaded rod and this helped eliminate most of the rocking (a tiny amount still persisted but any tighter and I couldn't turn the adjustment crank). Still, the boards weren't being planned properly. I decided to take apart the planer and level the planer bed to fix the problem.
I read the manual, and numerous posts on the forum for advice and went at it. I spend 3-4 hours slowly adjusting the table using my 1-2-3 block and trying to get the table as close to level using the guide bars as I could. I knew it would never be perfect as most people online could only get their tables level to within .004 - .005.
After putting the planer back together I tested it with a 12" wide pine board and measured the thickness at the middle of the board as per the manual with a pair of calipers and found .5 mm (0.019685") difference between the left and ridge side of the board. Is this acceptable? I figured it was good enough for me.
I only own SS's 4" jointer, so when milling rough sawn stock I use a planer sled and shims. The problem is no matter how much "rocking" I eliminate from the board using shims, the freshly thickness planed face of the board is never flat. There is always a minor rocking when testing it against my main SS table (flattest surface I own). Once I remove the planer sled, and place the "freshly planed rocking face" of the board face down on the planer bed, the opposite face is perfectly flat. I end up with a very flight "wedge" thicknessed board. When pressing down on the flat end, the opposite end lifts off the table about 1/8". Seems that no matter what I do, I can't get the "wedge" out of the board.
Does this mean I didn't do a good enough job with leveling the pro planer table? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind taking it apart again but I can't help but feel like I wasted the entire day and only made my problem worse.