bizarre jointing/planer results... what happened.

B4 you jump to conclusions please read the whole thing. This is not snipe.

I just jointed a board. Then planed it. The board is flat on one side, but wavey on the other. This is not a method issue, something is going on that I've never seen before.

Anyone have any idea why my planer gave me a wavey side but I had a flat reference. The waveyness occurs through out, not snipe on the ends.

Yes I planed it past the initial un-even ness. Then the board gets flipped end for end, once I have a clean cut all the way on the unjointed side.

I have run plenty of wood through both the jointer and planer, And I have not seen this b4. If it were wavey on both sides I would understand, but this is flat and wavey...

Reply to
woodchucker
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Very strange. Some additional info might help:

Is this a lunch-box planer (a misnomer given the size and heft of the current crop of benchtop planers)?

do the waves correspond to changes in grain direction?

Have you tried running a tubafor or other piece of scrap through the same joint/plane operations to see if you get the same results (pointing to the planer) or not (pointing to the wood)?

wonder if the cutterhead is moving or maybe the rollers are not providing enough down pressure on the wood to keep it flat going through the planer.

Will be interested in watching this thread to hear what you find out.

Reply to
alexy

Dewalt 733

No.

Definetly not. No 2x4 in this planer.. the knots destroy the blades. Not yet, will be after I put some grooves and tenons on this set..

I'm hoping it is not the wood, the whole idea of using one of these is to get the sides parallel. While I realize that wood has hard and soft areas, I would not expect this type of planer to dip deeper.. my cuts are probably 1/64-1/32 max of an inch more like 1/64... I only spin the handle 1/4 turn per cut to get nice clean cuts.

I wonder if that's the problem. Not sure how to test the lock as I would probably not be able to move it myself, but the wood certainly would.

Reply to
woodchucker

I'm having trouble opening this site, but it may give you an answer, if you can access it. It dates back to 2006, so I wonder if that has anything to do with my access problem.

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I initially Googled "Power Planer Troubleshooting" and the above alternate lead, for "Troubleshooting Planer Chatter Marks", came up.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

Maybe check the feed rollers. If they have something stuck on them maybe th ey are stressing the lock position up a bit as they rotate past the junk wh ere it makes the rollers larger diameter. This is a real shot in the dark. Actually, as I think of it maybe even chips getting in there from a bad chi p brealer setup or weak dust collection

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

Thanks, interesting, but this is not chatter, this is wavy, slower undulation.

Reply to
woodchucker

I just upped my dust collection, before I was using a vac, a friend just gave me a small jet 1hp, and it is collecting pretty good, but I did not check the rollers, as I used to. I used to blow the machine when the chips loaded up on the platten. The DC is sucking up 99%.. so that is a change... I was more careful about the chips in the past, and maybe something is stuck. Will check after lunch...

Good idea, I guess I took that for granted.

Reply to
woodchucker

I have has a similar situation occur when I left masking tape on the "bottom' of the board. I would insure that the bottom rollers, if it has bottom rollers, do no have something stuck to them causing the board to push up and down.

Second, I have also had this happen and especially on a smaller planer. If the board is long and bounces up and down, like a diving board, as it is being fed it can cause the uneven thickness situation also.

Reply to
Leon

No labels, all my wood is rough board foot wood.

The length was only 27" so nothing really hanging out much.

Reply to
woodchucker

So yea, the roller was loaded up. I kind of expected that with the vac, but not the DC since it appears to be geting all the chips. Not sure why that would create a wave. I'll run through some more maple in a few minutes.. finishing up this frame.

Reply to
woodchucker

This sounds to me like the board is "camming over" as it passes through due to the infeed/outfeed tables not being level with the bed. The infeed and/or outfeed is lifting the board off the bed as the board passes through so that the ends are full thickness but there are thinner areas along it's length. The thinner areas that will vary with the length of the board.

I suggest checking the infeed/outfeed tables position relative to the bed as the place to start in the quest to solve this problem. The problem could be as simple as crud built up on the adjustment surfaces for the feed table height on the Dewalt 733.

John

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

Ok, so there was a buildup on the front roller. I cleaned it, expecting the problem to go away, but it did not. Still a wave.

So now I know it wasn't the piece. This was a different piece of maple. Shorter about 24 inches and it's like a hilly road. Slight undulation up and down.

I guess I have to open it up and check the blades, but I don't think that would be the issue, as this is slow variation, but maybe I'll see something else once I take it apart. Too bad I can't get to the rollers once I take the covers off. I would love to be able to take the whole top of it off.

Reply to
woodchucker

Just checked, no crud, nothing. B4 I take it apart, I'll double check the tables, I always have some positive pressure to avoid snipe...

And it has not been an issue in the past, but certainly maybe I had too much pressure (as I dialed out all snipe) , and the roller springs are giving up the ghost..

That might explain the up and down as I hit different areas of the board and table..

How would I check the feed rollers for spring tension...? any idea?

Reply to
woodchucker

While there are certainly tools to measure spring tension I'd be inclined to lower the infeed/outfeed tables closer to co-planer with the bed and see what happens. Snipe may increase... or not...

I had an auxiliary bed for my portable Dewalt planer. It was a 4 foot long piece of melamine that I got a Home Depot in the form of a 12" x 48" shelf. I put a cleat on the bottom so it didn't get sucked through with the wood. This eliminated snipe and cam over problems for me. When I got my Jet floor model planer/molder I had no more problems like this and only use an auxiliary bed for guiding molding stock.

John

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

I have already tried the melamine routine with coplanar, it made snipe unbearable. I wanted to use it for thin stock, but thought why not just use it for everything since it's a slick material.. the 1st inch or 2 on both ends was unusable for 3/4.

I'll lower it, give it a try, I imagine I will be back with snipe... It's been this way since I got it. I had snipe from day one, until I dialed up the tables.

but I'll take a look b4 I open her up. maybe you have the answer.

Reply to
woodchucker

"woodchucker" wrote

Do a real close inspection to make sure the blades and chip breakers are securely fastened. They can occasionally work loose. I was using someone else's jointer, and heard a problem, and found out one of the breakers was so loose that sawdust had packed in between the bar and the blade, and half of the blade was being held in by the sawdust. I about sh*t my pants when I saw that. After I fixed that for him, I stopped to inspect all of the other machines to see that they were safe to use.

Reply to
Morgans

Belt drive or chain? I wonder if the belt is slipping at a certain point, or a gear missing a tooth or two?

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

belt, and it's in good shape.

Reply to
woodchucker

Ok, went back to co-planar plus a little tension, since the ends of the table easily deflect.

Now I am back to snipe, but the wavyness does appear to be gone. Now about to see if I can sneak up on no snipe again.

This also wound up being a good tear down, as it was getting tough to raise and lower the carriage, especially raise it. So I used the teflon dry lube and nice...

The blades were not the problem, they are where they should be and look good.

Not sure why the wavvyness has not shown before, unless this maple is just not deflecting under the carriage to the same degree as other woods.

Reply to
woodchucker

What kind of dimensions we talking here between "waves" and height/depth thereof and what kind of material you planing? Does this planer have bed rollers perchance?

I can think of several, one of which is related to bed rollers having something on them that is the counterpart of the one the other poster mentioned on drive rollers.

Another could be a knife alignment if one has slipped slightly lower than the others you're seeing it taking just a little bit bigger bite than the other two (presuming three, one if only two total which will enhance the difference in spacing by 50%).

Adjustable feed rate? Moving faster will leave more surface roughness as the blade isn't in the same spot as long. Remember the knives are on a circular path so they're only at the max depth instantaneously, anyway (iow, the surface only appears flat even if perfect, the actual cuts are overlapping circles). This effect is also bigger w/ only 2 instead of three knives obviously.

Imbalance

Loose head and/or head lock

Various other mechanical failures depending on the particular design.

Reply to
dpb

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