Axminster AW106PT Planer Thicknesser

[OLD]

Fixit
I have commisioned my FOX to day and had loads of problems with tension and getting the timber to run through the thicknesser i noticed the drive side was gripping to hard but the rhs my 2x2 was pulled through ok any way i have backed the pre tension of on the drive side to a point where i had to fit lock nuts and after reading your above post i am most interested in your idea for altering the tension on the chain.
when i read the above its not obvious that this is the first p/t m/c i have ever used so i do not no what should happen i am playing it by ear .
Please keep us up to date on your ideas .
I wonder if this problem is what has caused so many machine returns.

 

[ProShop]

Fixit I wonder if this problem is what has caused so many machine returns.

Old, Many thanks for the post, yes I too wondered that.

I have tonight made a new bracket to soften the tension on the tensioner.
I shall fit it tomorrow (Sat) and put some timber through as I have some more 75mm X 200mm to plane up ready for next week. And I'll post the results.

 

[OLD]

Another worry i have is the lack of ventilation to the motor if the m/c is bolted to the floor its a sealed box and the motor does get hot is this a issue.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Alf, thanks for the welcome.

John, I have not done anything today - been cornered for painting a bedroom. These small things just interfere with having fun :roll: .

Last evening I got a block of wood and used it to jamb the chain tension spring open - hope to stretch it a little. Whilst I don't hold much hope for this process, it was something easy to do. I won't get to look at the maching until tomorrow (Sun.)

I usually set the thicknesser to remove between 1/3 and 1/2mm on each pass.

The blade setting tool is a universal one that can be used on most devices. There are two similar parts to the jig. The general shape is similar to the one proveded with your system. Just imagine that each of the "legs" on your jig is a magnet that can swivel across the length of the blade drum so that it can clamp on to any size drum. Now down through the centre of the inverted "U" shape of the jig is a lockable screw thread that can be raised or lowered to touch the blade. This screw has a scale on it so that the hight of the blade can be set to different setting for different machines. Where the manufacturer provides this information, you just set the screw height via the scale so that when attached to the drum it pushes the blade down to that height. In our case where there is no manufacturer information provided, at the first use you have to assume that the blades have been installed correctly. Dangerous!!! :? . For this step I assumed that a blade that looked correct relative to the others was my benchmark. The reason for two components - one for each end of the drum. Confused :?: .

This jig had to be purchased separately - nothing provided with the unit.

Will look forward to what you little test with the tension spring finds. I will get back to it tomorrow.

 

[Anonymous]

The pretension spring is indeed very tight i have stretched mine slightly but you still wont get much slack nor do you want too much as the timber wont feed correctly and WILL STICK. Also make sure you have rigged up DE as i tried mine out before hooking the DE up, and you get indentations from chips on the outfeed rollers . I have taken 3mm on a pass and it fed ok just give it a shove :lol: ,just one other thing don't forget the springs will bed in with use, this after all is a new machine and you don't want to have to tighten everything back up in a couple of months also when you feed the timber just lift the rear of the timber slightly, this will then feed under the rollers and it will pull down flat. My fox took all of 30 mins to set up including grease removal and a good coat of liberon on all beds and lubing the chain and shafts , resetting depth gauge on thicknesser and leveling/straighting the beds . Seemed very straight forward to me so it must be easy as i am not the sharpest chisel in the box .PS the manual sucked so i ditched it and pulled the PT apart to see what adjusted what :twisted:

 

[OLD]

By pretension spring do you mean the spring that takes up the slack in the chain by holding the bearing race against it.

 

[ProShop]

Bob, & Old.

I have today fitted the bracket to soften the spring tensioner and it works a treat. It's probably half the pressure from before which was way, way to much (in danger of wearing the chain into the sprockets :lol: ). You can pull the tensioner arm by hand now. This now allows the in & out feed rollers to be adjusted by the springs underneath the rollers as it should be.
The springs need to be a bit less on the power drive side of the machine as the tensioner still puts some small pressure on the rollers.
The machine has been running most of the day planning the 75mm X 200mm.

Bear in mind that the outfeed roller is set 3mm lower than the infeed to allow for when you are planning on maximum cut. So the spring tension is set a bit less.
I tried planning some small sizes also 20mm X 15mm and again it worked very well.

Bob, Thanks for describing your setting tool, I can envisage how it works now . incidentially the one that came with mine sets the blade at 1mm, if that helps you any.
I will post a photo of the mod later when I find the camera but you could just use a softer spring.

By Old: By pretension spring do you mean the spring that takes up the slack in the chain by holding the bearing race against it.

Old, Yes that's it regarding the tensioner it's a bearing running on the chain, simple device really, but the spring is far to strong in time it will wear the chain out, if not the two sprockets it sits between.

 

[OLD]

I to have been experimenting and have changed the spring which has 79thou wire is 60 mm long for a spring 50thou wire 63mm long much softer seems to be better but still grips harder on the chain side spring balance readings for each end of both rollers would be good also what is this treatment for the tables

 

[Anonymous]

old i used this on my beds http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=LUBO500 its good stuff

 

[Anonymous]

Old, went out and purchased a spring 63.5mm long and wire 1.829mm thick. This has made a big difference to how the machine runs.

John, now that I have changed the spring I have been playing around with the roller settings. It has been difficult to determine if both rollers are out, the output roller is too tight and therefore timber can not be pushed through by the input roller, or if the input roller is too tight and jambing the timber. Stared by loosing the output roller quite a bit and then concentrating on the input roller. This enabled the timber to at least be fed through the thicknesser - though at times with a push. Played around with this for awhile, but still not happy. Noticed serration marks from the input roller on the backside of a 10" wide piece of timber. Loosened the backside input roller nut. Can see serrations right across the timber - only lightly. This is visible after the blades have cut through any marks left by the input roller. My concern is that is I slack off the input roller springs, there will not be enough pressure to drive the timber through.

I can lift the rollers a little by hand. How much effort is required for you to lift your by hand.

Just wish we had some information on how much tension should be on these springs.

One thing I tried today was to place a straight edge across the top of the frame just behind the blades, and measure each side of the rollers hoping to be able to get a useful measurement for the spring adjustment (height of roller). Did not find this reliable.

We just plug on looking for the correct setting. The trouble is, when it is set up correctly can the setting be captured for future use should this need to be done again.

 

[Anonymous]

You must be doing a light pass for serration marks to still be visible ,light passes are ok for machines with rubber infeed rollers but you need to plane off at least 1mm for marks to disappear ,well my findings anyway .

 

[OLD]

My problem is i have no experience or feel of a pt . How ever i agree with your ideas and would like a list of settings to make it work and be able to reset to if roller springs soften.
The spring you have used is stronger than mine 72thou wire i think.
The action of the chain seems to grip the wood to hard on that side but i cannot help thinking that other thicknessers work in the same way perhaps somebody could help with this .
I feel that with a bit more adjusting that we will have a good m/c on our hands.
Just a extra thought could the output roller be dropping to low (i understand the 3 mm cut) and benefit from some shims.

 

[Anonymous]

Gentlemen, here is an article that may be of interest. Have just found it, so have not tested it out. Might see if I can find a gauge and follow the steps. At least it is better than the documented information we currently have. Made some further adjustments/tests today, but still not happy.

http://www.owwm.com/Parks/FWW/tuning.asp

John, the 1mm setting of you blade - is that from the jig you use. That is, did you do the measurement, or does the documentation indicate this. I am currently set at about 60/1000". Which I calculate to be about 1.5mm. My setting, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was the lowest reading from all 3 blades when delivered. No jig was provided with the system. If yours came with the system, and 1mm is the go, then I will reset mine.

And life goes on .

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I think that my machine is working OK now. I have tested it with a piece of Oregon (Douglas Fir) 37mm thick, and a piece of Mountain Ash (Aus. hardwood) 20mm thick. Both slid through the thicknesser with no problems at all.

So what have I been up since the last post. If you looked at the URL in my last post then that is the process that I have followed. As it turned out, it was a bit useless for the reasons I will explain later. I also contacted the author of that article, given that it was written 10 years ago, to confirm that the information provided is still relevant. It is, and Bob Vaughan is still working as a person who sets up professional equipment.

I constructed the gauge as described in the article so that I could check the position of the cutterhead, blades, infeed roller and outfeed roller relative to the planer bed. I confirmed that the bed is parallel to the cutterhead, and that the bed is flat. When I went to check/adjust the position of the infeed and outfeed rollers I found that there is no adjustment for these rollers. They are fixed in position and can only be raised by placing something like a washer(s) under the bushs that hold the rollers in place. All the spring adjustment does is determine how much pressure is going to be applied to the roller. At this stage I have not raised the roller position. If you look at the article on setting up the machine it indicates that the infeed roller and outfeed rollers should be between .762mm and .889mm below cutting arc. The ML932/AW106PT has the rollers set at about 3.25mm below the cutting arc - a big difference.

I have all four spring nuts tightened so that about 10-11mm of thread is exposed below the nut.

When I contacted Bob Vaughan he also suggested that I wax the bed with ordinary candle wax. He believes that this is better than any proprietary products. I have done this.

I don't know if this is of much help to those who own this machine. But mine is now working a treat, and you have the information re how my system is set up.

Good woodworking to you all.

 

[OLD]

I to consulted a local expert who basically said leave it alone and lubricate the bed,as did 'anobium punctatum' and it does have a dramatic effect .I am sticking with the light spring and still tuning the roller pressure springs currently .The m/c is working fine but if i put wood of up to 2inch in on the chain side it may stick,wide stuff no problem so simple answer then.
BobR & Fixit I can tell you have put a lot of time and effort into getting the best out of these m/cs and its much appreciated and the information has helped alot.

 

[ProShop]

From Old: BobR & Fixit I can tell you have put a lot of time and effort into getting the best out of these m/cs and its much appreciated and the information has helped alot.

Thank you, I'm pleased Bob's and your's machine are working well now.
I said in an earlier post to Adam that these machines have potential, they just need some TLC and fettling.

 

[Anonymous]

I second olds views cheers guys for your hard work and input . Shame it did not go straight out the box like mine :shock: bout the only time i've been lucky in my life :lol: . I have used like many others liberon wax on just about all my WW kit and boy it does a grand job and make everything easy to clean and leaves no residue that is noticeable on the wood .
ps if you look at the serrated roller there are gaps in the serrations across the width if you thickness narrow stock be mindful of where these gaps are and feed the wood to avoid them as the roller will not work correctly . Many of the larger machines have this layout so i have come across this before as an apprentice in a joinery shop many moons ago (hammer) .

 

[Anonymous]

Had same probs with my P/T and returned it to Hamiltons in Colchester, received replacement as they collected .
The problem was the same so phoned Hamiltons and the youny lad went out and put a piece of timber thru as I was on the phone. I could hear it running thru with no stopping/sticking. So I asked him what he had done and yes , he had used the magic Candle.
Did the same, it works a treat. Just got to sort out a decent extractor now.

 

[special bone]

Right, I read all the way through this thread and then went to see if I could get my Axminster P/T working properly.

So, I backed off the nuts on the springs until they were just finger tight. I could barely lift the rollers.
n.b. The threaded rod through the centre of the springs can come loose. make sure you tighten it up so that it doesn't wobble.

I then pulled the tensioner out of the way and tried again and I could easily move the rollers. So, I moved things around and watched what happened. It seems the problem is the distance from the pivot of the tensioner to the spring hole. Because it is such a long distance, it's exerting an unnecessary amount of tension on the chain. You can see this in action if you remove the spring and watch how far it moves when you lift the rollers!

So, using a bit of applied Mathematics (mechanics, if you will), if the spring connected to the tensioner nearer the pivot, it would exert less force on the chain and it would require less force to move. So, I looked at where it would need to be connected to only just put tension on the spring (about halfway between the existing hole and the pivot).
n.b. Check that this will not foul the chain or the cogs.
Then, over to the drill, a 4mm hole, and back onto the P/T. A quick test and I was able to lift the rollers, YEAY!!!!

Checked everything was back together properly and put a test piece of pine through. Went through but needed quite a bit of help. Checked the table and there was a lovely shiny bit where the timber went through. Hm, time for some T-Cut and elbow grease. Ten minutes later it was gleaming and I tried again. Strangely, it went through a lot easier!

So, there's my fix for it. Once I've bedded it in properly I'll report back with how much tension I need on the roller springs.

Mr Squirrel.

 

[wizer]

wow, welcome to 2004