Big Bang

[Steve Maskery]

No I'm not discussing the origins of the universe, but what happened yesterday when I was thicknessing a piece of wood.

Bang, but the machine carried on regardless!

I stopped the machine and inside I found a length of brush, like a short draught excluder. It was a shape that Kity never intended and the end was missing. All six rivets had failed.

This brush obviously has an effect on the chip extraction, because when I continued without it, lots of chippings ended up inside the machine and being thrown back out to the infeed side.

I decided I couldn't live with that, so I started to dismantle the machine. I could see, or rather feel, where this brush had come from, and it wasn't too difficult to get the piece of metal that holds it out of the machine.

The brush looked very proprietary to me and as Kity no longer exist, I wasn't optimistic about finding a spare.

Imagine my delight when I found a draught excluder strip at Screwfix for £3.99. It has almost the identical aluminium strip, rebated so it fits perfectly in the original metal component. The only thing we had to do (we being me and Brian, my engineering mate next door) was to cut it to length and trim the fibres from 25 down to 10mm. A few holes drilled and a pop riveter and the machine is working as new.

One thing I found was that the damaged brush was manked up with resin, especially in the centre areas. The bristles certainly were not bristling. I'd noticed for some time that chip extraction was not good. Now nothing comes out, it's great.

It's taken me a few hours to sort out, I guess, and I spent rather more than 3.99 (the only rivets I could find were pop rivets, so I needed to buy a riveter, and the tool shop I went to had suitcases on offer - no idea why an engineer's supplier should sell suitcases but they do - and they were on offer and I need a new one anyway and they came as a set of three for an even better bargain and.......)

... but I've very happy with the end result. I also have enough left to do the job twice again should the same disaster befall me.

Fingers crossed it won't be necessary.
S

 

[Philly]

A happy ending, Steve!
Nice one,
Philly

 

[George_N]

I was half expecting Steven Hawking rather than Steven Maskery to be the author of this thread :lol: Glad to hear that you found a low cost solution to the problem and managed to acquire a new :tool: in the process.

 

[Gill]

I'm pleased you found such a straight forward solution, Steve. I've got problems with my Kity P/T which has decided not to feed the wood through the thicknesser any more . I wish I had more engineering aptitude - I don't know where to begin trying to repair something like that.

Incidentally, if you find a tool shop that has carpet on special offer, let me know.



Gill

 

[Steve Maskery]

Actually it says Stephen on my birth certificate, but only my mum calls me that. It really does seem weird.

Yes a new tool. One that did not work out of the vac-formed pack. We eventually worked out that the problem was just a bit of a burr, easily sorted with a twist drill, but it set us back half an hour. Flippin' Chinese. (and yes, I do have some lovely Chinese friends!).

S

 

[9fingers]

Hi Steve,

Which Kity P/T was this on? I have a 636 and cant see anything fitting that description on my parts list.
It is currently persisting down with rain so have not ventured out to the workshop to look at the machine.

Regards

Bob

 

[Oryxdesign]

So come on then how much for the suitcases?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Bob
637 but I don't inkl the insides are any different fron the 636

OD
The suitacases were 52 inc VAT for a set of three and I think I've found a bargain. They look jollky robust. Probably made by a 7-year old in back of beyond #

Gill
Give me a call, I can help you with your feed problem.

S

 

[RogerS]

......The only thing we had to do (we being me and Brian, my engineering mate next door) was to cut it to length and trim the fibres from 25 down to 10mm. ......
S

But what did Mrs Steve say when she saw her manicure scissors afterwards ?

 

[OPJ]

Steve, do you have any photo's of this, it sounds quite interesting?

It sounds as if the 'brush' is used to prevent shavings from being fed back in to the timber as it passes under the cutter block...? Just wondering if it's something that could be adapted to other models.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hmm, no I don't, Olly, I was more interested in getting my machine back up and running. But I still have the culprit, so I can show you what damage was done. You might have to wait until this evening though, I'm about to start wearing a pinny.

S

 

[9fingers]

I'm about to start wearing a pinny.

S

This might create undesirable images Steve!

LOL

Bob

 

[Steve Maskery]

This is the culprit and its replacement

As you can see, the profile is not a bad match. In particular, the rebate locates perfectly. It's a bit wider, but that doesn't matter.

I can't photo the position in the machine, unfortunately, but the brush is riveted to the bottom of a metal cowl than fits closely (too closely?) around the cutter block and which is bolted at each end to the same blocks that house the cutter block bearings. So as the timber goes in, it goes under the anti-kickback pawls, then under the feed roller, then under this brush before it hits the planer knives.

S

 

[9fingers]

Ah! I see what is going on.

On my 636 P/T that function is performed with a strip of rubber rivetted onto the chip collector for the thicknesser mode.

Bob

 

[ivan]

On my Dad's 636 the deflector fixes as per your brush strip, but is rubber draught excluder.

 

[Steve Maskery]

They obviously changed the spec a bit between 636 and 637.

One thing I notices was that the bristles were very worn indeed in the centre area of the brush, and gummed up with resin too, so it's no wonder it wasn't doing its job as well as it used to. Great now though!

S