Help! Fettling Axminster 103 jointer

[Picaflor]

Hi everyone,

I have an old model Axminster 103 6" surface planer/jointer which I bought second hand a while back. I've never got great results off it and this was largely due to me not setting the outfeed height correctly, but after getting that right I then went through the straight edge+feeler gauge procedure and discovered that the infeed bed is not co-planar with the outfeed and the far end of the bed appears to be about 0.7mm lower than the cutter end. This is causing a significant snipe at the start of the cut which I can't do anything about.

I searched all through the manual and fiddled with every bolt I could find but I couldn't make any difference to it either way. I was close to giving up and buying a new one when I looked at the Axminster site and it looks like even the more expensive models have the same carriage mechanism, so I phoned Axminster but it seems even they have no idea how to adjust the beds.

Does anybody out there have a fix for this or do I just have a lump of scrap to get rid of? If so can anyone recommend a surface planer in the £1k or less range that actually has this adjustment?

I've just started a business and it's gaining momentum but we're gonna be stuffed without a decent jointer.

Thanks in advance for any tips in any direction cos I've run out of ideas!

Cheers
Tom

 

[EddyCurrent]

I'm not familiar with that particular machine but I think this video might be able to give you some idea; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIcLWPtFcw

 

[Trevanion]

I mean no offense when I say this, why are you messing around trying to get what is basically a glorified toy working when you've got a £1000 budget? Some of the best surface planing machines ever made are available second-hand on eBay for way less than that.

Spend once and don't worry about it, time is precious and you don't want to waste it on a pointless endevour.

 

[Picaflor]

That's a fair point, I just hate to see a half decent tool not working for something so simple. To clarify though, when I say I'm looking for a £1000 or less model it is not to say that we have £1000 budget cos if this tool was working we would be spending it on a table saw or any one of a list of other things instead! I have already started wading into the world of VFDs in preparation for finding an old wadkin or similar planer that we can run on our single phase supply.

What I don't want to do though is end up with an even heavier lump of scrap by getting another planer that cannot be adjusted! £850 on the next model up at Axminster gets you one with exactly the same setup this one has so if it gets knocked once it's useless.

Any recommendations anyone has for a planer that definitely has bed adjustment, old or new, would help me on my way as its a tricky thing to search for...

 

[Trevanion]

If you’re preparing for a bigger machine then definitely don’t waste your time fiddling around with a toy, just get the bigger machine and fiddle with that which will probably be easier.

If you’re looking for a decent machine to run on a single phase supply for now before you get a more solid piece of equipment, there are plenty of Multico L and S (9” and 12” respectively) machines to be had for peanuts at around £300 secondhand online. Simply made and easy to adjust as well.

Don’t waste your time, every minute wasted is a minute you could otherwise invest in doing something else like working on a more permanent machine.