Help with setting up planer blades - nr Praze, Cornwall

[sguitars]

Hello,

New to the UKW board, I'm a guitar maker in Cornwall. Recently acquired nice purpose-built workshop with new house so bought in some new tools and machinery, including a Record Power PT260 Planer Thicknesser.

Out of the box, some realignment of the tables required and now the blades are out. Spent approximately 10 hours so far trying to set them up, and a phone call to Record Power, with no joy!

Anyone in West Cornwall got a bit of spare time to come down and help? Plenty of tea or coffee on tap and happy to discuss payment.

Thanks

 

[Eric The Viking]

Can't come down, but do do some searching through past posts on here. It comes up a lot.

My favourite approach is simply a straightedge plus two sheets of 80g paper, and a feeler gauge to check the infeed/outfeed alignment. Bought my straightedge from Axminster - theirs were very good value. Sent two back to Rutlands as they weren't straight!

It's nothing like as hard as you might think. No fancy gadgets needed. You can use hardwood or plastic blocks instead of metal if worried about the knives' edges, but I doubt you'll hurt them if you're gentle.

Warning: this topic on here can be a bit like sharpening... :-0

E.

 

[RogerP]

Lay a sheet of ordinary A4 printer paper on the out-feed table. Place a straight edge on top protruding over the blade and adjust blade to just touching the straight edge check at blade both ends and repeat for each blade. Done.

 

[Rhossydd]

You have my sympathies trying to install planer blades. It can be a frustrating and time consuming process. It's not always helped by reading of people who have 'magic' systems that they claim are simple and fast.
I can't access the manual for the RP PT260, but from what I've seen it looks annoyingly similar to my own Kity 636 system of blade securing/adjustment with a few bolts securing a sliding blade in a slot. It's frustratingly down to trial and error. None of the clever gadgets that are supposed to help this process fit on the small diameter blocks either :-(

Getting someone in to help is one strategy, but you really ought to stick with it and find an effective method yourself so you can do it again in the future when you need to take out the blades to resharpen them.

I find it helps to regard blade replacement as a half day task, then you'll be in the right frame of mind to take things slowly and finishing sooner makes it seem easier. Although this a luxury of being an amateur ;-)
I've tried most methods, but have come down to using the method using two straight battens and rotating the block and seeing how far the block moves the batten with the blade when rotated by hand, ideally about 2mm seems the consensus. Get one blade right, then try to match the other to it.
It's worth remembering that 100% accuracy is probably unachievable, so as close as possible without spending a whole day on it. You almost certainly won't be using the machine planed surface as a final finish, so it only has to be good enough. A bit of practice will help you understand where your own 'good enough' is.

A final thing. Before powering up, ensure you double check the tightness of all bolts, clearances and no tools have been left around. It's easy to forget to fully tighten something when you've been slogging away for hours going back and forward with adjustments.

 

[flh801978]

As the OP said hes adjusted the tables so now the blades are out of alignment

You really have to start with first principles on a planer/thicknesser which if i can offer my method

1. start with the thicknesser table...does it come out of the base on a column or is it raised by screws on each corner ?
if column theres not much you can do other than check all bolts are tight and theres no wobble.... so now the cutter block has to be adjusted to the table by placing a metal block on the table and making sure that the cutter block is parellel to the table by adjusting the main bearings blocks up and down at each side. if you have a pair of blocks the same size it easy... i use engineering 1,2,3 blocks which as it suggests are a pair of blocks 1" x 2" x 3"...just adjust and tighten the bearing housings until theres a nice consistant drag on the block as you pass the block under the cutter block

If its screws then its the same principle check that the cutter block bearing housings are tight then adjust the screws to level the table to the block...this involves loosening sprockets or gears on the screws to allow each screw to adjust independantly of each other.

2.. now level the whole machine to the floor using its feet or packing so the thicknesser table is as level as you can get it.....very important this. using your best spirit level

3. now level the infeed table to as level as you can get it using its adjustment bolts it doesnt really matter where or what the depth of cut is it just needs leveling

4. now you should have thicknesser table and the infeed table parallel to each other and level with the bare cutter block

5. now its time to make the out feed table coplanner to the infeed table...using as long a straight edge as you can get or 2 is better use packing on the infeed table if you have to

6 . now install the blades as manufacturers instructions

If you dont check all of the above with a new or unknown machine you can never hope to get an accurate cut

I have done the above proceedures on a variety of machines sometimes the adjustments may not be obvious but all machines need to have them to be able to do the above


Ian

 

[sguitars]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Spent another hour today trying to set the blades... No joy. Basically, no matter how many times I tried - following instruction manual and YouTube videos.

So, I phoned the place where I got my PT260 from and, out of pure chance, the Record Tech Rep was there. Had a word with him and his last suggestion was a dip in the middle of the outfeed table... Low-and-behold, I placed a straight edge across the outfeed table at the cutter block end and there is a dip in the middle!!!

Waiting for Record to sort out now, should be getting replacement outfeed table... fingers crossed this works :

 

[blackrodd]

I am pleased that you have located the problem with you're pt260.
when checking the beds, put the straight edge on corner to corner, both sides, this may have high lighted a problem sooner.
Another observation is that when moving the pt260 about on the wheels, do not use the tables as moving handles
as this can lead to problems of misalignment.
Devise some means of handles instead perhaps but using existing bolt holes in the higher part of the base, perhaps.
Regards Rodders