LN 5.5 out of square it seems

[Jez]

i've had my LN for about a year but never used it for shooting, I made a shooting board just before i finished collage and never really got to use it until i've started work recently, anyway, today i used my shooting board at work and checked the work for square (blade was square) and the side of the peice of wood i was planing wasn't square.

I could see daylight coming through on one of the sides, so either i was tipping the plane or something isn't right
i checked the plane for square by putting it on its side while it was on the shooting board and saw quite alot of daylight coming through when the square was up against the sole i thought surly that cant be right.

so i put the plane on one of the machine tops at work and i got this
http://www.dacgaming.com/upload/userfil ... C00393.JPG

then i checked the opposite side which seemed square with the sole
http://www.dacgaming.com/upload/userfil ... C00394.JPG

so it seems the side i use for shooting isn't square so it tips the plane to the right slightly when i plane

i can only think of 2 things which could have caused it

It was like that the day i bought it so a fault with LN :x

or my fault
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=

i made this thread a while back due to some rust developed on it, i used some 240grit sand paper stuck down to a machine top last week and ran the plane over it on its sides with barley any pressure to get the remaining rust off the sides and the sole probably about 5-10 on each side, it removed so little metal that the rust was still on there and the sand paper had a small amount of black on it, it didn't seem like it was doing anything so i just left it with the rust on

i'm pretty sure it cant have been me but i'm just mentioning it incase to see what you guys think :shock:
if it was me then i think i've found the fastest flattening method of all time forget doublexx diamond stones !

anyway to the main point of the thread lol, should i contact LN and let them know and see what they think

i know i could probably correct it by adjusting the plane blade or like DC says and put a peice of news paper or something under the work, but since LN say they are ground flat etc...

Thanks for reading

 

[Philly]

Jez
Don't forget you can adjust the blade side to side to give a square cut on the shooting board. As for your plane - worth dropping L-N an email.
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[Chris Knight]

Jez,
That gap looks very small - have you measured it? I'd guess it's about 1.5 thou at most. You might have introduced it yourself when removing rust - hard to say. By all means ask LN but Id' probably just tip the blade a fraction to compensate when shooting.

 

[woodbloke]

Jez - the other thing to check is of course your square...do you know it's true? If it's been dropped or damaged in any way it may not be accurate any more, worth checking it (the square) against a reference...just a thought

Edit - just seen that the square was square in the OP, I'd still be inclined to check it tho' - Rob

 

[Anonymous]

Jez

No matter how old the plane is, Tom will sort this for you if the plane, not the sqaure, is the problem. That is why i am such a fan of LN tools, they are generally superb (better than most if not all others) and the customer service is exceptional

Drop TLN an email

 

[Jez]

thanks for the input guys

ill check my square tomorrow and make absolutely certain that its the plane thats out of square, then ill drop TLN an email

Cheers
Jez

 

[David C]

L-N will sort you out, but tilting the work (in both planes) with shims is a very simple and effective solution.

I use this all the time for my old planes, and even for new ones, usually because of wear on my shooting kit or because my fence is slightly out.

David

 

[bugbear]

I doubt that a few strokes on 240 grit would alter the angle; removing cast iron isn't that easy, trust me.

I am slightly concerned that there's a lot of apparent dust and crud in your photos; when you're trying to measure accurately, cleanliness is a factor; a 1 thou piece of crud is easy to overlook.

Since your square reads differently on the two sides of the plane, it indicates that the two side of the plane are not parallel, which (of course) they would be if they were both perpendicular to the sole. Therefore, even if your square isn't accurately square, we KNOW that at least one of the sides of your plane isn't.

If this observation is confirmed after the cleanup I suggest, I would conclude that the sides of your plane were not square when delivered, and as such I strongly believe that LN will willingly and happily either correct or replace your tool.

BugBear

 

[Paul Kierstead]

Not that contacting LN isn't worth it, but to be fair to them I don't believe they make any claims as to the squareness of the sides to the base ... the only place that make that specific claim is for the #9 I believe.

That said, the machines which grinder these tend to make em 90 degrees anyway, so this one must not have been clamped in quite correctly or the like.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Jez

I have no doubt that LN will happily sort out your plane, regardless of whether you did the dirty or not. They will not debate the matter. They will just do it. Thomas and the gang look after their family.

However ...

If the plane were mine, I'd either lap it myself, or I'd just use it as is. I really do not see that the gap assignificantly large and the adjuster could take this up with ease. It would be possible to hone the bevel out of square by this much, and it would be possible to skew the blade by this much without realising it.

The point is that a jig - all jigs - are not foolproof. They still require a driver. The best jigs have some user adjustability built in. Shooting boards all require adjustments as the boards are seldom presented to the blade perfectly square.

It is important to focus on how you can drive the shooting board - how you can adjust it - rather than expecting everything to work in a way that replicates a machine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[johnnyb]

it may have been ground incorrectly or may have moved a bit as cast iron can(unfortuneatly). check the flatness of the sole as well just to check if it moved as well.

 

[bugbear]

it may have been ground incorrectly or may have moved a bit as cast iron can(unfortuneatly).

LN use a "fancy" form of cast iron, and there are heat processes that can minimise movement (essentially by getting all the movement done BEFORE machining)

BugBear