Rutlands Bench Planer - blade set up

[Crocks]

I fell for the ‘reduced price’ at Rutlands this week as I was after an small inexpensive jointer as I don’t do a lot of jointing. I opened the box and immediately set about checking the blades were correctly set there’s even a jig supplied but on removing the blade and housing there appears to be no fine adjusting screw just the four nuts that hold it in place making the task very difficult. The manual is very poor on the topic and Rutlands have sent me a better image of the jig but it doesn’t help the blade height issue. Does anyone have any experience of this machine and any top tips? I’ve watched Peter Parfit YouTube but without a fine adjustment it’s very hit and miss.

 

[Oscar43634]

Not familiar with the machine but could you use shims to raise blades to correct setting before tightening bolts?

 

[Crocks]

replying to myself but should anyone else need a solution here’s one I’m trying

 

[MikeK]

replying to myself but should anyone else need a solution here’s one I’m trying

It is a bit difficult for anyone to help since you didn't provide any information on which jointer you bought. The method in the video you referenced might work fine for your machine as long as your outfeed table is ferrous metal (some are not), there are no springs under the knives that can overpower the magnets holding the blocks to the outfeed table, or the knives aren't too heavy for the magnets.

My experience with jointer or jointer/thicknesser setup always involves these steps in this order:

1. Ensure the outfeed table is parallel to the cutter block.
2. Ensure the infeed table is coplanar to the outfeed table.
3. Set knife height to the same plane as the outfeed table.

Step 1 might not be needed if the machine is just a jointer. If the outfeed table is not too far out of parallel with the cutter block, the knives can be set to match it. However, if the machine is a jointer/thicknesser, then the cutter block is the reference datum because the knife height will affect both operations.

 

[Crocks]

It is a bit difficult for anyone to help since you didn't provide any information on which jointer you bought. The method in the video you referenced might work fine for your machine as long as your outfeed table is ferrous metal (some are not), there are no springs under the knives that can overpower the magnets holding the blocks to the outfeed table, or the knives aren't too heavy for the magnets.

My experience with jointer or jointer/thicknesser setup always involves these steps in this order:

1. Ensure the outfeed table is parallel to the cutter block.
2. Ensure the infeed table is coplanar to the outfeed table.
3. Set knife height to the same plane as the outfeed table.

Step 1 might not be needed if the machine is just a jointer. If the outfeed table is not too far out of parallel with the cutter block, the knives can be set to match it. However, if the machine is a jointer/thicknesser, then the cutter block is the reference datum because the knife height will affect both operations.

Thanks the product is

Premium Bench Planer​

Part No. R1610

That process appears to be the standard and you are right the table is aluminium so that pippers the magnetic plan apart from the blade.

 

[Crocks]

Thanks the product is

Premium Bench Planer​

Part No. R1610

That process appears to be the standard and you are right the table is aluminium so that pippers the magnetic plan apart from the blade.

I didn’t say pippers in my original message but the fairy seems to have amended it

 

[MikeK]

This appears to be rebadged by other vendors, such as Silverline. I was able to find a Silverline manual online, and you are correct...the manual is very poor.

I'm assuming from the limited information in the manual that the blades are spring loaded. The blade alignment tool, Item 21, is used to hold the blades down while the gib nuts are tightened. The cutting edge of the blade must be at top dead center of the drum rotation in order to ensure it is flush with the outfeed table. This is the best I can offer without having access to anything similar.

Item 4 in the blade replacement section is important, since the blades can be installed backwards if you don't pay attention. They will look nice, but they won't cut.

 

[Crocks]

This appears to be rebadged by other vendors, such as Silverline. I was able to find a Silverline manual online, and you are correct...the manual is very poor.

I'm assuming from the limited information in the manual that the blades are spring loaded. The blade alignment tool, Item 21, is used to hold the blades down while the gib nuts are tightened. The cutting edge of the blade must be at top dead center of the drum rotation in order to ensure it is flush with the outfeed table. This is the best I can offer without having access to anything similar.

Item 4 in the blade replacement section is important, since the blades can be installed backwards if you don't pay attention. They will look nice, but they won't cut.

View attachment 140618View attachment 140619

View attachment 140620

Mike you are a star. I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to help. Here’s the picture that Rutlands sent me which has the jig the wrong way around!

 

[MikeK]

The photo from Rutlands is the correct way, just from a different aspect or reversed. Look at the relationship of the nuts and the blade.

 

[MikeJhn]

I use a piece of plate glass to set the blade at the outfeed table height, just put the glass on the outfeed table and turn the blade block with the blade bots undone, the sprung blade will find the correct height at TDC, do up the outside bolts and turn the block, if the glass lifts the blade is too high, repeat until the glass does not lift, but the blade touches the piece of plate glass, obviously the piece of plate glass needs to be narrower than the knife block, but wide enough to influence the sprung blade.