Startrite pt260 roller spring tension

[jam3s]

Hello all

I have just bought a startrite pt260 but I am finding it engages fine when the bed is set lower than the blade however when setting the correct thickness
You have to push the material into the rollers for it to engage.

I have cleaned the bed and the material picks up fine when set lower than the cutter but to engage the cutter you really have to push.

Currently wondering if losing the spring tension would allow the machine to pick the wood up without pushing?



Thanks
James

 

[jam3s]

Sorry just to some more info wondering in the picture if I need to loosen 251 and 269 to reduce the pressure to engage the infeed rolleders

 

[imageel]

Hiya, I have a PT260 and you do need to push the workpiece into the infeed roller in-effect lifting the roller up a tad and thus engaging it for it to self-feed through the thicknesser.
I've used numerous other PT's in my time and they all work similarly, and with mine if you do set to thickness a very fine shaving pass you quite likely will end up with marks on the planed surface due to the serrated feed-roller indenting the timber surface.
Obviously adjusting the spring tensions on the feed roller will lessen this however you'll reach a point where the pressure is so low that larger pieces will not auto-feed reliably, even if you wax the thicknesser bed

 

[jam3s]

Hiya, I have a PT260 and you do need to push the workpiece into the infeed roller in-effect lifting the roller up a tad and thus engaging it for it to self-feed through the thicknesser.
I've used numerous other PT's in my time and they all work similarly, and with mine if you do set to thickness a very fine shaving pass you quite likely will end up with marks on the planed surface due to the serrated feed-roller indenting the timber surface.
Obviously adjusting the spring tensions on the feed roller will lessen this however you'll reach a point where the pressure is so low that larger pieces will not auto-feed reliably, even if you wax the thicknesser bed

Ah thank you. Do you know how far the bolts on the springs are set on your infeed? Just wondering if someone has tightened them at some point in its life on my machine

 

[hlvd]

Can I ask where you purchased the planer as we got rid of ours at work a few months ago, it went to auction at a company in Malmesbury.

As for the spring tension, by correct thickness are you going with the scale on the side?

 

[imageel]

apologies forgot to post these, front and rear taken from the outfeed end so bolts/springs of interest are furthest away from camera
so maybe infeed are under more pressure than outfeed assuming all springs are equal....

 

[Against_The_Grain]

Before adjusting the spring tension which is rarely an issue, have you lubricated the surface of the thicknessing bed at all?

 

[HOJ]

Have you got an extractor connected, looks like a lot of shavings hanging around, which wont help.

Ignore this, thought it was picture of @jam3s machine..

 

[jam3s]

apologies forgot to post these, front and rear taken from the outfeed end so bolts/springs of interest are furthest away from camera
so maybe infeed are under more pressure than outfeed assuming all springs are equal....
View attachment 182546View attachment 182547

Thank you soo much. On my machine the nuts are quarter up the bolt so makes sense why it's not picking up the wood easily

Thank you again

 

[jam3s]

Before adjusting the spring tension which is rarely an issue, have you lubricated the surface of the thicknessing bed at all?

Already cleaned the table and seems to be picking up nicely when the depth is set lower.

Looking at the difference in photos someone has done up the springs far tighter than required.

 

[Against_The_Grain]

Already cleaned the table and seems to be picking up nicely when the depth is set lower.

The table may be clean, however if it is not lubricated the timber will not slide across the surface but rather stick firmly to the table.

 

[Wood beaver]

@jam3s has this solved your problem? I have just bough the record power version of this machine and you do need to give it a shove to engage the roller and it is leaving marks on the wood in places. I was going to adjust the roller tension to fix this if it works for you. I have also noted that the guide for thickness height is way off. Is this the same on other machines too?

 

[Against_The_Grain]

I was going to adjust the roller tension to fix this if it works for you. I have also noted that the guide for thickness height is way off. Is this the same on other machines too?

If you're having trouble feeding the machine and the thickness height is off that would suggest that the knives are set too far into the block which would result in the wood being oversized relative to the thickness indicator and would also put excessive pressure on the feed rollers which would cause the timber to stick to the table more frequently.

I would try setting the knives so you get the correct thickness relative to the thickness indicator and see how the machine performs then. If the operation is much improved, you then will need to adjust the outfeed table on the surface planer so that it is at the correct height relative to the knives.

 

[deema]

You are missing the setting nuts, which set the height of the rollers; item 280. Usually in the manual it will define how much lower the rollers should be than the cutting circle of the block. The nuts are used to set this height. At the moment, the rollers look to be too low as a consequence.