Startrite SD300 thicknesser table mod.

[woodbrains]

Hello,

here is a drawing, with a photo to follow, of a locking mechanism I made for the Startrite planer thicknesser. Some may remember a discussion of the quality of some trade rated PT's form China, having deign faults despite the price tags not being the bargain they were a few years ago. I stated that I had the SD300 and that was generally more solid and robust than the smaller machines, but still not perfect despite a fairly robust price tag of around £1600 when new, a year or so back. the main issue for me was the thicknesser table, which raises and falls on a substantial central column, but still moved under the pressure of the feed rollers, when timber was fed towards the extreme edge of the table. So I made the following;

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The photo of the mod on my machine. It is working well, the table is solid now, when I use the locking lever. This is only necessary on the final thicknessing pass, though it can be used as often as needed. I used an old engineers vee block as the thrust block. The column on the table corner was not long enough, it barely protruded below the chassis when the table was at its height, so I replaced it with 20 mm mild steel, round section bar, about 5 inches longer, so the mechanism could grip onto it. I'm quite pleased with the result.

Mike.

 

[davin]

Thanks for that.

Now if you can work out a way of keeping the infeed table coplanar with the outfeed...

 

[woodbrains]

Thanks for that.

Now if you can work out a way of keeping the infeed table coplanar with the outfeed...

Hello,

That is one problem the Startrite does not suffer. The old Axi I had which did have the fault was long since sold and i cannot remember enough detail about the mechanism to suggest anything. I only remember that I couldn't think of anything at the time, that i could do with basic metalworking tools. The mod above was done with nothing more than hacksaws, files and drills and taps.

Mike.