Thread: Robland X 31 Feed Tables Co Planar?

Hi there is a robland x31 users group on yahoo groups, it might be a could place to post your question if you have no luck on this forum :


RoblandX-31 : For those interested in the Robland X-31




good luck



joez

Yes Thanks Joez,

I'm already a member and the answer just came thru.

For anyone else with an X31 who gets into this bind...

Draft x31 Set Up Instructions Index

Clear as mud.

Now I may need to call upon the expertise of BobL, because I don't possess the required dial calipers and metal bases etc to do this setup correctly on my own.

Cheers!

Shann, its quite easy to fix. This is how I did it with mine.
Long metal straight edge full length both tables.
Loosen highest connecting screw on hinge brackets only enough to get movement when tapped with soft hammer.
Tap hinge into position.
Check under straight edge with thin piece of paper as a feeler gauge.
When paper wont go between straight edge and table surface at both heel and toe of each table your all good.
Tighten off hinge bolts.

You will probably find some peanut has lifted the machine using the tables. Normally, the problem is opposite to yours ie the table ends have sagged, particularly when jointing heavy hardwoods.
Hope this helps.

It certainly did help... and now i have ceased boomerang manufacture and progressed to straight wood for a change!

I had to go buy a fat max level straight edge about 1800 long, first - and then it was getting the tables co planar and adjusted level with the knives in the jointer head etc, - lots of adjusting the stops and lock down to correct all of yesterdays messing around blind adjustments.

Ran a piece of pine thru and straight as a die!

Truthfully - I was the peanut caused the table to be out of alignment.... long story....

When I bought the machine it's owner loaded it into the trailer for me with his forklift.

No such luxury here at home tho... so I backed the trailer into the shed and with the machine strapped securely over the axle for balance, I lifted it off the tow bar and gently down onto the concrete at the rear... (You can see where I am headed here) .

So by judiciously loosening one of the 3 ratchett straps at a time and allowing the machine on its timber base with castors.... to roll backwards down slope a few inches at a time - I kept rotating between straps to loosen and others to catch it a few inches further along to stop it getting a head of steam up and getting away...I walked it down the trailer until i had the first pair of castors onto the concrete.

I then made the mistake of getting my ambitions and capabilities confused...(working alone) and tried to walk it out of the trailer onto level on the concrete and thats when I found out the machine at 450 kilos was about 3 times my heft and slowly overbalanced with me trying to counterweight it to little effect.

It only traveled about 18inched until the end of the table contacted the concrete softly enough not to leave any damage to concrete or machine luckily BUT I suspect this is when the out feed table hinge adjustment was thrown out / upwards.

So it took little to tap it back down today when I loosened one nut and gave it a little love tap with a hammer and piece of jarrah hardwood to cushion the blow.

All is good to go now... I can make wood again...finally (after about a 7 year hiatus).

Tomorrow I will knock up a pine toe rail for a laundry unit for the sparky who connected my 3 phase shed power as part of the pay back / labor swap barter system we agreed on.

It's good to actually be able to do stuff now...
I managed to get a plug to suit my outlet for the new to me old 3 phase compressor and fit that, and I now have air as well
Even managed to put some threrad tape in a few nut and tails so it holds pressure and doesn't leak down all the time...
Found some nails for the air nailer I bought on the weekend.
Did a little glue repair to the leg of mutton guard on the jointer, so it will be safe to use again...
I had an all round productive day when all said an done... and am another step closer to being productive on a daily basis I hope.

Tis all part of my journey I keep telling myself.

I just use a piece of aluminium sliding glass door extrusion for a straight edge. The four bits of paper,one under the straight edge at heel and toe of each table speeds the process up a lot. Its just a matter of checking each bit of paper for loosness as you make the adjustments. Once all pieces show resistance you are there.

Wished I'd read that yesterday - about the paper trick - there was a LOT of squinting and putting my glasses on and off - to try and get the tables co planar bye sighting daylight under that yellow devil level.

I may work my way thru it again tho - just for slight fine tuning.... I think I am well past 95% of the way there but it could possibly be better yet, there's very slight movement when the locking levers are engaged that moves the tables ever so slightly diagonally it seems.

It's a fiddly process, no question about it.

I'm just stoked that straight timber comes off it now... that much is a big relief - today I test out the thicknesser... just have to swipe the wife's paraffin candles to lube the tables without her noticing. She always goes off tap when there's a power outage at night, and she can't find all the candles she keeps stashed for just such a emergency situation..... she mumbles to herself about "I don't know why they just keep vanishing" etc - & I haven't the heart to tell her they lube up the thicknesser table so well. Same with her Johnstons floor wax tin - that finds it's way to my workshop to wax the jointer tables... but I have to keep it hidden, or if she see's it she would scalp me...

She wants to go see one of them clair voyant peoples down at the local markets, coz she thinks we have a malevolent spirit entity inhabiting the house, one with kleptomaniac tendencies, who pinches all her stuff just to make her life a misery...and I just nod my head knowingly and say "yes dear" and say "why don't your pilot your broom down there for a visit".

If she ever finds half her crap I have commandeered for up in the shed, I'm a dead man walking.