New Jointer/Planer

[barnsey]

I've just acquired a new - well to me it is - 6" planer.

There is no ID plate on it but the cutter cover has the inscription
"Cleveland Machinery Company - Redfern NSW Australia" on it.

It is working but the blades are badly gapped.

Cast Iron tables and fence, 3 blade cutter head and a pic below.

First job - sharpen blades. Anyone with some advice on this unit.

Was going to make a jig to hold each blade so that I can sharpen them on the side of the white wheel. Saw a tip to cut a groove in a piece of tinber to hold the blade at the correct angle and use it on the side of the wheel.

Would appreciate any comments before I get it apart and find I have a problem.

[Robert WA]

That is a solid looking machine. What is the motor that drives it?

Have you done a search on the web for a manufacturer?

I have a feeling that name came up on this forum some months ago. Hopefully, someone will remember and point you to it or, you might try a search of the forum for the word "cleveland".

[barnsey]

Thanks Robert - it is a solid machine not sure on the motor but it's juicy - needs a 15 amp supply. My dust extractor and planer won't handle the same circuit so I think it must be close to the 2 hp that the dust extractor is. Got to pull the bloody thing apart to get at the motor plate if there is one!!!

Have done a search on this site and the web in general but with not much sucess - thats why I asked the question:mad:

Need to get those blades sharpened - any ideas anyone?:confused:

[journeyman Mick]

If the knives are badly nicked I wouldn't bother trying to do them yourself, take them to a saw doctor or sharpening service. Ask around at printing shops as their guillotine knives need to be sharpened to a pretty high standard.

Mick

[barnsey]

Thanks Mick - I admire your advice generally - years of experience.
But I got impatient.

Measured the angle on the blades and found 40 deg. So cut a 40 deg kerf in a piece of old hardwood. A bit sloppy so a Bunnies docket folded in half made it "Fitzniceantight":D

Adjusted the grinder rest and clamped a piece of 2X1 to it so I could rest the hardwood on it so the blade was being ground across the top 1/3rd of the side of the wheel.

First blade - small nick took a minute or two to get it clean. Second - a bigger nick took twice as long - last blade looked like it had hit a Manly Ferry!! After much grinding - cooling and readjusting the head it is performing like a beauty.

After surfacing some hoop pine, camphor laurel and Oz red cedar decided to try it on a 4x4 piece of red gum burl! Bloody magic!!!!

Guess I just lost a heap of excuses for not trotting out the hand planes which incidentally I sharpen on the old combination stone I bought as an apprentice and the blades shave my arm every time!! Scary, Sharp and easy:D

Thanks all for your time.

[DaveInOz]

Now for the dumb question ...... how do you get the blades back in the drum at the same height and horizontal ?:confused: ?

[journeyman Mick]

Dave,
there are knife setting jigs (sometimes supplied with machine) otherwise a straight edge and some shim material (or a magazine page) and lots of patience.

Mick

[barnsey]

Dave & Mick,

On this beastie there are three adjustment screws in the bottom of the blade recess. I found it reasonably straight forward to get the blades back where they ought to be by using a rule on the outfeed table and adjusting the screws so that the blade just comes into contact with it. Then using a wooden rule across both tables and the blade I rotated the head, the blade will pick up the rule and move it as it travels through the arc. By noting how much movement you get on each blade on each end you can see if any further adjustment is needed.

Well it worked for me!!! Let me know if you feel I've got it wrong.

Jamie

[journeyman Mick]

Jamie,
yep, that sounds right to me, I know there's even a specific distance the blade is supposed to move the rule but I can't for the life of me remember it. However I've got an ancient knife setting jig from Durden (they still make & sell it now). I got it with an old Durden "Junior Joiner" (8" saw/4" jointer/ horizontal morticer) that I bought years ago for $110.:) made my money back on it in the first week:) :) and sold it after more than 10 years of faithful service for $150.:D :D (hanging onto the knife setting jig of course!)

Mick

[barnsey]

Mick,

I had no more than a couple of thou that the rule lifted. Like you I'm sure I've read somewhere the amount but can't for the life of me find it now. I'm not getting any snipe - think that's what it's called at the end of the cut - so I would think that is the criteria.

Thanks again for your comments.

Jamie

[gatiep]

the distance is 6 mm or 1/4"

[barnsey]

Gatiep,

We were trying to recollect the amount that a rule should be lifted off the OUTFEED table when you rotate the cutterhead so that the blade just touches the rule. 1/4" or 6mm wold be more like the distance the wooden rule will travel in the second part of my set-up dissertation mentioned earlier but is dependant on the cut depth you have. In this stage it is the sameness of the dimension across all blades and both ends that needs to be noted - not the actual travel.

[gatiep]

Barnsey

Mark a piece of timber with two marks 6 mm apart.
Line one mark up op the cutter side edge of the OUTFEED table
Rotate so that right hand near edge of blade A moves the timber.
It should move 6 mm. Now do the same with the left side edge of cutter A.
If the cutter is set level accross its width it will move the timber 6 mm. If it doesn't, adjust until it moves 6 mm on both sides and all the cutters do the same.
That measurement is the one that matters as it controls the outfeed table to cutter height. By only moving it 6 mm it takes into account automatically the protrusion of the blade above the outfeed table. ( Which is much less than the thickness of a sheet of normal A4 paper).
The infeed table only adjusts the depth of cut BUT most guys stuff up their buzzer settings because they worry about the infeed table depth, rather than the critical outfeed table.
If the outfeed table is too low or in other words the cutters are too high, you'll get what was called 'snipe' earlier in this thread, due to the end of the timber not being supported by the infeed table anymore and the outfeed table being too low.
If the infeed cut is too big, you'll find it difficult to hold the timber down, it will chatter like when your blades are blunt. Also the motor wil strain.
Set your cutters in this way, then if you get one of the generic blade setting jigs, set it on your cutter block and transfer the above blade height onto the jig. Lock the jig up and you can always reset the blades, provided you do not alter the outfeed table height.
A blade setting jig set on a incorrectly adjusted cutter height will only transfer the same error every time. Those jigs are nothing else but duplicators of an existing setting....either correct or incorrect.
Been there, done that.
Setting a buzzer is not rocket science, its our old friend 'common sense' , who unfortunately has been thrown out of the normal thinking process nowadays.
Cya

[barnsey]

Thanks Gatiep

I was making things a bit more difficult than they needed to be but getting the same result!!

Off to dress up some Oz Cedar to mount SWMBO's Psychology Degrees she received on Friday

TTFN
:D