Thread: Thicknesser and embedded screw didn't play well together

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That's a wake up call for all of us if dealing with recycling our timber needs.
Thankfully Phil I have not done what has unfortunately happened to you, but I understand the need for powerful magnets run over timber to give peace of mind.
The expense of replacing damaged parts with the time involved would benefit the necessity of a magnetised wand or some such .I have still got to go down that path & grab one before apathy rears itself.
I have some recycled Jarrah timber here from an old fence so instead of denailing the ends I just used a skil saw out in the paddock to lop the ends off saving at least a fair bit
of timber the ends going on a burn up pile.
Thinking something like this might be appropriate though DIY magnetic swarf wand

Why didn't you just rotate the cutters in question to bring a fresh edge into use?

Originally Posted by rrich

Why didn't you just rotate the cutters in question to bring a fresh edge into use?

I did have a couple of reasons
1 I really wanted to take a decent photo of the damage so it was easier to just replace them
2 I could see that multiple edges were damaged but not well enough to be sure which edge to rotate to, noting one has only a single good edge left and I certainly did not see that at the time.
I had the spares to do it and these get put in the box as spares.

after taking a close look at the hi res photos id also question the integrity of the one with the big chuck out of it, carbide might be tough but it also brittle.

your right though that normal practice would be just rotate the cutters.

Gday Phil

"made a nice bang and certainly made me jump."

I can understand that.

Can you let us know how you go if you source replacement cutters, please.
Always good to store useful info for the future.

BTW are you still happy with your thicknesser Wixey DRO?

Cheers
Keith

It must be the day for mishaps. I cut a hidden screw with a brand new 4TPI bandsaw blade, so hard it took the sharpness off every tooth. Nearly 1 hour to touch them up with the diamond disc. And to make it a good day, found a piece of gravel in virgin timber on the thicknesser, so another blade sharpening for me.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by verawood

Can you let us know how you go if you source replacement cutters, please.
Always good to store useful info for the future.

Best source for cutter inserts is here. Even though the Timbecon website says they are 14mm cutters, the spare ones that came with the unit are 15 x 15 R150 37°
I think the grade of carbide in these units is fairly soft or brittle as I also hit a very small pin in some Cedar and it nicked the insert. I have cut nails with my saw blades a few times with no obvious ill effects. I think the SJE inserts will be much better.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Best source for cutter inserts is here. Even though the Timbecon website says they are 14mm cutters, the spare ones that came with the unit are 15 x 15 R150 37°
I think the grade of carbide in these units is fairly soft or brittle as I also hit a very small pin in some Cedar and it nicked the insert. I have cut nails with my saw blades a few times with no obvious ill effects. I think the SJE inserts will be much better.

Hopefully SJE tools may chime on but the one stocked are not the 37deg ones as seemingly used in all the sherwood cutter heads, as you noted the supplied spares are 15x15x2.5-37-R150 ..... the common shellix cutters are only 30deg ones and may not seat correctly.

I measured one and it is 37 deg.

Cheers
Phil

PS the 14mm is another spec error they should fix

Originally Posted by verawood

Gday Phil

"made a nice bang and certainly made me jump."

I can understand that.

Can you let us know how you go if you source replacement cutters, please.
Always good to store useful info for the future.

BTW are you still happy with your thicknesser Wixey DRO?

Cheers
Keith

Hey Keith, I was hoping to get them out of SJE but they don't list the 37 deg versions. Amazon has some for a bit more $

yep the Wixey makes life easy.... hate the backlash in the thicknesser itself but the DRO is accurate and makes it easy to go back to the same size.

Cheers
Phil

Phil

At least the remedy is fairly cheap and relatively easy. Those tungsten cutters are hard and brittle (not soft or tough), which is why these are so intolerant of ferrous metal. Tungsten carbide comes in different grades as commonly metal lathes have tungsten carbide cutters, but they are not the same as yours.

I would use the damaged cutters for making up a woodturning tool. They look exactly like those I used even down to having the numbers on them. The minor damage on second edges may be removed also by sharpening. Sharpen them on the flat face using a diamond stone. (Don't sharpen the edges.)

Regards
Paul

You're dead right Phil, the SJE inserts are only 30° as I checked the spare ones I have here for my CTS Jointer head and that's what they are and as you say, they won't register correctly against the raised wall on the Planer. Maybe it's the steeper angle on the Sherwood inserts that makes them more prone to chipping as the sharper the angle the weaker the edge is. In your case it wouldn't have mattered what angle they were, you would have got the same result. It will be interesting to see if SJE bring in their own version of the Sherwood inserts. I hope there is enough demand for them to consider it.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

....In your case it wouldn't have mattered what angle they were, you would have got the same result. It will be interesting to see if SJE bring in their own version of the Sherwood inserts. I hope there is enough demand for them to consider it.

Not sure if that is good or bad thing?

You don't wish these sorts of events on anyone, but it would be good to have an alternative source of replacement cutters.

Ladies have bad hair days and we shove bits of steel through our machines.
With the cost of timber going through the roof recycling is more attractive than ever but it comes sometimes with a hidden cost. It is a major irk when it happens too. So far I have not shoved any iron through the thickie but the tablesaw and bandsaw have found bits. Strange thing the tablesaw sliced clean through a couple of screws without any real damage. One screw was sliced through longways too. It was not quite so sharp as before but the TC teeth were not chipped. That said seeing sparks fly when cutting wood is not something that makes me feel good.

Regards
John

Gday Phil

Thanks for the info.
I had a look for cutters on Amazon like you mentioned but couldn't find any 37's.
No doubt operator error.
Could you post the Amazon link, please.

And while I'm on the info scrounge, where did you buy your Wixey DRO, please.

Cheers
Keith

Originally Posted by Aussiephil

Hey Keith, I was hoping to get them out of SJE but they don't list the 37 deg versions. Amazon has some for a bit more $

yep the Wixey makes life easy.... hate the backlash in the thicknesser itself but the DRO is accurate and makes it easy to go back to the same size.

Cheers
Phil