Thread: Thyicknesser Adjustment

It is very hard to comment constructively without more information. How much difference in thickness across a 15 inch board? If you provide the make of the machine, someone may know it well enough to be able to advise. If the cutters are in properly it sounds as though the axis of the cutters is not parallel to the table. Is there an obvious tuning mechanim for the axis of the cutter head?

By their nature, thicknessers have variable spacing between the timber support base and cutter head. Normally one is fixed and the other cranks up and down with synchronised screws within the guide posts. There are normally 4 guides and screws, with the screws synced and linked to the winder by a chain drive system.

In your case, I suspect that the chain(s) have either been off and replaced with the screws out of synch, or alternatively, the chain tensioner has allowed the screws to get out of synch. The other possibility is that the head has been dismantled and reasembled at some time and shims between the head bearing housings and head frame have not been reset properly, or crud has been trapped between the housings and head frame.

I suggest that you beg or borrow a digital inclinometer (Wixey digital angle guage or similar) and use that to compare the base, head frame and head inclination from horizontal, to establish whether the problem is is between the base and head frame, or head frame and cutter head.