Thread: Sherwood benchtop planer fence moving

If that can't be locked in the 90° position (or any other position for that matter) then it's not fit for purpose. I had looked at those online and thought the bracket at the rear of the fence was pretty flimsy but didn't think it could be that bad. From the video it's hard to see what is actually moving so another vid from the side behind the fence and in fairly close would be good. From the current video it looks like something is just lose by how easily it moves.

I agree with Treecycle. To my mind that's not acceptable.

As they claim "that's normal," is there any chance that you can drop in on Timbecon (or similar place with one in stock) and actually eyeball a display model?

Something's is definitely amiss there.

Have Timbecon seen the video?
Timbecon have always provided good support for my purchases, if you are being fobbed off at the Perth office, call the Melbourne office.


Jeff

agree with other posters, it would be next to impossible to get a good DAR board with that fence.

Have you checked the others in the store to see if they have the same issue? If so i'd be inclined to request a refund, "normal" in this case is a faulty machine and not fit for purpose.

I take it there is an issue with the tightening leaver. The one right behind the fence is to tighten the fence at whatever angle you set it. The other one is to lock the fence in or out. They can be tempreamental as they are held on the bolt head by a spring. There is a screw where the handle joins the bolt. You can adjust the spring tension with that screw. If it wont play you can remove the spring and just use the handle as a spanner.
The fence is supposed to lock in place so whoever at Timbecon gave you the brush off needs a size 9 where the sun dont shine.
Regards
John

Looking at the fence bracket which is one piece where the locking bolt goes through, could it be that you are just not putting enough force on the locking handle as the vertical sides need to bend in slightly to lock up against the centre alloy part. There is a flat washer between the bracket and locking handle in the picture so I assume yours has that in place. Without it the bolt could be binding up inside the locking handle by being slightly too long. Even if it is in place you could try putting another one on there just to prove it's not a manufacturing error.

Jointer fence.JPG

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Looking at the fence bracket which is one piece where the locking bolt goes through, could it be that you are just not putting enough force on the locking handle as the vertical sides need to bend in slightly to lock up against the centre alloy part. There is a flat washer between the bracket and locking handle in the picture so I assume yours has that in place. Without it the bolt could be binding up inside the locking handle by being slightly too long. Even if it is in place you could try putting another one on there just to prove it's not a manufacturing error.

Jointer fence.JPG

The flat washer you see in the video is one I installed as at first look it looked as though the square section of the bolt was stopping it from tightening as this problem was from the start.
I did tighten the bolt up as much as I dare as I don't believe the bracket could take much more pressure.
I did send the video and that's when they said the following

We had a chance to look at this video this is normal for the fence to movein this way when the workpiece is going thru your pushing the wood down &back, the fence then locks in that position.
Regards,
Chris
Timbecon Customer Service

and then


The pressure you apply on the fence with the timber will stop amymovement.
Regards,
Chris
Timbecon Customer Service

After which I asked about attempting to get a perfect right angle and they refused to respond.
I am in the country so dropping into a shop is not easy, however as they are ghosting me I may need to make a trip.

Under ACL as a consumer, you have the right to demand a refund / repair / replacement for an item that does not perform in a satisfactory manner.

IF the fence moves during use the unit is not fit for purpose. It also poses a potential safety hazard to the user as the board may not be supported by the fence as it must be (for edge jointing) and may move causing a kick back, or expose the operator's fingers / hand to the cutter head. Both may cause serious injury.

As others have stated, the fence design looks to be pretty flimsy imo, but being a bench top machine, it is only intended to be used with small/er boards. I believe the addition of a washer/s spacer between the mount and fence supports will provide more friction / clamping pressure if there is a gap between them. I would actually look at placing a larger flat washer on the outboard face of the support on the clamp shaft as well. The cup head end looks like it has a square head to fit the slot for one handed operation.

The spiral head unit appears to be a more robust machine.

If it were me I would take the black handle back off and replace it with a hex nut (make sure it is the same thread) and tighten it firmly with a spanner. You won't hurt anything by applying a bit of force with the nut as you are just squeezing the metal parts together. I think you will find that the play goes away and if it does you know you just have to apply a bit more force on the black handle. The only problem with more force on the handle is they aren't very strong so leaving the nut there might be a better option as adjusting the fence angle isn't something most people do very often.
This doesn't excuse the poor support you are getting from Timbecon though.

"We had a chance to look at this video this is normal for the fence to movein this way when the workpiece is going thru your pushing the wood down &back, the fence then locks in that position.
Regards,
Chris
Timbecon Customer Service"


Even if this were the case (which I very much doubt), how would it behave when set to 45 degrees?

I still think it would be worthwhile to contact the Melbourne office.

Phone: 03 9448 8300
Email: [email protected]

Good luck!

Just ring them and tell the net phone call will be from Consumer Protection.

That video shows the unit definitely not fit for purpose. Not sure how they can claim "normal".

i was in the area and popped into their store to kill some time.

Their display model exhibits the same behaviour when replicating your video, no matter how hard it was tightened it'll still move (exactly like your video). I did notice though that if you apply force perpendicular to the fence its reasonably solid. Obviously this addresses the issue when trying to square edges, but doesn't help when you're trying to do other angles.

I suspect this is due to poor manufacturing process and if this is "normal" ie typical of budget machines in this price point you probably won't have much of a choice but to find work around that work for what you use it for. Ie adding washers to close the gap/increase the clamping force, but if the exchange/refund option is available to you (and is within your budget) i'd take it. As i can just see the locking handle breaking off one day and causing nothing but grief.

What ended up happening? Did you get a resolution from timbecon?