Thread: Thicknesser advice

Dazzler,

I own a Ryobi. I baught a rebuit unit in Melbourne. The first thing I did when I baught it is strip it down and make sure everything was set up correctly, i.e. blade depth and also chain and belt tension was set correctly.

I have had no problems with softwoods nor hardwoods. Just remember it is a low end machine and treat it accordingly and it will do the job for you. Last use for mine was dressing some redgum sleepers (8' by 2") which were part of a retaining wall, these are slowly taking shape as a coffee table.

The only draw back I've had with this unit was some "slippage" in the feed rollers due to dust, ataching a DC has solved this problem.

Hope this helps in some way,

Himzo.

Originally Posted by amgsir

Stueysnail thanks for this, I have a Ryobi thicknesser and the sniping has been its only disappointment, but now no longer. I intend to get this added asap!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to be of assistance

Originally Posted by DPB

Stuey, excuse my ignorance. I can't see how your mod solves the sniping problem.

It's my understanding that sniping is caused as follows. The thicknesser has two sets of forwarding rollers, one ahead and one behind the cutters. These three are set in a 'carraige' arangement.

When a piece of timber is fed into the the thicknesser, the first feed roller climbs onto the timber feeding it through. The cutters come next and cause a small snip until the second feed roller climbs onto the timber lifting the carriage assembly into a parallel mode. Upon exiting the thicknesser, the reverse happens. The rear feed roller drops off the back of the timber, causing the cutters to drop fractionally which results in the rear snipe.

The only solution I'm aware is to place the timber on a carrier, or sled with sacrificial side rails that "fool" the thicknesser. These timber side rails are the same depth as the timber and run into the thicknesser ahead and behind of the timber being thicknessed. The sniping occurs on the rails, not the timber.

So how does a new bottom plate resolve the thicknessing problem?

Fair call, although there are a couple of issues here. Firstly, I believe the infeed and outfeed (powered) rollers have their own independent suspension system, and whether they are lifted or not does not affect the cutting head, which is solidly fixed in place. So as I understand it, the work passes into the infeed roller, which lifts (compressing its springs) while it drives the work into the cutter head. As the work leaves the outfeed rides up onto the work, and drives it out. So in theory (and I will reiterate - as I understand it!) there is no cause of snipe here.

The problem that I found, and addressed with the mod is not the infeed & outfeed rollers, but the cheap, crappy infeed and outfeed tables underneath the work. They don't carry the load properly, so it enters at an angle into the infeed roller, which drives it into the cutter head. But, the work is not sitting flush on the table at this stage. Only once it connects with the outfeed roller is it finally forced down properly onto the table with 2 decent points of contact, on either side of the cutter. By this stage, snipe has already occured. The reverse happens once the work passes through, and the end is no longer in contact with the infeed roller. It is then allowed to drop, forcing more of the end into the cutter head, sniping that end.

How the mod works, is there is no opportunity for the work to angle up into the cutter head, as the table is long enough to fully support the work. Although I fixed it to the infeed table, I am relying on the strength of the 5mm structural aluminium to support the work without flexing. If the workpiece was exceptionally long and/or heavy, I would supplement this with a sturdy piece of something like MDF, and use accurately adjusted roller or multistands for both infeed and outfeed.

If the thicknesser was designed properly (ignoring cost), it really needs 2 or more infeed and outfeed rollers to get the workpiece held down flat to the table before it impacts the cutter.

BTW, this really is what Groggy said, just more verbose. I think he nailed it.

[QUOTE=gatiep]II have thicknessed 19 mm jarrah down to a thickness of 0.8 mm over a length of 1.2 meters and sheoak to 0.6 mm thick, same with and length. I use a mdf board on the thicknesser table to ensure the blade doesn't cut into the steel table should I stuff up on those thin settings.

Joe
The instructions with my generic thicknesser say that you shouldn't plane any less than 6mm thick. What do you do to plane down to as thin as 0.6 o0.8 mm thick? I need to plane some stuff down to 3mm, do I just place it on top of a backing board and pass it thru? Do you need cleats or some other method, such as double sided tape to secure the workpiece to the backing board? Thanks.

Samson13

Hi Daz,

I bought a Ryobi thicknesser a few weeks back. I have run heaps of Sassafras through it. Most of the cuts were 1mm or under. I found the smaller the cut the better the finish. I get a little bit of snipe at each end, about 50mm in and about 0.2mm deep, nothing to really worry about.

Originally Posted by gatiep

I have thicknessed 19 mm jarrah down to a thickness of 0.8 mm over a length of 1.2 meters and sheoak to 0.6 mm thick, same with and length.

I don't understand why you would thickness and waste over 18mm of material :confused: :confused: :confused:

Jack.

Originally Posted by Jack E

I don't understand why you would thickness and waste over 18mm of material :confused: :confused: :confused:

Jack.

I was going to make the same comment but I thought,

"NAH!, Now way he'd shave 19mm jarrah down to less than 1mm !!!"

He must have meant he ran it through a bandsaw or the TS first - surely ?

I thought he meant he was taking 0.8 mm off his 19mm thick piece in a pass. :confused:

Originally Posted by outback

I thought he meant he was taking 0.8 mm off his 19mm thick piece in a pass. :confused:

Well, if he did, that's not how it reads. I'm sure these few posts will enlist a response shortly.

Originally Posted by Gumby

"NAH!, Now way he'd shave 19mm jarrah down to less than 1mm !!!"

Is this a typo?

Jack.

just reading through these threads and i can't belive the success people have had with ryobi and gmc products ,i have had several of these (3 sanders 2 planers and a dropsaw) and they have all had problems, the last one i bought was a belt sander and i used it for 5 min and it caught fire...i have now replaced it with a makita , the unstopable powertool, i also have a makita 7 1/4 circular saw and a router, both 10 years old and have done an amazing amount of work, the saw has cut hardwood like railway sleapers for firewood for many years and still works perfect, from this experience i would never buy a 'el cheapo' machines again if my life depnded on it, my advice is to wait till you can afford a higher quality machine (whatever brand) and you should have it for the next 10 years or more ...but thats me...(hope i didn't affend anyone in this thread if so , let me know ...)

Originally Posted by la Huerta

a belt sander and i used it for 5 min and it caught fire

I had an Ozito belt sander that wandered constantly, the belt eventually wandered through the case.............

I wondered about the horrific waste also - maybe he means

"I thicknessed 19mm WIDE strips of Jarrah down to a thickness of 0.8 mm"

Add me to the list waiting for clarification on this...

Cheers,
Andrew

Mulch for the garden, I also await clarification...