Thread: Thicknesser not planing at 90 to the true planed edge

A quick test to see if the thicknesser has side to side variance is to get two boards of equal thickness or close to. set your thicknesser to remove a small amount of material (0.5mm'ish). Run one board through on the left side, and one board through on the right side. Accurately measure the thickness of each board. Should be the same thickness. If its not the same then that will probably be the culprit. Might need to jack up one side of the table. There is probably an adjustment somewhere, I don't have that machine so I don't know if there is.

Nice one, Kuffy. Thanks.

What Kuffy said -- I would've suggested taking a wide board with one clean face facing down, putting it through the planer and then measuring both edges with calipers.
I expect that's what your problem will be.

Also: make sure that all bolts are tight. Are the inserts on the spiral head seated properly? No loose screws?
I've had my Carbatec machines arrive with loose bolts, and the two tables on the jointer weren't co-planar either for that matter.

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

What Kuffy said -- I would've suggested taking a wide board with one clean face facing down, putting it through the planer and then measuring both edges with calipers

I have previously purchased 180 x 18 or 240 x 18 pine boards from Bunnings for this purpose - found them to be dressed accurately, but you have to make sure it is not bowed in any way across the width, so take a steel ruler with you

Thanks, guys...Further research reveals this is the same machine as the Ridgid TP-1300 which has a slightly better manual, but still no mention of how to adjust the elevation screws which is what could be the issue. At least I know what to look at now. Gonna go check it all now again. I'm pretty sure it is out, the challenge now is how to get it square. Have emailed Carba-Tec. Might pop in there Saturday morning. Unless someone has this actual machine, there's not a lot I guess we can do.

These tests will be awesome when I actually work out how to adjust, though. So thanks so much for the answers so far.

you have this copy of the Rigid manual http://www.ridgidparts.com/pdf/TP13002.pdf

are the infeed / outfeed tables properly adjusted? (page 16)

also, this thread may help Rigid Thickness Planer not even - Need advice - Woodworking Talk - Woodworkers Forum

Thanks, Ian. Have found both those. Without taking the whole thing apart, I can't see how to adjust the elevation screws, so I might have to wait until Carba-Tec call me back. The infeed and outfeed to my eye and framing square seem to be adjusted properly. To double check even further, I clamped the stock into the head and re-aligned the tables to just be kissing the stock so I know they're level. The joys of being a novice wookworker, eh....

when talking to Carbatec ask to talk to the service/repair guys you wont get any sense out of any of the others in my experience.

Hi DiRob, yes, I've had similar experiences with them already. They just sent me a breakdown of how to do this. If anybody has this machine and ever needs to do this procedure (which looks really fiddly, so hooray), I'll post the PDF here for future generations to find...20141203 (1).pdf

Yep talking from experience I had to pull my thicknesser apart to replace anti kickback fingers before I could use it from new pain but not worth returning to Carbatec.

Once again, a BRAND NEW machine that has problems, inaccuracies, and is causing the person who paid good money in good faith pain snd suffering. This situation is totally ridiculous.

yay zombie thread...