Thread: Ryobi planer thickneser problems

Not sure how you are trying to use the machine, but there seems to be a fundamental problem with your approach. Have you got a user manual? If not try and locate one online.

In your first pic there is a winder handle above the front right corner of the machine frame. This is used to raise and lower the head mechanism relative to the base plate to set the thickness of the material being machined. Thicknessers typically work with depth of cut of maximum 2mm per pass, less is better particularly with compact machines.

Machines typically have some form of crude indicator scale to show the nominal finished thickness of material, based on the gap between the base and the edge of the cutter.

If you were for example working with a piece of 90 x 45 timber and trying to thickness it to 40mm, you would set the head height via the scale to slightly more than your nominal material size (say 0.5mm over nominal material thickness or 45.5mm) and make a pass through the machine. During this pass the infeed and outfeed rollers should contact the material and feed it, but the cutter probably won't contact the material, or might touch it in a few places only if it is uneven. This is an initial setup pass only.

Then wind the winder handle to lower the head about .75mm (the manual will tell you how far the head moves for each turn of the winder), and make another pass. This time the cutter will make more contact with the material, and may remain in contact for the whole pass if the material was fairly even to start with. Check the thickness of the surfaced area to ensure that you still have material left to remove.

Repeat the previous step while you still have excess material, until you get to a mm or so above required thickness. Provided that you have a smooth surface at that stage, flip the board over and take the final couple of fine cuts off the other side of the board so that you reach the required thickness with two freshly machined surfaces.

This is important because it helps even out movement due to changing moisture content. If the material had been machined in a different environment or some time ago, the moisture content at the faces and the centre of the board would vary. If you machine off one face and not the other, then the moisture content will be unbalanced and the timber will warp as the moisture content around the freshly machined face changes to that of the atmosphere around it while there is no change in the other face. If you have machined similar amounts off each opposing face, the movement should be simiar but opposite for each face minimising distortion.

Going back to your original issue, to hit where you indicate, I suspect that you have dialed in a finished thickness way out of proportion with the actual size of the material and anticipate that the machine will take all of the excess off in one pass. It won't, particularly if the material is too thick to go through the opening in the machine.

If you need to get a number of pieces to a matching size, follow the procedure above sending each part through the machine in a batch at each height setting, then drop down for the next pass and send them all through again. That way you don't have to microtweak the machine to get part A to match part B that was machined some time previously.

Hope this helps

Thanks for taking the time to reply malb,
Sorry I should have posted earlier i have solved the problem. I have a copy of the manual and read it twice before ever plugging in the machine. It turns out the problem all along was the blades as I suspected, they were extremely worn and set incorectly.
As for not setting the depth correctly, I had typed the post and lost it and i guess i left out some when i retyped it. My problem was that when i had the depth set to allow the wood in to the machine it was not touching the cutters, which turned out to be the blade problem as I mentioned.
Its all going well now that I put in new blades, and im half way through a couple of nice christmas presents.

Thanks again malb, it was nice of you to take the time to write such a detailed reply and im sure lots of people will find the info helpful.

brett