Help please - using a bench / surface planer

TTony

I've got a bench-top Axminster model which is fairly small, but it's solid and is properly set-up (because I  got someone who knows what he's doing to make sure it was set it up properly!).

The infeed and outfeed tables are flat  and the fence is set a proper right angle to the tables.

As far as I can tell, the machine is A-OK, 100%, and should produce lovely flat, straight, planed surfaces.  Lovely, straight-edged, planed surfaces that are just about ready for jointing.

But it doesn't.  And I'm pretty sure that the problem is with the user.

Whenever I try planing something - say a piece of timber suitable for being half a body plank - I end up with a very non-straight planed edge.  Not quite banana shaped, but definitely not good and flat and not anywhere near suitable for jointing.

I guess that I'm putting too much downwards pressure on the piece of timber, or on one end of the timber,  as it's passing from infeed, across the blades, and on to the outfeed table.  Typically, I'm cutting more off the leading part of timber than the trailing part  and ending up with a "bump" in the middle of the planed edge.

Any tips?

GSPBASSES

What model is it?

TTony

I don't see a model number anywhere @GSPBasses - but it's this one;

greggreg66

Doesn't sound like user error if it's been set up. If you try again - depending on board size - try not to push down too heavily on the board as you could be pushing a bent board flat, plane it, let go and it springs back again. If you're getting a bump in the middle that sounds like the tables aren't straight to one another....  I appreciate that this can happen through user error if you're doing a really big heavy long board and it rocks over the jointer tables etc.

TTony

To give you an idea of the sizes of wood I was planing - I was using it to try to plane one face on a couple of pieces to form the centre joint in a body blank.   

I'll get some sacrificial scrap out tomorrow and carry on practising and trying to work out where I'm going wrong.  At least that way I won't end up with half a body blank and a pile of sawdust!

ftumch

I took half my little finger off with one of those so it goes without saying, but be careful!

greggreg66

TTony said:

To give you an idea of the sizes of wood I was planing - I was using it to try to plane one face on a couple of pieces to form the centre joint in a body blank.   

I'll get some sacrificial scrap out tomorrow and carry on practising and trying to work out where I'm going wrong.  At least that way I won't end up with half a body blank and a pile of sawdust!

Doesn't sound right to me! I don't wanna state the obvious, but just in case, make sure you pick the side that doesn't rock on the table before planing as you need it to be stable as it passes over the blades. 

TTony

ftumch said:

I took half my little finger off with one of those so it goes without saying, but be careful!

Yup @ftumch ; - I tried putting my finger through the bandsaw once.  It was the index finger on my left hand, so barre chords would have been tricky.

Luckily, the saw got through the soft stuff, but it couldn't get through the knuckle before I realised the mistake and removed my finger from the sharp thing.

That took a few steri strips to fix.

I thought the bandsaw was pretty safe.  The bench planer scares me.

ftumch

TTony said:

ftumch said:

I took half my little finger off with one of those so it goes without saying, but be careful!

Yup @ftumch ; - I tried putting my finger through the bandsaw once.  It was the index finger on my left hand, so barre chords would have been tricky.

Luckily, the saw got through the soft stuff, but it couldn't get through the knuckle before I realised the mistake and removed my finger from the sharp thing.

That took a few steri strips to fix.

I thought the bandsaw was pretty safe.  The bench planer scares me.

The sound of one now makes my blood run cold, it took my finger bone and all down past the first knuckle. Luckily it was a brand new blade.

GSPBASSES

 

Let us presume the planer is set up right. The side of the wood that is against the back fence must be flat, if it it’s not you have no chance of getting the jointer to work properly. As already been mentioned use as little downward pressure as possible. I use the left hand to push the block of wood against the back fence with just my thumb on top of the block of wood to apply a small amount of pressure, the right hand holds the block of wood at the top corner as you push across the planer, a small amount of pressure is applied downwards.  

If that doesn't help then it's most likely the planer needs setting up again. I'll come back to that tomorrow.

Rabs

Yeah I have been using a massive one at work for like a year now and it did take me a while to get the hang of it.. Even now I still don't always get it right but I am getting more confident with it.

As been mentioned to get rid of a cup you need to just push it through gently a few times with as little downward pressure as you can (cup face down so its more stable)... With the big one at work I often push it half way through and then grab it from the front (without lifting it off the table).. Its just something you get the feel for after a while. Very hard to tell you exactly.. 

TTony

Thanks for posting that Graham @GSPBASSES ;

I think I can conclude that it is definitely user error.  I'm putting way more downwards pressure on the wood - the more my planing is uneven, the more pressure I'm applying to try to get a smooth flat edge.

The top/bottom of the piece are flat - they've been through my thicknesses, and then checked with a straight-edge just to make sure.