Are those blades tight?

I recently replace my blades on my el cheapo electric planer with some new system that some salesperson ... cant recall what they are called. anyway the instructions said clearly (No code violation I only glanced at them) DANGER TIGHTEN BLADES BEFORE USE! This i did, I even loosend them of again to check their alignment. Started it up sounds good, place it on the very well seasoned Blackbutt slab and BLAM the whole thing disintergrated in my hand in one nanosecond with the sound of a small bomb exploding. Even the metal baseplate shattered leaving bits of metal all over the shed. It gave me a hell of a shock but for some reason before I went to work I had doned a full face mask, earmuffs, leather welder gloves and my work boots and jeans. I must admit I dont always but after that and after reading some of these other treads I'm more aware of my own safety now.

You'd end up with more than a bleeding thumb if you hadn't put on that safety gear. Lucky!!!!
And when are these guys going to realise that there are no workshops or tools upstairs? (And they use the wood in the furnace in the other place)
Long live this thread, but boy is it sobering to read it each week!

Carry Pine

Holy Moly!

That sounds like it could have been rather nasty! You signature line reads "If it's worth doing.. It's worth overdoing" Well, that was definitely overdoing it :D Any ideas what caused the machine to perform a self-disassembly like that? Or had the machine just passed it's warrant period :D

Hi Steve B,
Now it wasn't a case of expired warrantee ..time to blow up.:D
I recon that as soon as the blade (The one that I failed to retighten) hit the timber it would gone off alignment. I'm not sure at what revs this thing ran at - you can imagine it being bloody fast. Anyway there is very little space between the caseing and these blades so once the blade hits... you can almost picture it in slow motion. Bet you can imagine the look that was on my face too.:eek:

Bleeding
Had you tightened the blades?? Your second post sounds like you believe you didn't :confused: :confused:

If you did everything OK, I would be holding the blade manufacturer or retailer as possibly responsible. This is not supposed to happen. Retailers shouldn't give advice if they're not qualified to.

No Mark I originally tighten them then I "double checked" them by loosening them to make sure the alignment was good and failed to retighten one side ( I guess anyway ) to prove the check twice rule doesn't nessesarily work all the time.

I pray this never happens to me... sounds like you are one lucky black duck!!!

Pete