What's wrong with my thicknesser? Rollers too lower than the blades = jams.

[I_wanna_Shed]

Hi everyone,

I have the Ryobi thicknesser, which is the same as the GMC, I think the Carbatec, H&F etc...

It has been going fine, but the last time I used it I came across a problem. The timber would not be pulled through by the rollers - I had to push it through manually.

Then, when the cut depth is around 20mm (I guess when there is alot pf pressure between the rollers, timber, and the bed), the timber just gets stuck - the rollers are unable to push it, and some force is needed to manually push the timber through.

I finally got time to look into this tonight, and with a straight edge from front roller to rear roller, both blades are 1.5 mm higher than the roller.

While I had the covers off, I got some 11mm Jarrah and put it on the bed. Lowered the cutterhead, and by the time the blade just contacts the timber, the rollers are pushing down so hard on the timber that it is not able to push it through. This seems to be the problem.

In the attached pic, the only way to possibly raise the rollers is to place a shim where the yellow line is, on each end of each roller. This may get around the problem, but it won't tell me what the problem is. (I've dropped the infeed roller by unscrewing the bracket to see how it holds together, before anyone says 'there's ya problem!').

Any advice?

Many thanks,
Nathan.

[I_wanna_Shed]

I just had a thought, I'll check how firmly the blades are fitted (they may have slipped "up").

But I'm certain that on this model they sit pretty flush with the back of the blade recess - not leaving any room for them to slip up/back.

And would this have happened on both blades? They are both out by the same amount. I bought a bucket load of spare blades when I saw GMC blades being run out at Bunnings for $8 a pair, maybe I'll put another set in. Doubt it will fix it though.

THIS REALLY HAS ME STUMPED!!!!!

Nathan.

[Harry72]

At the end of the shafts is that an allen key hole, if so they would be a cam set up rotate them to adjust the set height. Probably find you can set the preload on the push down springs to.

[nine fingers]

Nathan, Have you machined any pine lately, could be resin on the table, clean and apply some Silver Glide , or a rub over with candle wax. NF.

[Wood en I]

The rollers are supposed to be slightly lower than the blades so there is pressure on the timber so when you wind your blades down for your planer blades it will hold your timber and move it out in one direction only.

Big word of caution if your machine is the early Ryobi without the anti kick back pawls do not feed timber into the machine.

I think you may find that you do not have any drive to your rollers because the chain drive sprocket is stripped. I had the same trouble some years back Ryobi changed the drive sprocket to save costs and turned a reasonable machine into something that could be quite dangerous. The problem is no anti kick back fingers no drive with free wheeling rollers a 3-1/4 HP motor spining a high speed cutting blades only need to hit a knot or grab, now you have a machine that can throw a piece of timber a huge distance or worse you could be impaled by the timber you are trying to plane.

Warren,

[Wood en I]

Nathan

I forgot while you have your machine down check your 4 springs that push down your rollers my machine had 4 differant springs fitted, They should all be the same type and lenth. When refitting "Do not" oil or grease the sliding bearings as they will lock up after some time from the sawdust lubricate only the roller shaft.

Regards Warren.

[I_wanna_Shed]

At the end of the shafts is that an allen key hole, if so they would be a cam set up rotate them to adjust the set height. Probably find you can set the preload on the push down springs to.

I checked tonight and although it looks like it an Allen, the holes are actually round, so no adjustment there.

Nathan, Have you machined any pine lately, could be resin on the table, clean and apply some Silver Glide , or a rub over with candle wax. NF.

The rollers are supposed to be slightly lower than the blades so there is pressure on the timber so when you wind your blades down for your planer blades it will hold your timber and move it out in one direction only.

Big word of caution if your machine is the early Ryobi without the anti kick back pawls do not feed timber into the machine.

I think you may find that you do not have any drive to your rollers because the chain drive sprocket is stripped. I had the same trouble some years back Ryobi changed the drive sprocket to save costs and turned a reasonable machine into something that could be quite dangerous. The problem is no anti kick back fingers no drive with free wheeling rollers a 3-1/4 HP motor spining a high speed cutting blades only need to hit a knot or grab, now you have a machine that can throw a piece of timber a huge distance or worse you could be impaled by the timber you are trying to plane.

Warren,

Haven't had pine through it for a while, the bed is relatively low friction. The problem is that by the time the cutterhead has been lowered enough for the blades to contact the timber, the rollers are pushing that hard onto the timber that I can't budge the timber, pushing the timber would result in the machine toppling over.

I checked the chain drive for the rollers today. They are rotating fine. Its also got the anti-snipe fingers.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

[I_wanna_Shed]

I wonder if anyone with one of these models is able to measure the height difference between the blades and the rollers?

I'd really appreciate it.

I placed the edge of a steel rule from roller to roller, and used feeler gauge to get the gap between the rule edge and the blade. No need for anyone to use a feeler gauge though, just a decent measurement will do.

Many thanks,
Nathan.

[planemaker]

Nathan. I have a similar machine. When I 1st used it I felt that the machine rollers were having to compress the timber too much before engaging the cutters. I checked the blade settings with the supplied blade depth setting unit and they were spot on. I decided to lower the blades further down to see if the machine performance improved. On the the blade depth setter there is a notch on each end located close to the normal contact points used. Its about 1mm deeper. Thats the new point I used to adjust the blade depth. It still left the blades slightly higher than the drive rollers. The changes made a heck of a difference to the performance of the machine. It sounded much quieter when under load. The cutters did their job extremely well. And the rollers fed the timber out with much more ease.

Now I would not suggest you look at this option without doing a proper inspection of your machine. I had the benefit of making these changes on a machine that was brand new.

You need to check that drive rollers are operating smoothly. The drive sprockets are not worn and fowling the drive chains when under load. Also run a straight edge across the infeed and outfeed tables to make sure they are inline with the machine bed. Then raise the infeed table about 1 - 2mm above this line. This will help with reducing snipe on each end of the timber. Clean the surface down on the 2 tables including the machine bed with turps or simliar to remove any wood sap will hinder the outfeed.

Always wax these surfaces down after finishing use with the thicknessser. Also make sure you have read the owners manual on trouble shooting recommendations. And lastly always work safely. Never stand in front of the outfeed table when thicknessing timber. Always to the side of the machine.

Hope this helps you out.

Stewie.

[Wood en I]

Unless you set your blades to the wrong height, but this is easy to check drop your blade setting height gauge onto your planner blades. I very much doubt that they have moved unless the locking bolts are loose.

I still think it is your top drive sprocket. Here is a simple little test leave the sprocket side cover off the machine so you can see the drive chains now fire up the planner and feed a peice of timber into the machine lower the rollers onto timber till it starts cutting then see if the chains are still turning, I suspect not. dont forget to wear safety glasses.

Regards Warren.

[derekcohen]

Do as Nine Fingers suggests -wax the table andtry it again.

I had the same problem on my Delta and this is what worked for me.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[I_wanna_Shed]

Hi everyone,

I had only 10 minutes to spend in the shed this morning so I tried the suggestions above.

Firstly, I waxed the bed with Silver Glide. I'm embarrassed to say I never thought of this, I almost religiously do this on my Jet jointer.

I passed some cranky Jarrah through the thicknesser, about 10mm thickness - the thickness where it would fail.

And what do you know? The thing is back to like new!

Thanks to those that suggested this very basic fix!!!

Lesson learned.......

Cheers, and thanks again.
Nathan.

[Bushmiller]

Nathan

I am a big fan of silber gleit, but only put it on to bare steel surfaces. On my Timbecon thicknesser it lifted the painted surface of the infeed/outfeed tables, made them rough and ultimately was a hindrance. Good on the primary table.

Regards
Paul

[planemaker]

Glad we could help out Nathan.

Stewie.

[REALOldNick]

HAH! I was reading this OOI, after just having posted about my own planer/thicknesser on another subject.

When I first tried my thicknesser I had exactly the same trouble as this. I read all the replies and saw how much effort had gone into trying to suss it out, and was dying to post about simply using wax (that was what I did: I saw how rough the table was with resin and rust)........and just as I was going to post, there it was. I feel deprived.