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27th October 2013, 11:58 AM #1Senior Member
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How long can you safely run a thicknesser?
Hey everyone,
I have a brand new Jet 12" Thicknesser, attached to a Dust Extractor.
I need to run 50 sqm of Jarrah decking through it, it is currently 33mm thick, with reeding on both sides. I am going to run it through on one side only, to remove the reeding, roughly 4 or 5 mm.
I have had a practice run with one bit, it looks like two or three passes and the thicknesser deals with it pretty easily.
As a very inexperienced thicknesser user, I am looking for some guidance.
I am thinking, for both the machine and my neighbours sanity, I will run it through over a few weekends.
How long can I safely run the Jet thicknesser? Should I run it for 10-20 minutes, then give it a break for 30, or can it safely run for an hour?
Any help here would be appreciated....
The exact model is here:
Jet Benchtop 12" Thicknesser : CARBA-TEC
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27th October 2013, 12:35 PM #2New Member
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- Dec 2011
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- New Zealand
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It should run non stop just fine.
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27th October 2013, 03:53 PM #3.
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- Perth
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Non-stop up until the blades get blunt which if you hit something awful or put a dirty or gritty piece of wood thru can be way sooner than you'd like.
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27th October 2013, 04:58 PM #4
I'd agree with BobL. Your blades will pack up before the thicknesser.
LGS
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27th October 2013, 06:38 PM #5Senior Member
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- Dec 2005
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- Western Australia
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Cheers!
It is pretty much inevitable that I will hit a nail sooner or later.... I am slowly but surely de-nailing the decking, but the previous owners used a brad gun to put it down, so they arent coming out easy, and there is a heap of them in each piece.... Even so, some one them just dont wanna come out! the best I can do is drive them below the surface....
There is some sand and grit, some worse than others, but I am planning to sweep down each piece before putting it through.
I am hoping by really taking my time, I can minimise any damage to the blades.... In the end, I am happy to sacrifice the blades to get the decking smooth, as long as I dont sacrifice the machine!
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27th October 2013, 06:54 PM #6
I'd encourage you to do the 4-5mm in 3-4 passes to help save the blades edges.....
Also the web-link suggests a magnetic stop switch on one of the models which would help with missed nails....
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27th October 2013, 07:19 PM #7GOLD MEMBER
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- Oct 2004
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Have you thought of running the planks through a table saw, or band saw first? Then with the timber almost to size, you plane to the required dimension in a single or maybe two passes.
Recently I helped someone remove 6mm from some 150mm wide Jarrah planks, trust me when I say it is hard stuff on the machine, we were using the Carba-Tech unit, which is more or less like yours.
Even with two passes on a table saw (top and bottom) to cover say 90mm to 110mm planks, I would think it would be firstly quicker, secondly easier on the machinery and your ears, not to mention the rest of the household and the neighbours ears.
Mick.
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27th October 2013, 08:59 PM #8
Two tricks to prolong blade life.
Since you are machining recycled wood, buy a decent metal detector and pass it over each piece of wood before machining, the set anything that triggers an alarm aside for further attention. Expensive, but cheaper than the new machine and probably on par with one or two new set of blades.
Don't feed your boards perpendicular to the cutter head, send them through the unit on an angle so that the blade wear is fairly evenly distributed across the width of the blade. Obviously the angle can't be that great that the board collides with the frame during the pass, but wants to be large enough to use most of the blade width.I used to be an engineer, I'm not an engineer any more, but on the really good days I can remember when I was.
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27th October 2013, 09:51 PM #9Senior Member
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27th October 2013, 09:55 PM #10Senior Member
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- Dec 2005
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- Western Australia
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28th October 2013, 08:00 AM #11
I agree with finding and doing the metallic contaminated boards last.
Also use a wire brush with the grain to remove grit.
Docking the ends is also worthwhile especially if the boards have been stacked vertically in the dirt.
When you do come to the ones with nails still in them feed them thru one side so the damage to the blades is localised. The damage is actually raised so is easy to plane off by hand with a #4 or block plane.
H.Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)
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28th October 2013, 02:01 PM #12
Great Advice from everyone.
I have a bench top thicky ad have had it for few years now.
To protect the unit from day one, I only pass my wood through on the smallest setting.
This means lots and lots of passes.
Not friendly to the neighbours, but good for the thicky.
Take the most minimal cut you can.Let the tool work gently, it will go forever.
Paul.I FISH THEREFORE I AM.
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28th October 2013, 10:21 PM #13Taking a break
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That seems counter-productive to my mind. If you're doing 10 passes on a piece when you could do it in 4 you're effectively making it do 2.5 times the work and wearing the knives 2.5 times as much for the same result. Not to mention taking 2.5 times as long.
While I certainly don't recommend abusing your tools/machines, they are built to handle a certain load and wrapping them in cotton wool, I think, is false economy.
Happy to have my logic challenged.
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29th October 2013, 02:04 AM #14
alternatively put each board through at 90° to the cutter head, but stagger each successive board across the cutter head
put the first board on the left hand side of the cutter head
the second board about 35mm from the left hand edge
the third board about 70mm from the left
etc till you reach the right hand side of the cutter head
then start again on the left hand side of the cutter headregards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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29th October 2013, 04:02 PM #15
Some great comments from all.
I only made my comment from my own personal experience.
No offence meant to any one.
Paul.
Win 8 does not work well with this site.I FISH THEREFORE I AM.