Trouble with Woodmaster planer (or is it just me?)

[Larry Browning]

I have an old Woodmaster Planer/Moulder model 910 circa: 1978 that belonged to my father. This thing is built like a tank. However I have not been able to plane to a consistant thickness. There is very little snipe at the ends, but the thickness varies quite a bit along the length of the board. It is off as much as .1 in places and one side is thicker that the other across the face at times. I have not been able to find a pattern to this variance. This is quite visable when sighting down the edge of the board.
Here is what I have done in an attempt to correct the problem. I checked that the knives were parallel to the table, they are. There are four springs that apply down pressure to the feed rollers. I have tightened the tension on these thinking that this would hold the board tighter to the table and it seems to have helped, but the problem still exists. I have run only board since I tighted the springs so maybe I just got lucky with that one board. Can you think of anything else I can do to the machine to help with this?
I was thinking that maybe it was my technique. I try to take fairly light passes. As I start the board I hold a little up pressure until I know that the rear feed roller has caught the leading edge of my board. I then let go of the board, walk around to the other side of the planer and when the board nears the end, I support it with a little up pressure until the board exits the planer.
I was wondering if I took a heaver cut, that would allow the feed rollers to apply more down pressure and produce a more consistant cut. What do you guys think?

[Dennis Peacock]

I have an old Woodmaster Planer/Moulder model 910 circa: 1978 that belonged to my father. This thing is built like a tank. However I have not been able to plane to a consistant thickness. There is very little snipe at the ends, but the thickness varies quite a bit along the length of the board. It is off as much as .1 in places and one side is thicker that the other across the face at times. I have not been able to find a pattern to this variance. This is quite visable when sighting down the edge of the board.
Here is what I have done in an attempt to correct the problem. I checked that the knives were parallel to the table, they are. There are four springs that apply down pressure to the feed rollers. I have tightened the tension on these thinking that this would hold the board tighter to the table and it seems to have helped, but the problem still exists. I have run only board since I tighted the springs so maybe I just got lucky with that one board. Can you think of anything else I can do to the machine to help with this?
I was thinking that maybe it was my technique. I try to take fairly light passes. As I start the board I hold a little up pressure until I know that the rear feed roller has caught the leading edge of my board. I then let go of the board, walk around to the other side of the planer and when the board nears the end, I support it with a little up pressure until the board exits the planer.
I was wondering if I took a heaver cut, that would allow the feed rollers to apply more down pressure and produce a more consistant cut. What do you guys think?

Hello Larry,

Get a fresh board.....and try it again with a little heavier cut and see what results you get. Don't worry about the snipe at either end until you can get parallel sides that are smooth and straight after planing. You technique is just fine. Once the rollers have it, it is all the planer at that point.

[Larry Browning]

Hello Larry,

Get a fresh board.....and try it again with a little heavier cut and see what results you get. Don't worry about the snipe at either end until you can get parallel sides that are smooth and straight after planing. You technique is just fine. Once the rollers have it, it is all the planer at that point.

Do you think it could be the tension on those springs? It seems to me that the tension should be about the same at each corner.

[Rick Haigh]

Do you think it could be the tension on those springs? It seems to me that the tension should be about the same at each corner.

Larry,
Have you tried to contact Woodmaster? I have found them to be very helpful.

Phone: 800-821-6651
www.woodmastertools.com

Rick

[JayStPeter]

Is the other side of the board jointed?

Otherwise it sounds like the cutterhead would be moving. Is there a mechanism in there that keeps the cutterhead from hanging up if you take too big of a cut?

Just kinda thinking aloud.

Jay

[Larry Browning]

Is the other side of the board jointed?

Otherwise it sounds like the cutterhead would be moving. Is there a mechanism in there that keeps the cutterhead from hanging up if you take too big of a cut?

Just kinda thinking aloud.

Jay

There is absolutely no way the cutter head is moving! It is bolted down to the frame of the planer with 4 huge bolts on either side.

Last night I checked everything again and I found that the table was not quite parallel to the knives. I made that adjustment and I actually loosened the tension on 2 corner of the feed rollers trying to get the tension even at all 4 corners of the feed rollers. This helped quite a bit, but I am still not quite satisfied with the results. There is still as much as .02 difference in in thickness especially side to side. Maybe I need to revisit the table being parallel to the knives.
By the way, what is an acceptable thickness tolerance for a freshly planed board?

PS: Actually this is a model 610 not 910 as I previously said. I found the invoice for it while looking for the manual. Dad paid $1116.00 for it back in 1982.

Larry

[Mike Gregory]

Larry, dumb question, but is the bottom of your board (table side) flat? If it is warped, you won't get consistant thicknesses on the top (cutter) side.

Mike