Many months ago I posted here regarding a rust problem that was preventing me from lowering the cutter head to the lowest level. Since I live here in Florida, I suspected the rust I could see on the vertical posts was the problem. At the time, I managed to work around the problem with the use of a "sled." Today, with nothing better to do, and having to plane some thin stock again, I decided to find out what the problem is. The posts the carriage slides on were very rusted. I removed them and wire brushed the rust off as best I could and applied a couple of coats of auto wax. Upon reassembly I discovered the carriage still wouldn't lower as much as I wanted. That is when I discovered the real problem was me. In the base of the machine is a little wheel thingy that can be set to limit the carriage travel to a minimum of 0", 1/4", 1/2"or 3/4". It was set at the latter thickness. Moral is "Read the Instructions."
Russ