Trouble fitting a Veritas replacement iron in an old Stanley

[overland]

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. I bought a Veritas PM-V11 replacement iron and chipbreaker for my old  No. 3 Stanley smoother (Type 10, Bailey design). Here's the issue. When I set the chipbreaker close to the cutting edge, the blade won't extend far enough because the head of the bolt that holds the chipbreaker to the iron hits the front edge of the recess for it in the frog. I don't know why this is, although the head of this bolt is a little bigger diameter than the original. I'm not sure what to do. (The other issue was that the mouth of the plane was a little too narrow, but that was easy to fix with a file.)

[Derek Cohen]

Check whether the position of the adjuster hole in the chipbreakers line up. I expect that they do not. Use the Stanley chipbreaker.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[JimBelair]

I've no experience but have heard of this issue before.  Question is if LV is selling these as replacements for the Stanley iron/ cap iron combo why on earth would they make them so they didn't fit?  i.e., what were they thinking?  


Or what am I/ we missing?

[overland]

If I back off the chipbreaker a little, it works. But not if I set the chipbreaker close. The only thing I can see is that the screw that holds the chipbreaker to the iron has a larger head than on the Stanley, and so it reaches the edge of the recess in the frog a little sooner and prevents the iron from extending. If I could grind down the head of the screw just a little, so it's a little smaller in diameter, it might work. It's odd that that this one little difference should matter so much.

[iclark]

Naive question: Would the screw from the original Stanley chipbreaker fit the Veritas chipbreaker?

[overland]

Good suggestion, but no, it doesn't.

[Derek Cohen]

I experienced this once, also with a #3. I replaced the original chipbreaker, and that did not work as well.

Then it occurred to me that the "original" chipbreaker may not be the original chipbreaker! Comparing a couple, I found that the adjustment slots differed slightly. I found one which enabled the chipbreaker to close up tighter than the others. Now it works perfectly.

The screw on the Veritas chipbreaker is the same diameter as the Stanley, but it is a little deeper, which would limit some travel if the floor of the frog receiver is not flat. Try swapping over screws as well.

Question is if LV is selling these as replacements for the Stanley iron/ cap iron combo why on earth would they make them so they didn't fit?

Answer: not all Stanley planes are exactly the same dimensions. Castings not only were made from fresh molds, but finishing would have also added a little.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Admiral]

I've no experience but have heard of this issue before.  Question is if LV is selling these as replacements for the Stanley iron/ cap iron combo why on earth would they make them so they didn't fit?  i.e., what were they thinking?  


Or what am I/ we missing?

To be fair, there are a lot of small variations in the overall design of Stanley planes over the years, and in addition variations in the individual manufacture of a given plane. On older types, this was a T10 I think, most iron retrofits may require some fettling of either the plane or the iron and the chipbreaker. I think LV mentions some in the write up.

[doobes]

I did the same with a t11 #4 1/2 and ran into the same issue due to the thickness difference from the original blade/chip breaker. To resolve the problem, I opened up the mouth a bit with a file.

Heresy, I know, but this blade/chip breaker combination will never leave the plane as it's an awesome combination!

Merry Christmas!

[overland]

The screw on this Stanley is thicker than the LV screw--though as I say the head is smaller. Another old type 10 I have (a #4) has a screw of the same thickness but different pitch. It's clear there's a lot of variation.