Floor Standing Planer Questions?

[jussi]

Picked up a ShopFox 1742 15" planer from a fellow wnet member earlier this year. It sat in the shop till now and am getting it ready for use. Man it seems like they cosmoline every single piece. I've only ever used lunch planers (and actually still have my DW735) so I have a few questions.

1. Do I need to lock the head down every pass or just the final 1 or 2?


2. Is it necessary to get rid of all the cosmoline? I got most of it out but I would have to take alot of the machine apart to get it all.

3. It seems like many parts need to be lubricated, namely, columns and lead screws, worm gear, chain, gear box, drive chain, feed rollers. But, except for the gear box, doesn't really say what type of oil / lubricant to use? Any suggestions? Link to manual. Go to page 21 if it doesn't take you there.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/485867/...=36#manual


4. How do you determine the depth of cut? Do you strictly use the gauge? In the DW735 it had a spring loaded bar that would move a scale to tell you how much (between 1/32 and 1/8) of a cut it would take. Maybe it's just something I have to get used to with the new machine.


5. I was having problems initially on this practice stock, in large part because it had a 1/8" taper. I never used a planer with rollers on the bottom before and I guess I was miscalculating how much I was taking off because the infeed roller would drive the stock in the gap between the first roller and the table. See pic below. Which was a little puzzling, because even if that was the case, I would think the stock would still go through. But put more strain on the motor and knives. Do I need to adjust the bottom roller height?

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6. In the instructions they want you to make this gauge block t check the table parallelness. It seems a little over complicated for a gauge. Anyone have a simpler jig or method? Page 27

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/485867/...=42#manual

[JGrout]

you do not have to lock the head down each pass. I take one to one and one half turns on the handle for rough work starting out. I reduce it accordingly as I get closer. the lock is fully set for final passes

that said, you do however need to at least snug it a bit or it will roll and potentially cause snipe in the ends.


You do need to remove all the cosmoline it is after all just a dust collector and dust and cosmoline turn into a gooey abrasive mess if not removed . Not good for a precision machine.
I would use Dave's dirty dozen as my guide to removal effectively Time spent doing the job now is money and time saved down the road.


The lube processes are a one time per yr thing or as needed. ( the bed requires more effort than the rest of the machine)

I have never lubed my elevation screws or columns nor will I they work better dry or at the most a light coating of wax on the columns for rust control.

the gearbox is a sealed unit do the lube change once at the recommended interval and forget it for well ever again. or until you have reason to be in the box which IME has been never after I swapped out my planer head. I maintain several units of similar size and the only ones I ever had opened up after the break in time is reached were the ones I put new spiral heads in



The gauge block is not all that complicated and yes they do need to be built as shown if you intend to actually make the adjustments to reduce/ remove snipe issues and feed issues. It is not hard to make and you really only need one.

[AdamR]

I recommend you take a little time to review the FWW 107 article by Robert Vaughan titled "Getting Peak Planer Performance" It contains everything you need for really dialing it in.

[jussi]

Thanks joe. I actually did clean parts like the top, in and out feed rollers, etc. but there are small areas like in between the table rollers and table which look impossible to get to without a major tear down. Do you bother getting to every nook and cranny? I also use mineral spirits to clean the cosmoline and followed with boesdhield and wax.

In regards to the jig, is the 2" thickness necessary or even highly preferred over 1.5"?

[jussi]

If it's on their site I'll check it out. I think I read an article or saw a video of his on jointer setup many years when I was looking for info on setting that machine up.