3.Remove the belt guard. Carefully turn the cutterhead (using the pulley) until the first knife is top dead center.
4.Using the knife setting gauge, check the knife height. The jig should sit solidly with both feet on the cutterhead. See Figure 16. If the knife is adjusted properly, the contact point at the center of each adjuster should just touch the tip of the knife. If the knife does not make contact, or if the knife caus- es the adjuster’s legs to not seat on the cut- terhead, the knives need to be adjusted. It may be helpful to mark the side of the knife with an ink marker to indicate whether it is high or low. This will make the actual adjust- ment process easier.
Figure 16. Proper knife setting jig placement.
Once you have completed inspection on all three knives, you will able to determine whether or not there is a need to adjust the knives in the cutter- head. Proceed to the appropriate section following depending upon whether you are using the jack screws or the springs.
Knife Sharpening
Knife sharpness is one of the most important factors in getting good results with the planer. Knives can be made to last a long time if care is taken in checking the condition of the wood which is put into the machine. The biggest problem will come from wood with nails or other metal embedded. This will nick or chip the knives and can require a complete regrinding. Another wear factor is sand, grit, or other dirt on the surface of the wood which the knives have to cut through. At the speed the cutterhead is rotating, these types of surface contamination can have a very abrasive effect.
This planer has knives with a grind angle of 35˚ which is a configuration which should suit most general planing needs. The optimal grind or bevel angle is a compromise between effective cutting (the smaller the angle the better the cutting action) and edge life where the larger the angle the more the edge is supported, thus the longer it will last.
For the best results it is best to have planer knives sharpened by a professional sharpening service which has the grinding and measurement equipment to assure that the knife cutting geometry is maintained at optimum levels. It is a procedure which requires some care and precision, other- wise, a set of blades can be easily ruined. Knives should always be ground as a set so they can be properly matched. Unequal material removal can result in an unbalanced cutterhead which can affect not only planing surface quality but ultimately the life of the cutterhead bearings.
Please refer to Section 6 Adjustments - Knife Setting for complete detail on the removal and reinstallation of planer knives.
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