OPERATIONS
-20-
3. Support the ends of the wood and turn the
planer on.
4. Keeping your hands clear of the cutterhead,
slowly and evenly push the wood into the
planer until the planer feed roller draws the
wood in, and then remove your hands from
the area. DO NOT force the wood into the
planer as you will dull the knives and
overload the motor.
5. When the planing is complete, repeat all
steps for additional wood.
6. When you are done with the planer, turn
the machine off and remove the safety
lockout key.
Figure 31. Notice that operator is feeding
workpiece from the infeed side and has his
body positioned to the side of the travel path.
Figure 32. DO NOT stand in the path of the
planer outfeed because you can be hit with
the workpiece.
PLANER SETUP:
DO NOT plane wood that is shorter than six
inches.
1. Use roller stands or roller tables to support
and maintain alignment of long sections of
wood while it enters and exits the planer,
and make sure your work area is clear.
2. Position the wood on the infeed side of the
planer extension table so the cutterhead
will cut WITH the grain. Look at the grain
pattern on the side of the board. If the arc
of the cutterhead knife will follow the same
lines in the grain pattern, you will be
cutting WITH the grain. If the arc of the
cutterhead knife will cross the grain pattern
lines, then you will be cutting AGAINST the
grain. DO NOT cut against the grain and,
DO NOT feed end cut or end-grained wood
in to the planer.
3. Unlock the head lock lever.
4. Measure the wood and turn the height
handwheel to make a very light first cut
about 1/32" or less, so if there is any bulges
in the wood the cutterhead will not jam and
stall. Subsequent cuts can be made at a
deeper setting depending on the width of
the wood, but plan on taking multiple cuts
before you can achieve a completely flat
surface.
5. Lock the head lock lever to save your
cutterhead depth adjustment. For multiple
surfacing, set and lock the depth stop also
to maintain a particular cutterhead
adjustment. The depth stop is a quick way
to set the lowest height setting for planing
many boards, but allows you to quickly
return the cutterhead to the depth stop
setting after having to adjust the
cutterhead to a higher setting to
compensate for varying heights of wood.
PLANING WOOD:
1. Put your safety glasses, dust mask, and
hearing protection on.
2. Position yourself out of the way of the path
of the wood as shown in Figure 31.