02 - Planer Operation

Plane only solid, natural wood. Do not plane composites like MDF, particle board, or plywood. The glue in these materials is very hard on the knives.

Plane only dry wood. Wet materials will not plane well, and will wear out the blades quickly.

Wood must be clean. All dirt and grit must be thoroughly removed before planing with a stiff brush or by sanding, exposing clean surfaces. Any wood that has been in contact with the ground must be thoroughly inspected and cleaned.

No excess glue. Remove as much glue as possible from a glue-up with a scraper before planing.

Check that your material is flat enough to run through the machine.

Your workpiece must be able to pass through the machine without wobbling or rocking. Otherwise the rollers will not securely control it, and it may kick back

A slightly cupped board that does not rock when placed concave (cupped) side down can be planed.

If your material is twisted or too warped to pass through the planer, you may be able to flatten one side on the jointer, and then plane the other side.

It may be possible to plane a twisted or warped board using a planer sled and shims, but this is an advanced operation, and is not covered here.

Check that there are no nails, screws, staples or other foreign objects in your workpiece.

New wood from a big-box store often has staples in the ends. These need to be removed prior to planing.

Reclaimed wood should be checked very carefully for metal.

A hand-held metal detector is located near the planer for this purpose. USE IT.

Make sure the vacuum hose is properly attached

Check for kins and sawdust clogs in the hose.

This machine MUST be run with dust collection. Running it without will cause chips to accumulate in the head, potentially causing damage to the machine.

Open the blast gate, and close any others on the same vacuum system.

Turn on the dust collector

Turn the adjusting wheel counter clockwise to lower the bed and produce a thicker piece.

Turn the adjusting wheel clockwise to raise the bed and produce a thinner piece.

Crank the table up or down so that the opening is just a bit larger than your material thickness.

Place the leading edge of the material into the machine, with about 4-5" under the cutter head.

This will position the material under the infeed roller, but not under the cutters.

The machine should be off during this step.

Turn the crank clockwise until the board is gripped between the table and the infeed roller.

Turn the crank counter-clockwise about one full turn to release the board.

With the board out of the machine, turn the crank back to where it was.

Turn the machine on by pressing the "ON" button.

Wait for the machine to come up to speed before continuing.

Ensure that the feed speed control lever is pulled out.

Only shift the feed control lever when the machine is running, and never while material is passing through.

Our machine's high speed setting is not functional.

Slowly turn the table height crank clockwise until the board begins to move into the machine.

Keep your hands clear, and let the board pass through the machine.

Your first pass may not engage the knives in the material

Continue passing your workpiece through the machine until you reach your desired thickness.

Turn the crank 1/8 to 1/4 turn clockwise between passes to raise the table.

Hard woods require shallower passes than soft woods, and a wider board requires shallower passes than a narrower board.

Let the sound of the knives on the material guide you. If the sound of the knives is too aggressive, or if the machine is bogging down, take shallower passes.

Shallow passes produce a better result, and produce less wear on the cutting knives.

When your board’s width allows, pass it under a different part of the head each time. This will wear the blades more evenly, reducing the need for sharpening.

Turn off the machine by pressing the "OFF" button.

The motor can take some time to spin-down after your press the off button. Be sure the machine has fully stopped before working inside the machine

Turn off the dust collecto and close the blast gate.

Friends don't let friends leave blast gates open.

Clean up after yourself, sweeping up any saw dust remnants and leaving the machine better than you found it.

If the dust collection bag needs emptying after your planing project empty it!