DIY planer repair

In detail: do-it-yourself planer repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Thicknesser machines for wood are a type of planer and jointer, and are designed for precise manufacturing of boards with a certain cross-section. Unlike planing woodworking equipment, such units are equipped with clamping and feeding devices, and can also process several workpieces at the same time. The versatility of modern thicknessing machines increases if the tool kit includes not only flat, but also curly knives.

Homemade thickness planer

The design of the units under consideration can be quite varied. Machine tools are classified according to the following criteria:

  1. By drive type. Self-made mini-devices can also have a manual drive, but in most cases they still use an electric drive. At the same time, household models are equipped with a 220 V motor, and professional ones - 380 V.
  2. By the type of filing. In the scheme of the machine, there may be one or two pairs of feed rollers, respectively, in the first case, it will be necessary to make the clamping of the workpiece to the table more powerful, vibrations at the time of plunging are also not excluded. Double-sided roller feeds are more advanced and convenient to work with. A number of foreign firms (Makita, DeWalt, etc.) complete their products with automatic feed units, but this option is justified only with significant programs for the production of the same type of product.
  3. According to the number of cutter shafts. This determines how many different profiles the machine can handle at the same time. However, the number of operators will increase accordingly.
  4. By functionality. The device of thicknessing machines allows you to make not only the dimensional processing of a semi-finished product, but also its subsequent calibration. This eliminates the appearance of transverse chips, dents and other defects that may appear on the treated surface in case of non-observance of the jointing technology or with an excessively large feed of the initial material.
  5. By its technological characteristics. In practice, the equipment under consideration is produced with a power range of 1 ... 40 kW, with a shaft rotation frequency of up to 10,000 ... 12,000 min -1, a planing width of up to 1350 mm, a stroke of up to 50 m / min and a thickness of the initial workpiece of 5 ... 160 mm.
Video (click to play).

In addition, some models differ in the way of adjusting the clearances and the design of the bearing assembly of the main drive.

A typical wood thicknessing machine can successfully replace two pieces of equipment: a mechanical drive planer and a planer (transverse - for short products, or longitudinal - for long products).

Homemade thickness planer

The simplest scheme of a thicknesser (with one-sided feed of the source material) includes the following units:

  1. Drive motor.
  2. Transfer. It can be a standard V-belt, toothed belt, with a variator, as well as with replaceable pulleys (the latter option differs in the minimum values ​​of the transmitted power, and therefore is used only in low-power equipment).
  3. Knife shaft. It can have several instruments with different configurations. Spiral knives are considered to be especially successful, as they make minimal noise during their work.
  4. top direction assembly, which, in turn, consists of a pair of rollers - front and rear. The front drum has a grooved surface: in order to improve grip on the tree, and to prevent possible changes in the direction of movement of the processed board. The rear drum is always smooth;
  5. clamping unit, which prevents chip jamming and possible cracking of the material.Structurally, the clamp can be made in the form of claw grips that penetrate into the wood, or it can also be in the form of a massive metal element equipped with spring-loaded teeth;
  6. unit of the lower direction, facilitating the supply of the workpiece to the working space;
  7. a table with devices for adjusting the technological gaps between the rollers of the upper and lower clamps;
  8. the bed, on which all the other elements of the working diagram of the machine are located.

Image - DIY planer repair

The principle of the thicknessing machine

Units with a two-way feed device are distinguished by the fact that they are equipped with an additional cutter shaft extension unit. In this regard, it is much easier to replace the tool for reinstalling it from one standard size to another (or for the purpose of subsequent sharpening).

Thicknesser device

The thicknessing machine works like this. The torque from the electric motor is transmitted through the gears to the knife shaft. The board to be processed is brought into the gap and pressed first against the lower, and then - against the upper pressure rollers. In this case, the workpiece is gripped by a corrugated roll and fed to the tool. Before plunge-in, the semi-finished product is clamped between the upper and lower guiding device, which ensures reliable fixation of the material during processing. The clamping device ensures timely removal of chips from under the rotating tool. At the moment the workpiece comes off the rear guide roller, the next item is set to the front one, after which the process is repeated.

On the market there is a significant number of various models of the equipment under consideration, both from domestic manufacturers (Corvette, Enkor, Krasny Metallist, etc.) and imported. In the latter versions, dubious Chinese brands prevail, which do not differ in reliability in work, and, in addition, often have underestimated, against the passport, parameters. In such cases, as well as if the proposed machines do not fit into the existing dimensions of the area, it makes sense to make a thickness gauge with your own hands.