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Newman 8-B planer questions

Started by bond-lumber, December 01, 2010, 12:46:46 AM

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bond-lumber

I am new to running a Newman 8-B 4 headed planer run on flat belts (I am running this with my 88 year old neighbor - he and his late brother ran it for years but now he is getting too tired to do it all!).  I wonder if anyone has a supplier for new cutters - profiles T&G for 4/4 material, 105 siding, etc???  We have some decent heads but would like the new knives!  Also wonder about any tips for setting the top and bottom cutter heads (thickness) - 4 knives on each head.  I have a powermatic 180 planer in my shop and have used some nice magnetic setting 'helpers' but the diameter of these cutters is too great for use of those!  Thanks a bunch!!
Mobile Dimension, Newman 8b, Logosol 260

inwoodcutter

Is the machine a square head or round head? You can make a gage for the knives out of wood and even add in a dial indicator for extra accuracy. As far as knives look up Woodworkers Tool Works. They should be able to help you out.

Dan
Dan Warner
"there's money in that slab"

whiskers

Welcome,
You may find your knives and such at   http://www.newmanwhitney.com/

A while back I inquired about some cast gears for a Newman 248 surfacer which they had in new old stock. They may still have them as the price was way more than the cost of repairing the broken teeth which my FIL rebuilt.
Some pictures would be nice and we'd love to hear more about your partner.
many irons in the fire.........

bond-lumber

I will work on getting some photos of the machine.  It has round cutters - not a square head!  The challenge as well for setting the side cutters is that a set screw is used and since this machine has been run for the past 40+ years there have been many 'set screw settings' and the flat milled side of the spindle (arbor) is quite rough and it is difficult to get a good seating on the heads.  That is when we are matching for T&G or ship lap, car decking, etc.  We surface mostly doug fir and some hemlock and western red cedar... no hardwoods to speak of.  Thanks again for the input, I will check into the suggestions and will work on the photos.  PS it was repowered 15 years ago with a 671 det. diesel from an old compressor trailer (no lack of power!!!)
Mobile Dimension, Newman 8b, Logosol 260

venice

Edit:

http://owwm.org/ might be also a good place for your question.

The guys over there are helpful and knowlegdable as well.

All the best.


*Tom, i realize that i need some english lessons that cover the finer points of the language. My apologies if i caused irritation. It was meant to be an honest compliment to all forestryforum.com members. Just bad english. My apologies again.

Tom

Maybe you could go over there and tell them that someone on https://forestryforum.com/ could sure use their expertise.  That way we might get some good members and they would find that there are some people with knowledge here too.   :)

inwoodcutter

Some of us are contributors over on owwm and other forums as well.

Regarding the knives, you can set each knife to the head with a wooden gauge similar to the factory ones. This video is for a small hobby machine but the principles are the same. I use a similar technique when I initially set knives on planers from 12" up through my 30" Whitney.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-986589700074242027&hl=en#

Another thing about straight knives and not the profiles* is you can "joint" the heads. This is running stone across them while the cutter is at speed. What this does is put all the knives in the same cutting circle. This cannot be accomplished by setting or grinding the knives on the head. The physics of cutterheads just don't allow it. Not jointing won't hurt a machine but if you run high production it does make a big difference. This is something that you don't do on a whim. Get someone that has done it before and really understands what is going on. It can be dangerous to say the least.

You can get knives from any of the industial tooling guys. Most will make knives for any profile you want. Woodworkers Tool Works, Wisconsin Knife Works, there are alot out there. Check the IWF directory for more companies.

Dan

* you can actually joint profile heads too. But thats more involved.
Dan Warner
"there's money in that slab"

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