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[doc henderson]

no trimguy, we are lucky we are good!

[bigblockyeti]

First, I'd use any waterproof bearing grease with plenty of molybdenum disulfide.  If memory serves me correctly, most (all?) of the plain bearings in that planer are not sealed so overgreasing just makes a big mess and doesn't blow out any grease seals.

Second, yes, wax the bed and bed rollers, don't mess with the infeed roller as a little (very little) rust will offer more grip and any staining will be taken care of 3" later.  I would just use a high grit sandpaper to clean the outfeed roller as needed, any sort of lube would be problematic for traction and potential finish adhesion.

Third, I would have the bed rollers barely turn with a straight edge across them with rough dry wood.  Raise a little as needed with cupped, twisted or other problematic boards to keep them feeding correctly.  You will have the least snipe with the rollers at bed height.

[trimguy]

Thanks bigblock.

[bigblockyeti]

No problem.  The bed roller setting is typically higher with rough sawn but that term alone can vary wildly.  For example, cutting hard maple with a brand new blade on my mill, it could be lightly sanded and ready for finish.  An old steel tooth circular mill that hasn't been sharpened in way too long with a couple bent teeth is likely to leave a bit rougher of a rough sawn board.  Start low and elevate until feed is positive and consistent.

[trimguy]

 
I have a new issue.
 
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This pine was 9 to 11 percent when I planned it. It was dried in my shop with fans and dehumidifiers , not a kiln. I didn't notice the issue on the boards that were vertical grain. Any idea what would cause this ??

[Old Greenhorn]

Never seen anything like that Arnold. Spiral head or straight blades? It looks like the blade is catching a sift chip and bringing it back around which is then gouging the board on the next revolution. I might expect this on wet wood, but not dry. Cutters are all sharp? Dull edges will push up mushy wood and load up. Dust/chip collection working good? If the chips are not sucked out quick enough they can get drawn back in and go 'round again, causing issues.
 These are just my guesses. I know you will figure it out.

 BTW, how are you checking the MC? Did you do a quick check after planeing?

[beenthere]

First blush looks like the chips are not being sucked away or are sticking to the roller and being pressed into the wood. One thing to check anyway. 

[YellowHammer]

Those appear to be gouges, definite signs of dull and notched blades.  I also see signs of notching where the cutter has been chipped and is producing high streaks where it has been damaged.

I also see signs of grain tear out.  Sometimes this occurs in over dried wood, lower than 6%, even if it has come back up to 9% or higher.  Was the wood kiln dried at one point?  Machinability drops in over dried softwood, although I think this is more of a cutter problem.  Poor chip extraction can make this gouging worse, especially if the chips get stuck on the cutting edges of slightly dull bladed.

I see signs of cyclical tear out, where a cutter tears a chunk, comes around, tears again, and so on. This is also a sign of dulling and a clear sign that the cutters are all not the same height, set in the cutter head.

It could also be where dull cutters are not properly shearing the wood and so bringing it back around, caused by feeding too fast with dull or improperly ground cutting edges.

The pictures indicates a possible issue with board machinability due to fiber weakness, cutter sharpness, grind angle (such as an appleseed edge), and blades not set in the cutter head at the same height.  The blades are tearing, not shearing.  Either the wood is too weak or the cutters are too dull.  There may be issues with the dust collection system also, but the cutters certainly need to be sharpened and flattened. 

I would also check the chip breaker to make sure it is set to spec.  

[Don P]

Chip marking, The dust collection is non existent (that'd be mine!) or isn't powerful enough to pull the chips off the cutterhead before they go back around and get pounded into the board. If there is dust collection take a lighter bite on the last pass/ slow down the feed. help it keep up. Dull knives make it worse. 

Looks like this class has passed and grader training starts, tomorrow, but this is one place to get some training;
Planer Setup & Troubleshooting (2 Day Course): Timber Products Inspection (tpinspection.com)

[trimguy]

I know my dust collector is not big enough. I'm working on that. At first it was leaving impressions of the chips where they would go around the roller and get pressed into the wood. It looked different than this. I did slow the speed down, and only running one board at a time. All I have at the moment is a cheap pin moisture detector. I do not know if it is accurate, but it is consistent. The blade should be the same height, I bought the system that uses spacers off of the cutter head,( I don't remember the name at the moment) unless something has moved. These are straight blades. I will check the blades for sharpness in the next day or two. It doesn't seem like I have run enough wood through it that they should be dull already. Maybe I have ran more through it then I'm thinking, or maybe I picked up some dirt on some boards somewhere. Thank you everyone for the ideas.

[Don P]

This popped up on a search for another document I was looking for, but this has good pics.
Microsoft PowerPoint - IWF Ammerman Machining Defects.ppt [Compatibility Mode] (uky.edu)

[trimguy]

Thanks Don.

[Larry]

The lines indicate dull knives to me.  Not sure about the dust collection as normally when that is a problem there will be actual dents with some going crosswise to the grain.  Looks more like tear out to me.

One thing not often thought about when using a planer is grain run out.  If the board goes in the wrong direction tear out is more prevalent with some woods.  I read the grain before sticking the board in the planer.  Spiral knives have almost eliminated that problem.

Don, thanks for the links, they are good reading and reinforced what I knew but probable forgot. :-[

[Ljohnsaw]

That's not normal? I see that quite often in the piles at HD! 😉
Great info here.

[YellowHammer]

 

 



I adjusted the colors to highlight what I'm seeing.  
The full length proud narrow grooves are running along the axis of the board are definitely coming from notched cutters,  run a board, look for the notches and mark the outfeeld with a pencil to zero in on them.  Put a short board in at an angle, where the notches are, and the notches will mark the board at an angle.  The notches in the cutters will be small, but you will be able to feel them with a fingernail.  

That's always a good way to diagnose where the marks are coming from, put a short board in at an angle and see if the notches still run down the axis of the planer, which would make them appear to be at the angle the board is fed.

The tearout is pretty clear, either dull blades, boards fed the uphill direction, or wood with poor machinability.  Tearout rarely happens on sharp cutters, but more so on HSS than carbides.  It always looks like little triangles where a tip or edge is caught by a cutter and then the cutter tears the wood up like a splinter and breaks it off leaving a triangular crater.  Of course, the cutter should shear the wood fibers, not lift them up.

The many rows of less deep closely spaced vertical lines also indicate dull cutters and very small notches, (dirt on a board) unless that is being pressed into the wood by the outfeed rollers.  However, there are a couple pretty significant notches in the cutters besides these little ones.  

The perpendicular rows of lines or "washboard" across the face of both boards indicate a cutter at a slightly different height or too fast a feed rate.  The only true way to set the cutters to the same hight is to use a planer blade setting gauge or a built in blade jointer.  The washboard pattern says the edges aren't at the same height or it wouldn't be washboarding.

Resharpening and setting planer blades in a machine is very "fiddly", as the spacers set the depth of the cutter from the rear but have nothing to do with the actual amount the cutter protrudes from the cutter head unless it is physically measured when setting them.

Anyway, that's what I'm seeing.

 

[Don P]

I agree. The chip marking, yet another machining defect, is these areas in red.(I ran out of room to draw red circles, there are lots of chip marks!)


 

An easy "tell" for that is to wipe the wood with a damp cloth. Those areas of pounded down earlywood, notice most of it is in the softer earlywood, will swell and go from being depressions to proud of the surface.

[trimguy]

Thank you very much for the pictures with explanation ! I had a chance to take the covers off this evening and look. Yes the blades are dull and I have a good bit of pitch build up. Thank you for the help.

[Larry]

It doesn't take much to dull the knives.  A little dirt or a few barky edges will do it.  I keep a draw knife right next to the planer to remove bark if I see any.

 

[beenthere]

And the previous owner may have tried planing some painted barn boards or something like that. Have seen that happen before. 

[customsawyer]

I will add that the older or longer the lumber has air dried the more dust/dirt it seems to have in it. This dust will dull the blades a lot faster than fresher lumber. In my yard I have the air drying shed where I store most of the slow drying slabs. With those slabs being air dried for over a year they have more dust on them, just from the normal traffic from my driveway. When I am planing them on the Slabmizer I will have to change/turn the knives about every slab. If I am using the Slabmizer on pine or poplar, that I am able to dry faster, I can get 5 to 7 slabs per sharp edge. If a customer wants me to instantly go up on my planing rate all they have to do is tell me how many years it has been air drying in a old barn.

[trimguy]

Sounds like you need a pond and a water truck. 😂😂

[YellowHammer]

HSS cutters don't last very long, the place I used to take some of our wood to get planed sharpened their planer cutters every week.  

When you see many fine streaks it's generally fine dirt, grit, and even concrete dust or floor dirt if the boards are ever stacked leaning against a wall, always stacked off the floor on horizontal tables, rollers, pallets, etc.  That is death to planer cutters, never do that.  Forklifts, gravel driveways, storage in dirt floor barns, reclaimed wood, live edge, stuff like that can really, instantly, shorten the life of your cutters.  

I believe you can get a blade jointer for that model, I would look for one, it will allow you to sharpen and hone the blades while still on the machine.

[trimguy]

I guess that's the problem, I'm all sand here and when it's dry, it's dusty from driving on it and even walking on it sometimes. I have the dispozablade set up on my planer and just ordered 4 more sets of blades ( discount on 12 blades or more ). I will try to be more aware of the details now that I know what I'm looking for. Thank you.