Thicknesser Problems

[mooretoolsplease]

Hi all,
I've been having some problems lately with the thicknesser in the shop.
It's cutting wedges from one side to another along the width of a board. Originally this was about 1mm across the 300mm width.
I checked the blades several times and they were parallel to the block every time.
I changed the cutters again today and now the error is slightly less, but there none the less.
The other guys in the workshop are very heavy on the machines, having recently stalled them several times in the course of one oak job. So now it's not possible to take over 1.5mm off in one pass other wise the rubber edged wheel slips against the motor shaft.
With them being so heavy on the tools, is it possible to actually bend the bed?
I've checked that the cutter block is parallel to the outfeed table which I am setting the blades against and it is spot on.
I keep on telling the guy who runs it here about their technique on the machines, but it seems to fall upon deaf ears.

Matt

[engineerone]

one of the most important things about adjusting any machine tool is to remove the backlash. you do this in most cases by going down below where you want to be, and then come back up, this removes the errors from that.

it may be that with your guys being so heavy, they may have caused some threading problems with the machine screws that hold the beds flat and level.

have you checekd that the adjusters are properly seated in their holes??

paul

[jfc]

Matt ,
When i had this problem i found a spring had come off on one side of the out feed roller , this led to no pressure on one side and caused it to plane out . Might be worth a look .

[mrgrimsdale]

I've had sawdust getting under the rollers seatings/springs in the past. Can't see it easily when not in use as it's packed down by the spring pressure, so you have to lift the rollers by winding up the bed with a bit of scrap on it. Then you might need a mirror and a torch to see under the seating. Small maglites or similar with focussing beam really handy.
This is more likely with heavy use, as the rollers get pushed right up and there's lots of shavings blowing about and getting into the wrong places.

cheers
Jacob