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woodmaster 718 problems

Started by attwood, February 15, 2015, 10:57:15 AM

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attwood

i bought a new 718 planer moulder and got it put together but having problems when trying to use it.  everything comes on and powers up as it should but when I send a board through it I have to force it under the first feed roller and the board will stop again at the second roller and I have to push hard for it to go on through.  while doing this the cutterhead never hits the board like I should raise the bed more.  when I raise it more for the cutterhead to contact the board I can not push on the board hard enough to get the board to start under the feed rollers.  the spring tension is what the owners book says it should be.  I haven't adjusted anything on the rollers or cutterhead but in my thinking the cutterhead need brought down or the rollers need to go up but looking at the way this thing is made that part is non adjustable. im gonna call woodmaster tomorrow but just wondering if anyone else has ran into this with a woodmaster.  I am running 1x8 cedar boards but they feed fine through my grizzly 20 inch   thanks for any input

OneWithWood

Double check your spring tension.  If I remember correctly (never a safe bet) one side has less tension (spring length) than the other.  You may have it reversed.  Also make sure your washers are positioned properly.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

uler3161

We've had a lot of issues with the feed system on ours, though I don't think we've ever had an issue with the cutter head not being low enough.

A few suggestions on the feed issue.

1. There is a feed belt tensioner pulley. Is it there and working?

2. If you're running on the metal table you may have better luck with a poly board (though you may also have other problems with the poly).

But the cutter head is probably a different problem. I think you're right about it not being adjustable. As far as I know, the only thing adjustable is the tension that is placed on the rollers. What are you running for a cutter head? Straight knives or spiral or something else? If straight knives, maybe it's possible to set them out a little bit, though I'd expect you could still plane with them bottomed out in the head.

I'm also curious how deep of a cut you're taking. On the infeed, you'll see an angle piece going across the planer. If you're taking too much of a cut, the board will hit it and won't let it go in. I recall that we re-adjusted this on ours, so I'm sure I can compare it to yours. I try to have about 1/8 inch gap between this piece and the board. If you're something like 1/4 inch or more, then I'm guessing you're probably not taking enough off.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

attwood

I checked the spring tension ant it matches what the book says it should be.  im running the straight knives in the machine.  I have the polly board in it for now but im about to change it out with one made from mdf board.  as far as trying to take too much of a cut I cant get it to cut at all when I get it down to where it will take some off the board I cant get it to go under the feed roller.  just looking through the machine when I lay the board in it and bring the table to where the rollers just barely touch its still about 1/2 -5/8 inch from the knives.  ive went through the steps in the manual to get started to move the base up till roller just touches stock  remove stock crank handle 3 1/2 turns start board crank down till it barely cuts board  when I take it back out to go through for the next pass you cant push hard enough to make the board start in the machine.  it has the rubber rollers in it and wondering if I may need the metal ones they offer

taw6243

eleven sixteenths (11 turns of crank) of down pressure on the rollers. I have a 725 woodmaster

Tim
4500 hours on my 2004 LT40HDG28, CBN sharpener and auto setter, 25" woodmaster planer with 9'auto leveling bed and trac vac chip handling system, 1998 L3010 kubota, 2010 L3200 kubota Festool TS75 rail saw with 42", 75" and 106" rails.

uler3161

Quote from: attwood on February 15, 2015, 02:05:50 PM
I checked the spring tension ant it matches what the book says it should be.  im running the straight knives in the machine.  I have the polly board in it for now but im about to change it out with one made from mdf board.  as far as trying to take too much of a cut I cant get it to cut at all when I get it down to where it will take some off the board I cant get it to go under the feed roller.  just looking through the machine when I lay the board in it and bring the table to where the rollers just barely touch its still about 1/2 -5/8 inch from the knives.  ive went through the steps in the manual to get started to move the base up till roller just touches stock  remove stock crank handle 3 1/2 turns start board crank down till it barely cuts board  when I take it back out to go through for the next pass you cant push hard enough to make the board start in the machine.  it has the rubber rollers in it and wondering if I may need the metal ones they offer

I wasn't really trying to imply too much of a cut. I really meant too little. The closer your board gets to that angle piece, the bigger cut you're taking. But if it's over about a 1/4 gap between the board and that piece, you probably aren't going to get much of a cut, if at all. That may seem odd since you're having a hard time getting the board to feed in. For what it's worth, I sometimes really have to push to get a board in. If you expect it to just kind of feed in by gently sliding the board up against the roller, that's never been the case on our planer.  If it helps I can go take some measurements of distance from bed to roller and bed to cutter.

I recommend the metal roller, at least for straight through planing. The rubber ones have a nasty habit of breaking in the middle if you run a lot of narrow stuff. But I'm not sure that's going to fix your problem.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

uler3161

I went ahead and measured. We just ran some 1 inch first pass and got to about 15/16 or slightly under so that should give cutter height. The infeed roller (steel) is 9/16 from the bed. So if I did my math right, that roller raises 7/16 and out feed raises 3/8. So it may just take more effort to get those rollers to ride up on the boards than you expect.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

attwood

ok thanks a lot  I just felt that with what little I know about this kind of work I shouldn't have to push as hard on the boards to get them to feed.  do you have both infeed and outfeed metal rollers or just infeed

uler3161

Just infeed. You'll get marks on your boards if you have an outfeed. That's also a problem on infeed if you are doing something other than planing, such as using the ripsaws. And I don't think we've had an outfeed roller break. There's not as much pressure on the outfeed, so that's probably why.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

attwood

ok all I will be doing is planning and t&g  I am sizing it first on another planer so I can leave the routers set up on the woodmaster

bedway

Ive had my 718 for about 12 years or more. Two most important thing to make sure of,

1.  make sure your bed is clean and waxed, its amazing how much this impacts the feed/ or lack there of.

2. clean you infeed and out feed rollers with denatured alcohol, both of these make a big difference!

Will_Johnson

Attwood please do call us!

Best,

Will

attwood

mr will I called yesterday and talked with a man that was very helpful and decided to go with a steel infeed roller to help some with my problem and he told me how to break in the machine.  said it was kinda common for things to be real tight with it being brand new.  I was just thinking something could be needing adjusted or something  my main concern was me doing damage to the planer. 

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