Cutterhead; Replacing Knives - Powermatic 15S Owner's Manual

CUTTERHEAD

Although your planer was carefully adjusted at the
factory, it should be checked before being put into
operation. Any inaccuracies due to rough handling
in transit can be corrected by following the
directions in this manual.
To check the adjustments you will need feeler
gauges, and a home-made gauge block made of
hardwood. This gauge block can be made by
following the dimensions shown in Figure 17.

REPLACING KNIVES

WARNING: Use caution and proceed
slowly when working with and around
!
the knives – they are extremely
sharp!
When dull knives are replaced, care must be
exercised in setting the new knives into the
cutterhead. There is a certain procedure to follow
which will ensure a proper setting of knives on the
15S Planer. Proceed as follows:
1. Disconnect machine from power source.
2. Remove the dust hood and the top cover.
Remove the chip deflector (Fig. 27 shows
the chip deflector). Remove the belt guard
so you can rotate the cutterhead using the
pulley.
3. Remove the gib screws with the T-handle
hex wrench (shown in Fig. 18) and remove
each gib one at a time.
4. Remove the knife, and clean the cutterhead
slot of any dust or debris.
5. Place the new knife loosely into the slot. Put
the first gib (gib #1, Fig. 18) in place at the
end of the cutterhead, and insert one screw
in the location shown in Fig. 18. Make the
screw snug – do not fully tighten yet.
NOTE: There are a total of three short gibs
and twelve long gibs on the cutterhead. It is
not important whether long or short gib is
used in any particular location along the
knife. Of course, each knife must use one
short gib.
6. Throughout this procedure, use the knife
adjustment tool (Fig. 19) to hold the blade in
place while installing gibs and screws. The
adjustment tool has a protrusion which fits
into the holes in the gibs and knife.
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