• Quality of thickness planing depends on the opera-
tor’s judgement about the depth of cut.
• Depth of cut depends on the width, hardness, damp-
ness, grain direction and grain structure of the wood.
• Maximum thickness of wood which can be removed
″ for planing operations on work-
in one pass is
3
/
32
pieces up to 5″ wide. Workpiece must be positioned
″.
away from the center tab on the rollercase to cut
3
/
32
• Maximum thickness of wood which can be removed
″ for planing operations on work-
in one pass is
1
/
32
″ wide.
piece from 5″ up to 12
1
/
2
″ depth-of-cut on hard, softwood 6-12″
CAUTION: A
3
/
32
wide can be made. However, continuous operation at
this set-up can cause premature motor failure.
• For optimum planing performance, the depth of cut
″.
should be less than
1
/
16
• Board should be planed with shallow cuts until the
work has a level side. Once a level surface has been
created, flip the lumber and create parallel sides.
• Plane alternate sides until the desired thickness is
obtained. When half of total depth of cut is taken from
each side, the board will have a uniform moisture con-
tent and additional drying will not cause it to warp.
• Depth of cut should be shallower when work is wider.
• When planing hardwood, take light cuts or plane the
wood in thin widths.
• Make a test cut with a test piece and verify the thick-
ness produced.
• Check accuracy of test cut prior to working on fin-
ished product.
AVOID DAMAGE TO BLADES
• Thickness planer is a precision woodworking
machine and should be used on quality lumber only.
• Do not plane dirty boards; dirt and small stones are
abrasive and will wear out blade.
• Remove nails and staples. Use planer to cut wood only.
• Avoid knots. Heavily cross-grained wood makes
knots hard. Knots can come loose and jam blade.
CAUTION
: Any article that encounters planer blades
may be forcibly ejected from planer creating risk of injury.
PREPARE WORK
• Thickness planer works best when lumber has at
least one flat surface.
• Use surface planer or jointer to create a flat surface.
• Twisted or severely warped boards can jam planer.
Rip lumber in half to reduce magnitude of warp.
• Work should be fed into planer in same direction as
the grain of the wood. Sometimes grain will change
directions in middle of board. In such cases, if possi-
ble, cut board in middle before planing so grain
direction is correct.
CAUTION:
Do not plane board which is less than
″ long; force of cut could split board and cause
14
1
/
2
kickback.