Reduce Damage To Knives; Preparing The Work; Carriage Lock - RIDGID TP1300 Operator's Manual

ing the key. This will prevent the planer
from starting up again when the power
comes back on.

Reduce Damage To Knives

The thickness planer is a precision wood
working machine and should be used on
quality lumber.
Do not plane dirty boards, dirt and small
stones are abrasive and will wear the
blade.
Remove nails and staples. The planer
should only cut wood.

Preparing the Work

The thickness planer works best when the
lumber has at least one flat surface.
Use a hand plane or jointer to define a flat
surface.
Twisted or severely warped boards can
jam the planer, rip lumber in half to reduce
the magnitude of the warp.
The work should be fed with the grain,
sometimes the grain will switch directions
in the middle of the cut. If possible, cut the
board in the middle before planing so the
grain direction is correct.

Carriage Lock

The carriage lock (see "Getting To Know
Your Thickness Planer" section) helps to
minimize "snipe" by locking the cutter
head position. Snipe is a change in thick-
ness at either end of the board, caused by
an uneven force on the cutter head when
work is entering or leaving the planer.
Pushing the carriage lock to the left will
release the cutter head assembly. Set
planer to the correct thickness (see
below) and then push the carriage lock to
the right. This will lock the cutter head
assembly in place and help to minimize
snipe.
A snipe may occur when boards are not
supported properly (see "Extension
Assembly Alignment" section).
In a few instances it is impossible to elimi-
6. Refer to "Thermal Overload Protection"
section for proper use.
Avoid Knots. Heavy cross grain makes
the knots hard, also, they can come loose
and jam the blade.
WARNING: Any particle that
may encounter the planer knives
may be thrown from the planer cre-
ating the risk of severe injury.
WARNING: Do not plane a
board which is less than 12" long,
the force of the cut could split the
board and cause a kickback result-
ing in serious personal injury.
nate "snipe". A slight snipe may still be
noticed. Snipe is more apparent when
deeper cuts are being taken.
To avoid snipe when planing more than
one board of the same thickness, butt the
boards together end to end so they follow
each other closely through the planer.
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