So the other day my skil took a slight tumble and chipped one of the blades. Now i have installed new carbide blades, but my cut isn’t as clean as it use to be, its not smooth, and the amount of projection of foam coming out the shoot is less if that makes any sense. I think that the blades are not equal on the drum and after a little research i found the old skil manual that came with the planer and it mentioned a blade setting gauge which i do not have because i bought this planer on ebay. Another thing that is missing are the two screws on the head that help raise the blades up and down. So i am asking for any advice on what to do to get my skil back to the way it was or even better.
YIKES! DO NOT TURN THE THING ON AGAIN UNTIL YOU GET THE APPROPRIATE SCREWS IN PLACE. YOU CAN MAKE A BLADE SETTING GAUGE OUT OF SOME 1/8th INCH G-10. YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLING A BLADE. THE SKIL 100 TURNS @ 15,000 RPM. PETE C, AND DOUG FELTS , ARE BOTH ''GO TO GUYS.''
Do NOT turn that planer on until you have the necessary screws to secure the blade and have the proper gauge to set the depth of those blades!!! Otherwise YOU WILL GET HURT . Perhaps someone on Sways can send you a template of the blade adjustment tool,
I have the blade adjustment thingie but I do not use it. I use a pencil with the planer set to zero turn the blade and adjust the blade till they just scuff the pencil as it bridges the planer opening. Middle than each side. I kinda have a feel that I want. I too have lost one of, actually it broke, the adjusting screw so I am on the hunt for one of those also. DO NOT USE THE PLANER WITHOUT THE ADJUSTER SCREW!
As Bill said, it’s pretty easy to make an adjustment plate. It needs to be absolutely flat, so I make them out of 1/8" thick aluminum. The screw thread is #10-24. On adjustment, you can follow the old Skil instructions. I do it a bit different using the adjustment tool, since my customers are really picky about any tiny, tiny step that may show up on one side of the cut. You want no blade contact at the “0” position, but not so much that you can’t get full depth when the lever is moved to the max position. The best way to do this is to use two .010" feeler gauges between the blade ends and the tool. Rotate the blades back and forth and recheck; it may take a couple of times with resetting. The adjustment screws only move the blade up and down, and you have to tap on each end of the blade to level it to the tool. To do this, use a plastic screw driver handle, hardwood block, or something that will not chip or damage the blade edge. Terry Martin spends about 20 mins. on his adjustments, and he’s been doing this longer than most of us have been alive, so don’t get frustrated. Be sure and securely tighten the allen screws on each blade and then recheck the blade adjustment before you plug it in. Check them twice. Anybody who has ever experienced a flying blade learned the hard way about checking twice. Sounded “like a shotgun” is usually the first part of the story, followed by “I didn’t know the lock on trigger was engaged when I plugged it in”.
Hopefully, the cutter drum axle wasn’t bent, and/or the baseplate cracked when you dropped it. If so, you can’t ever adjust the blades right. A bent axle will have pronouced vibration. There’s an old thread about cracked baseplates, so check that. Also, carbide blades really don’t cut as clean as HSS types since you can’t sharpen them as finely. I’ve seen the foam dust ejection problem on many planers where blades have been replaced. The bladed drum isn’t designed to be a blower, and the chute is really just a deflector so wood chips wouldn’t hit the user in the face. The solution is to get a vacuum system or put a baffle in the chute near the rear to reduce the volume. If you need the adjustment screws, please send me a PM. Remember, BE CAREFUL!