delta 12 1/2 planer problems

[kedward]

this planer has had hundreds of bd ft. sent through it over the past5-6 years
all types of wood. now it is having a problem with wood jamming under the knives which causes the wood to kick-knives aren't straight. I replaced the bars once because they were bent and this worked for a while, but now it has happened again. can someone tell me what to look for as a problem. also what would be a good/ economical commercial type planer.
these portables are slow!

[UtahAV]

Hi kedward,

The wood jamming at the cutterhead sounds like very dull knives to me. Dull knives on a portable planer can cause all sorts of problems. There may also be some wear to the feed roller sprockets and the drive chains. Pull the side cover off of the planer and inspect those parts.

As for a planer upgrade...

There are many manufactures offering planers in 15" and 20" widths that I think would work great for you. I would take a look at the offerings from Jet and Powermatic. I own a 15" machine from Jet and have really liked it. Planers in this size class will typically use 3 or 5 horsepower motors. These motors will require 230V. power to operate. You should be able to do your planing work about 2 to 3 times faster with a planer in this class.

If you cannot accommodate a 230V. planer then I would consider the 13" planer/molder that is offered by Jet. You will get the benefits of a heavily built, all metal planer, that still operates on 115V. The downside to the planer/molder is that with the smaller motor comes slower planing. It will still be faster than your portable and should last years longer.

I hope that this helps!

-UtahAV
-Mark

[kedward]

thanks UtahAV, knives were new and everything looked good otherwise. I'll check sprockets and chains again. I'm still going to upgrade. I like Jet- have a Jet bandsaw, someone suggested I look at Woodmaster, do you know anything about them?