Stuffed panel plane adjustment

Re: Stuffed panel plane adjustment

Rick Hoppe (Los Angeles)

>Uh boy.... Yeah, I'm new to infills. The learning curve on adjusting the Spiers type plane is a lot longer than the Bailey style plane. You need to tighten the screw a bit before advancing the blade. If you�re already doing this, you might try tightening it just a tad more before advancing the blade and tapping just a bit harder or more times. The tighter the screw is before the final twist, the less squirming the iron is going to do when you tighten it down.

One way I�ve approached this is to locate the blade just short of protruding out the mouth and then tighten the screw to final tightness. I�ll take note of some mark on the top of the lever screw, then back off on the screw turning it in counter-clockwise in increments; � turn, � turn, or perhaps something in-between. I�ll try advancing the blade. If it�s a no-go, I�ll back off a fraction more. If I can take a light shaving from the edge of a small, narrow board, I�ll tighten the screw down back to its starting point. Of course if I�ve backed off too much, I�ll have to start over. What I�m trying to do here is to narrow down the variables.

My best advice is, don�t spend too much time at each session fussing with the plane. If you�re like me, it�ll drive you crazy. What worked best for me is, once or a few times a week I�d tell myself, well, I�m gonna go out and play with that plane awhile. Just �easy does it� and before long you�ll get the knack of it.

Talking to Joel and Christopher was a big help for me as well.

Adjusting Infill Planes

Steve Elliott

>If tightening the lever cap increases the set of the blade by a large amount, it may indicate a problem with the bedding of the blade. Here's a diagram of what might cause it:

To check for this, put the blade in the plane with only moderate pressure on the lever cap, then use feeler gauges to see if they will slip up under the blade. It's not uncommon to find that there is a gap of a few thousandths of an inch.. When the lever cap is tightened, the blade is forced down onto the bed, increasing the set.

To correct the problem, first check the flatness of the bevel side of the blade. It's a lot easier to flatten the blade than the blade bed, and you'll be using the blade to check the flatness of the bed anyway. If the problem persists with a flat blade, you'll need to remove some material from the blade bed. To do that, you can coat the bevel side of the blade with soot from a candle, put the blade in the plane, and see what parts of the bed end up with soot on them. The heat from the candle won't affect the temper of the blade unless the steel reaches 300 degrees F or more, in which case you couldn't touch it without getting burned.

There are some other things that make the "tap and try" method of adjustment easier, one of which is a nice fine mouth. When the cutting edge of the blade is only a few thousandths of an inch from the edge of the sole, it's much easier to judge the set by just looking. A fine mouth can be achieved by using a thicker blade (lots of work) or by shimming under the blade.

Learning how to use an infill plane is difficult partly because so many of the old ones are out of tune. Luckily, they are simple tools with only a few factors that need to be looked at. After checking the blade bedding, you might want to look at the chipbreaker. If the blade and chipbreaker (together) are thicker on one side than the other where the lever cap presses down on them, it could make the lateral adjustment of the blade change as you tap it into place. Removing some steel from the top of the chipbreaker to correct this is pretty easy.

Good luck. I think you'll find the tuning work amply rewarded when the plane starts performing at its potential

Re: Adjusting Infill Planes

Les Winter

>What a great post. thankyou, Steve.

regards

Les

Re: Stuffed panel plane adjustment

Mike Real from Pittsburgh

>I have had the same frustrations. Once I get it set I leave it till I need to sharpen again. I just lay it on its side...its ready to go when I need to plane. Some good tips here that I will use!

Re: Stuffed panel plane adjustment

wayne anderson

>The problem is the screw is scooting the iron around 'cause the edge of the screw makes contact before the center. Picture what happens when you put the eraser end of a pencil on a piece of paper, then give the pencil a spin. Now, put the point down and do the same. You can cure this by making the end of your screw domed or pointed. I always do this, and I then polish the end with some real fine emory paper, and I sometimes even buff the tip. You are looking for single-point contact with minimum friction. Wayne

Re: Great Tip! Thanks!

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>Wayne,

This is one of those subtle tuning tips that I would never have thought of on my own. Great information!

Thanks,

Ted

Re: Stuffed panel plane adjustment

Les Winter

>You know, I was thinking just that yesterday as I thought more about this. I'm going to slip a piece of something slippery in there to test the theory.

Thanks for your help.

Les