Hello readers blog "build a house". Almost all mechanical and electrical tools require proper handling and timely adjustment. How to properly set up a mechanical planer, we have already discussed with you in a previous article on. Today I propose to consider planing with an electric planer. At the end, you will find how to work with this tool.
Complete with electric planer
Electric planer knivesMakita produced the first electric planer. Today it is difficult for a master to imagine life without this incredibly useful tool.
How to adjust an electric planer
adjustment electric planer knives should be carried out according to the situation using a special adjustment mechanism, which is located on the front handle of the electric planer. Rotating this handle, we achieve the required amount of release of knives (0-2 mm), they must be located exactly, parallel to the bed. Too much outlet makes it difficult to work and puts extra stress on the planer motor.
Sharpening electric planer knives
Sharpening the knives of an electric planer is carried out similarly to a mechanical one. The main difference in sharpening between an electric planer and a mechanical planer is the number of knives. Here are two of them.
Knife sharpening You guys know what..
In an electric planer, knives should be changed strictly in pairs, using one set. This will help avoid imbalances. And it will not only spoil the quality of the planing of the workpiece, but can also disable the power tool.
Planing with an electric planer
A separate condition for correct and safe planing with electric planers of any design is the rigid fixation of the workpiece.
Attention: the electric planer is a rather dangerous tool (risk of injury to the fingers), so always remember the safety precautions.
Only after the workpiece is clearly fixed, you can start planing it. First you should start with rough processing. For this, sherhebel is more often used. When using a sherhebel, movements should be directed not along, but across the fibers. Otherwise, you can cut too much wood.
Attention: if during planing with a sherhebel on a wooden workpiece there are twists that aggravate planing, then you should not put too much pressure on them. Otherwise, wood may break off in these places and this workpiece will not be suitable for further use.
The subtleties of working with an electric planer
At the end of the surface treatment of minor workpieces with a sherhebel, it should be cleaned first with a single, then with a double planer. If you are dealing with long workpieces, such as bars, then it is better to use a jointer or semi-joiner. Movement along the surface must be directed not against the fibers, but along. This is the only way you can get the most even and smooth wood surface.
Planing Attention: When using a long planer, both hands must be used. Place your palms on the handle of the tool and firmly press both edges of the tool against the surface of the workpiece.
Planes - at least a board, at least a bar
While planing the ends of a beam or board, perform several movements with an electric planer from the edge of the end to the center, and also from the opposite edge. This will help to avoid the occurrence of flakes and spalls.
In the process it doesn't take much effort. The planer should move smoothly along the grain of the wood.
During breaks in planing, the planer should be installed with the blades up.
Make several movements with an electric planer on the surface to be treated. On the second and third movement on the surface, turn off the electric planer each time, come back and turn it off again.
Attention: To prevent sawdust and shavings from clogging the planer blade, use special bags to collect shavings.
The electric planer can be used for chamfering a part. Based on the width of the required chamfer, the planer is carried out along the edge of the workpiece to be processed the required number of times.
Complete with electric planer
When a separate side stop is installed on the electric planer (it is usually supplied as a set), it is possible to produce folding. The stop, fixing the tool at a certain distance, should touch the workpiece being processed.
An electric planer facilitates manual labor, with the help of it the result is of high quality and is achieved quickly. An electric planer is useful to anyone involved in woodworking. It will certainly help in the repair and construction, if wood is used. The rapidly rotating blades of the tool will remove chips of the required thickness from the workpiece, bring the workpiece to the desired size, make the edges smooth and even, chamfer or make a large bevel, select a fold.
The power tool must be led along the workpiece, without making significant efforts, which are necessary when working with a conventional planer. The surface is processed in accordance with the settings, the quality does not depend so much on the inaccurate actions of the operator.
What are
On sale you can find household and professional (semi-professional) electric planers. They differ from each other in color and markings. The first ones are cheap and light. The latter are more expensive, more powerful and weighty. Their motor resource is many times greater, they can do work every day for many hours.
As a rule, there is no such need in domestic conditions, an electric planer is used from time to time, so purchasing a household model for the home, but from a well-known manufacturer, is a common solution.
The processing width in one pass for household models is usually 82 mm, less common are models with knife lengths (knives are arranged horizontally) of 100 mm and 110 mm. Professional models may have more.
The bed of the tool is divided into two parts - the front, adjustable, which rests on the workpiece in front of the knives, and the back, which rests on the already processed wood. 
On the front of the bed there is a longitudinal recess (several recesses of various sizes), into which you can hang the edge of the workpiece when chamfering, which will allow you to chamfer most accurately.
The front handle usually has a chip thickness adjuster (depth of cut).
Another important node is the chip removal system. When planing, a significant amount of chips is formed. The planer has a nozzle into which dust and chips are ejected during operation. 
An industrial vacuum cleaner can be connected to the nozzle. But you can also connect a bag to collect chips so as not to clog the room with it.
Some models of electric planers are equipped with such a bag. But you can make it for any model yourself.
How to make a chip bag? You will need a spare tube from the vacuum cleaner, which is connected to the nozzle of the planer. As well as a piece of fabric, a zipper sewn into the fabric to extract chips, and a crimp collar to secure the neck of the bag to the tube.
Some models are equipped with side and top stops, which allow you to guide the planer along the edge of the workpiece at a certain distance from it and to a certain depth of planing. This allows you to make a selection of folds.
Some expensive powerful models are equipped with a planer-thickness tool or a simpler bed, with which the planer can be fixed with knives up, thus obtaining a small planer (thickness machine).
How to change knives
The electric planer is equipped with knives made of high-strength, abrasion-resistant alloys.
If the knives begin to leave a mark on the wood, this indicates that they are damaged and need to be replaced. 
The knife, as a rule, has two sharp edges, and if one becomes dull, then the knife just needs to be turned over.
To replace the knives, you must first disconnect the electric planer from the power supply. Then it is necessary to unscrew the screws securing the knife holders and remove the holders from the groove, and then remove the knives from them.
By inserting new knives into the holders (turning over the existing ones), you can assemble in the reverse order 
It is important to set the knives in height, which is not easy and requires effort.
The position of the knives is adjusted by the screws of the knife holders. The cutting edges must be set exactly at the level of the rear fixed sole of the electric planer along its entire length. Those. should be in the plane of this sole. 
The setting of the electric planer knives is carried out in the following order.
A ruler is placed on the edge on the fixed part of the sole. Then the knives are slowly turned. The edge of the knife should not lift the ruler, but only lightly touch it. This should occur along the entire length of the knife - when the ruler is moved along the width of the sole. 
The operation of setting the knives in height is performed several times with a ruler until the best result is achieved.
But it is possible to shift the knives due to centrifugal forces during rotation. Therefore, after setting the knives along the ruler, the planer is turned on and kept at idle for about 20 seconds, after which they again check the position of the knives and, if necessary, adjust them. Periodically, the position of the knives is checked during operation.
Features of working with an electric planer
The effort of moving (feeding) the planer along the workpiece must be such that the speed of rotation of the knives does not change
The quality of processing will be high if the movement of the planer over the workpiece is smooth, slow enough so that there is no significant slowdown in the rotation of the knives.
Processing is started after the engine and knives have developed the nominal idle speed.
The workpiece must be firmly fixed on the workbench or its stop must be strong.
Chips from the workpiece should be removed in a timely manner. It is important that the chips do not fall under the sole of the planer, this must be constantly monitored.
Planing usually starts from the end of the workpiece, the front of the sole of the planer is placed on the workpiece, then with a smooth movement of the planer it moves forward along the workpiece.
When the knives enter and leave the workpiece, the planer is pressed against the workpiece with increased force to prevent the occurrence of unplanned places along the edges of the workpiece.
To obtain high quality and uniformity of processing, longer workpieces are used than required. After planing, the ends of the workpiece are cut off.
Professional electric planers can be turned into a stationary planer for planing wood using a planer-thickness tool. The electric planer is installed on the frame up with knives, which are closed with a protective curtain. It is important that on this machine you can set the required dimensions of the part and use them to make several parts from different-sized blanks. At the same time, the accuracy of right angles and the cleanliness of processing remain quite high.
The work is carried out as follows. On all blanks, one face is processed. Then the machine is reconfigured and the next face is processed on all workpieces, etc. To maintain a right angle, the workpiece is firmly pressed against the side stop of the fixture. When working, you should not approach the planer and follow the workpiece, you need to feed it, intercepting it in your hands. 
Handling difficult places
When choosing an electric planer, you need to pay attention to its complete set with stops or the possibility of their additional purchase and use with this model.
The world's first electric planer was produced in Japan in 1958. Its appearance on the market is due to the desire to facilitate manual labor, which is a very tedious, monotonous and time-consuming task in wood processing.
This power tool can significantly save the family budget - untreated wood costs several times cheaper than planed wood.
In order not to damage the tool or the material being processed, as well as not inflict accidental injury on yourself, you need to know how to work with an electric planer correctly.
What is an electric planer
The electric planer is intended for leveling flat wooden surfaces after rough processing. When planing, a thin layer of wood is removed - roughness, irregularities and other defects are removed. The surface of the material after using the power tool becomes glossy and looks polished outwardly.
All electric planers consist of the following main parts and mechanisms:
- Front movable support with adjustable height
- Housing (most often aluminum) with removable belt cover
- Electric commutator motor
- Front handle that allows you to set the depth of planing
- Rear handle
- Trigger with protection against accidental activation
- Drum with cutting elements mounted on it
- Fixed back support
- Electric wire with plug
The principle of operation of the electric planer
The main part of the electric planer is a rotating drum, on which the cutting elements are fixed. It is driven by an electric motor, the rotation is transmitted by a toothed belt. The tool is powered by a 220 volt household power supply by means of an electric wire.
Typically, planers are equipped with motors with a shaft speed of over 1000 rpm, and power from 550 to 950 watts. Motor elements that require special attention are carbon brushes. For convenient control of their condition, cleaning or replacement, a special removable casing is installed above the motor.
Start planing only when the drum picks up the maximum speed of rotation. It is necessary to carefully bring the planer from the end of the workpiece and begin to slowly move it forward. The sole of the tool should be directed parallel to the wood being processed. At the same time, at the beginning of the workpiece, the force is slightly transferred to the front handle, and at the end - to the back. Planing should be smooth, on average, the processing speed is 150-200 centimeters per minute.
How to work with an electric planer
First of all, you need to understand that planing with an electric planer is only applicable to wood. Before starting work, it is required to securely fix the processed lumber - the quality of the resulting wood and the safety of the work process will depend on this. The presence of play can cause the workpiece to be thrown to the side upon contact with the rotating drum, possibly resulting in personal injury.
The lumber must be fixed in such a way that the worker carrying out the planing has the opportunity to move freely with the planer from one edge to the other of the workpiece.
The difference between planing on a wide board
The difference between planing a wide board and working on a narrow board is that the process is carried out in several passes along the canvas. This is due to the fact that the width of the cutting knives is not enough to process the surface of the workpiece in one pass. The main difficulty in this case is the exact parallel alignment of two adjacent processed lines.
What can be done with an electric planer
Using an electric planer, you can prepare polished blanks for the production of various wood products and crafts: stools, birdhouses, furniture, toys, etc. With this power tool, chamfering, grooves, and quarters are cut.
When working with an electric planer, great attention should be paid to safety, as the tool is potentially dangerous. If you follow all the rules and instructions for using the tool, you will get high quality processed wood without spending a lot of effort.
Many beginners are interested in the question of how to work with an electric planer. At first glance, there is nothing complicated: plug it into an outlet, press a button, drive back and forth along the surface, removing chips. However, at the first attempts, the result is far from always impressive.
When buying a tool, you need to check its performance, completeness and appearance. It is worth paying attention to the quality of sharpening the installed knives. If there are spare knives in the kit, you need to check them too. The cutting edge should be smooth, sharp, without potholes and bends. All other settings must be checked at home in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Checking and adjusting the position of the front plate
All tool adjustments must be made in the off state. The plug must be pulled out of the socket, otherwise you can not only disable the electric planer, but also cause serious injury.
When checking the position of the knives, the front plate must be set to the position of the minimum planing depth with the standard adjustment knob. Set the electric planer on a flat hard surface with the drum up.
To check, you can use a metal ruler or a piece of window glass of suitable sizes. The drum with knives should be rotated until one of the knives is in the upper position, above the axis of the drum. The ruler or glass must be laid on the plates along the planer. The surfaces must be in the same plane.
If the control device is tilted on any of the plates, check the position of the front plate and adjust it. Such a defect occurs during long-term operation of the tool without maintenance. Internal cavities can become clogged with wood dust and small chips. Excessive force on the depth adjustment knob will move it out of its original position.
To eliminate the defect, you need to remove the handle, front plate, clean the cavities from dust and chips, and lubricate. Install the plate in place, check the installation on the ruler, fix the handle, checking the coincidence of the dial with the index mark.
Cutting edge adjustment
Adjusting the position of the knives is carried out according to two parameters:
- height of the cutting edge relative to the back plate;
- the size of the protruding part of the knife for planing quarters.
Having installed a ruler or glass, you need to turn the drum, controlling the gap between the knife and the fixture along the edges of the plates. The edge of the knife should lightly touch the fixture without lifting it. If the knife clings to the fixture or does not reach it, the position must be corrected.
Usually the knives are fastened with a special wedge with expanding bolts. With a key of 8 or 10, you need to wrap the bolts in a wedge until the bolt free play appears. Then, with the installed eccentrics, align the height of the cutting edge with the fixture. Tighten (unscrew) the fixing bolts, check the position again. The desired result can be achieved after several repetitions of this operation.
At the same time as adjusting the height of the cutting edge, the protruding part of the quartering knife must be controlled. The optimal size should be indicated in the manufacturer's instructions. On most models, it is 1 mm. The size is set by moving the knife to the left or right along the axis of the drum. It is important to set the size correctly. It should be the same for all knives. This can be achieved by using a feeler gauge of a certain size or by measuring the distance with a caliper (columb with a protruding back) from the edge of the knife to the drum. After adjusting the first knife, you need to move on to the next ones. The operation for all knives is carried out in the same way. If some knife cannot be set in the required position, you need to remove the wedge, check the eccentrics for integrity and free rotation.
It is necessary to complete the adjustment by checking the free rotation of the drum and the fastening of all knives.
Preparation for work
You can work with the tool in two positions:
- stationary position: the electric planer is attached to a hard, stable surface;
- portable: the tool is moved manually along the workpiece.
Many models come with special clamps and a bracket for the start button. In a stationary position, it is more convenient to process lumber of small length, which can be moved through the tool alone. It is desirable to process long workpieces with an electric planer in a portable version.
Wood must be dried, raw lumber is poorly processed. The board must be well fixed on a hard surface. The part should not bend under the weight of the planer and move in any direction during operation. When processing side surfaces on a workbench, it is advisable to install them on special fasteners that protect them from bending and moving. In the area of rotation of the drum with knives, there should be no metal elements (brackets, nails, screws) on the treated surface and fasteners. A blow to the metal will leave a gouge on the knives, and a protrusion will form on the treated surface. Knives will have to be sharpened by removing a thick layer of metal, or changed.
Surface treatment
An electric planer can perform three operations:
- chamfer at different angles;
- choose quarters on blanks;
- cut surfaces.
The main purpose of the tool is to plan surfaces of various lengths and widths.
When working, the planer must be placed on the surface of the workpiece with the front plate so that the knives do not touch the surface. Press the start button, after a set of revolutions (the sound stops changing the tone), start moving the planer over the surface. The tool must be held strictly parallel to the surface to be treated, the movement must be uniform, without jerks and stops. At the beginning of the movement, you need to increase the pressure on the front part, when leaving the surface on the back part. The planer should work smoothly, without vibration. If there is a strong vibration, the sound changes during operation, you need to turn off the tool, determine and eliminate the cause of abnormal operation.
The depth of the pass must be set depending on the purpose of processing. If you want to change the stock size, you can use the maximum size. When leveling the surface, it is desirable to work with a small depth of processing, achieving the required quality in several passes.
Also, the depth of processing depends on the material. Hard rock should be run several times at shallow depths so as not to overload the tool.
Additional features of the tool
To chamfer, you need to use a special triangular groove cut on the front plate of the planer.
The tool should be set with a groove at the corner for processing, run and move along the part, keeping the slope. The first pass is made along the slot, subsequent passes, if necessary, are carried out in the usual manner.
To make quarters on a planer, you need to install an additional stop to limit movement away from the direction of movement. The second stop, which limits the depth of the quarter, is located on the side surface. The stops must be set to the required dimensions. The distance should be measured from the corner of the cutting edge of the knife in the up position. Quarter sampling is performed in several passes. If the vertical surface of the quarter turns out to be steps, it is necessary to increase the protrusion of the knives beyond the side surface of the planer.
A wide surface of lumber can be processed in several passes. Processing must begin from the left edge, setting the adjustment to the minimum depth. The next pass should be carried out with an offset to the right by about a third of the length of the knives. In this way, you need to go over the entire width of the workpiece. If the quality is unsatisfactory, repeat the surface treatment in the same way.
Conclusion on the topic
An electric planer will help to significantly reduce the time of work, save money on the purchase of lumber.
When working, you must comply with the necessary safety requirements to avoid serious injuries to the limbs and other parts of the body.
