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G8794 12
1
⁄2" Portable Planer
SECTION 8: MAINTENANCE
Regular periodic maintenance on your Model
G8794 Planer will ensure its optimum perfor-
mance. Make a habit of inspecting your planer
each time you use it. Check for the following con-
ditions and repair or replace when necessary:
• Loose mounting bolts, extension wings, or
handles, or excessive play in the depth-of-
cut adjustment.
• Worn switch.
• Worn or damaged cords or plugs.
• Dull or damaged cutterhead knives.
• Any condition that could hamper the safe
operation of the machine.
General
Knife Sharpening
Knife sharpness is one of the most important fac-
tors in getting good results with the planer. Knives
can be made to last a long time if care is taken in
checking the condition of the wood which is put
into the machine. The biggest problem will come
from wood with nails or other metal embedded.
This will nick or chip the knives and can require a
complete regrinding. Another wear factor is sand,
grit, or other dirt on the surface of the wood which
the knives have to cut through. Simply laying a
board on a concrete floor can embed enough
abrasive material to severely damage the knives.
At the speed the cutterhead is rotating, these
types of surface contamination can have a very
abrasive effect.
This planer has knives with a grind angle of 40˚
which is a configuration which should suit most
general planing needs. The optimal grind or bevel
angle is a compromise between effective cutting
(the smaller the angle the better the cutting
action) and edge life where the larger the angle
the more the edge is supported, thus the longer it
will last.
For the best results it is best to have planer
knives sharpened by a professional sharpening
service which has the grinding and measurement
equipment to assure that the knife cutting geom-
etry is maintained at optimum levels. It is a pro-
cedure which requires some care and precision,
otherwise a set of blades can be easily ruined.
Knives should always be ground as a set so they
can be properly matched. Unequal material
removal can result in an unbalanced cutterhead
which can affect not only planing surface quality
but ultimately the life of the cutterhead bearings.
Please refer to Section 6 Adjustments - Knife
Setting for complete detail on the removal and
reinstallation of planer knives.
The cutterhead knives on the G8794 planer are
extremely sharp. Merely brushing your finger
along the edge can result in a severe cut. Take
extreme caution when doing any of the adjust-
ments involving the cutterhead knives. Wear
thick gloves anytime it is necessary to manu-
ally rotate the cutterhead assembly.
NOTICE
Never run the planer with only one knife
installed in the cutterhead. This will cause a
severe imbalance condition at the high speed
at which the cutterhead rotates. Always install
both knives and make certain they are tightly
secured. When resharpening, always have
both knives sharpened as a set.