Planer TP13000 Broken Part

[Gene Nordgren]

Has anyone else found part #827703 broken on their new planer from the factory? This is the plate on the RH side of the machine that denotes the set thicknesses (Repeat-A-Cut). It appears that the screw was tightened too tight when assembled. Also, my instruction book does not describe how to check or correct an out of parallel cutterhead. I can check but am not sure how to correct. Does anyone have advice? Last but not least, this is really a great machine!

[Stephen]

Just got my planer too. Not sure about the parallel problem with your cutterhead as mine appears to be ok. My plate is not cracked - in good condition.
I agree - a very good machine! I set mine up with the universal tool stand from Ridgid and attached the castor base to that - a very nice set up. I also bought the dust collector for it. It works just skoocum! I'm very happy with it.

[Gene Nordgren]

Stephen, I received an email from Amy Holmes of Ridgid. She said they were sending me a new plate. Can't ask for more than that! I did not get a stand with my planer but I have a stand from a Craftman radial arm saw. I built a cabinet for the saw and the stand is essentially the same as provided by Ridgid. As far as cutter head parallel goes, mine may be OK. I just want to bring it to, or within, .00l" which should be doable. Anything greater is beyond my tolerance. Do you have the Ridgid caster set up with the lever action lowering one swivel wheel on one side and fixed wheels on the other side? I have this set up on my Craftman table saw and the lever has bent to the point where I need to replace it. Ridgid use to make Craftman power tools. Thank you for your reply.

[Stephen]

yep - that's the castor set I have. I managed to get it to fit the universal legset - with a bit of persuasion!
The stand was included with the planer - some promotion thru Home Depot. Enjoy!

[GaryMc]

Just ran onto this board - sorry this is a bit late. My TP1300 had a "parallelism" problem, evidenced by a very slight difference in thickness across the width of a board. I was discussing this issue with Vince @ Ridgid but never got to a solution. When the time came to reverse the blades (after a LOT of board feet), I figured out the problem. From the factory, the knife screws on the right side of the cutterhead had been way over-torqued, resulting in stripped heads and other damage during the devil of a time I had getting them loosened. RIDGID sent me new screws and wrench as well as new knife holder bars just in case those were damaged also. When I reinstalled the knives and torqued the screws evenly, amazingly, the non-parallelism disappeared.

I am still using the old bars, just new screws for the ones with damaged heads. I am convinced that the over-torqueing resulted in enough distortion so that the blades were not parallel to the planer bed.

[dennism]

I tried to reverse the blades on my planner for the first time today (had it about a year), and the screws on the knife holding bar were way over torqued. I managed to get the first loose and reversed the blade, but the process must have damaged the wrench. As I started on the second knife I couldn't get any of the screws to break free (screw heads were getting chewed up). I purchased a better wrench at the hardwear store, but could only manage to loosen 2 of the screws. I know I'll need to get new screws, as you did, before I can put it back together. How did you deal with your devilish screw removal? Any suggestions?

[GaryMc]

It required a combination of methods to get all of the screws out. The space is very tight, especially for those near the ends of the bar. After damaging the OEM wrench (10 mm, as I recall), I used a next-size-smaller open-end filed so it *just* spanned the screw head. Using impact (tapping on wrench end), this got all except two of them. One I got out with the smallest needle-nose vice-grips available. The last was a real bear, defying all of the means described above. I finally cold-chiseled a recess on the hex head, then used a glancing impact to get the sucker loose enough to remove with a wrench.

[JSchnarre]

For those of you who are having trouble with the knife bolts on the TP1300 thickness planer; a couple of suggestions: First, if it feels like the bolts are beginning to round off, take the wrench and shorten the tips of the open end by about 1/8. In some cases the wrench hits the bottom of the groove and begins to cam out over the bolt. If you have already stripped out the bolt, try a set of needle nose vise grips to loosen the bolt. Finally if this does not work, you can use a Dremel with a cut off wheel to cut the head off the bolt. Remember you are not actually loosening the bolt in the wedge, you are turning it into the wedge. The bolts expand out to hold the knife in place. If you ruin any of the wedge bolts at all be sure to call 1-800-4RIDGID and we will send you new bolts for free.

Jake