My old electric planer has been unused for a lot of years, stored in a corner of the workshop. And a few days ago, when I turned it on after so long the belt practically vanished. I assume this happened because of how old the belt of this electric planer was and the lack of use. So after finding a suitable belt for this model, I’m going to change the belt on the electric planer.
I don’t use this planer since a few years ago I made some nicks in the blades with some nails that I did not see in a piece of wood that I was planing. So, besides changing the belt I also want to replace the nicked planer blades with blades with a perfect cutting edge. This way the electric planer will no longer leave marks on the wood with the shape of the nicks of the blades.
The blades of the planers usually have a kind of longitudinal groove. In that groove fits a small protrusion of the blades holder when the blades slides into the holder. As the planer blades are symmetrical with respect to their longitudinal groove and have cutting edges to both sides of the blade, when one edge of the blade is damaged we only have to take the blades away, rotate them and expose the other cutting edge. Although the truth is that when I took out the blades I realized that at some point I had already turned them, as they are nicked on both cutting edges, so I take the blades off my new planer and put them on this old one. Now I have to put new blades to the new planer that I use as a homemade thicknesser.
Changing the planer blades may seem as simple as loosening the screws, turning them and re-tightening the screws, but the thing is that after tightening them in the blade holder and using the planer for the first time I realize that the cutting edge of the blades is not perfectly level with the fixed base of the planer, and I think this is what causes the planer to cut a snipe when it reaches the end of the board when planing. On the other planer I have I think I know how to level and align the blades, but in this planer I don’t quite see how to do it.
Changing the electric planer belt is somewhat easier, at least it was once I could find the right belt for the model of electric planer I have. When I take away the plastic housing that covers the belt it reveals a pair of small gears into which the small planer belt must be fitted. In this case, the biggest gear has a kind of metal cover that I have to take away by unscrewing one screw. For this it is advisable to first block the blade holder with a wooden wedge. This prevents the gear from turning when I unscrew its metal cover. And once I take the metal cover away I can change the electric planer belt. And again I have to block the blades of the electric planer when I put the metal cover back in place once the new belt is already on.
The trick to fitting the toothed belt is to tuck the edge into the top of the outer half of the smaller gear. The edge is then pushed into the side of the bigger gear, and the gears are rotated so that the belt is fully engaged on the bigger gear. All I have to do now is push the toothed belt down, screw the metal cover on the gear and put the plastic housing back on.
-> See here how to change and adjust the blades of the electric planer.
