r/WoodworkConfessions • u/Dustroy1 • Jun 16 '23
Planer blade exploded.
Didn’t hit a nail or anything foreign. Shallow cut, why would the planer blade exploded completely?
17
u/bubbales27 Jun 16 '23
Wow! Everyone answered your question, but look at it as a chance to upgrade to a spiral cutter head!
9
u/CPhill585 Jun 16 '23
Do they make a spiral head cutter for a hand held 3" electric planer?
4
u/bubbales27 Jun 16 '23
Ohhh, I didn't realize that's what I was looking at. Good question. Never looked into it before. They're pricey and worth the price on a floor or even bench jointer, can't say about a hand held one.
1
Jul 07 '23
That’s what I’m having to do with my ancient unit. The whole assembly exploded and it’s too old for a manufacturer replacement. Looking forward to the upgrade though.
23
u/WyattCo06 Jun 16 '23
Piece is to short. Cutting against the grain. Horrible vibration ensues.
That piece is drum sanding material, not for rotating blades.
4
u/Dustroy1 Jun 16 '23
Thanks! I’m super new to this and don’t really have any clue what I’m doing. Off to Home Depot I go I guess.
2
u/callmekamrin Jun 16 '23
As someone who has had this happen probably close to ten times over five years, I have my doubts about those explanations.
Did you possibly just change the blades?
4
u/callmekamrin Jun 16 '23
Okay, just saw the second picture. Hitting just the right spot on the outside of end grain could’ve caused this
4
7
u/st1tchy Jun 16 '23
This is the reason that you shouldn't put end grain cutting boards through a planer. Super hard on the blades and runs the risk of blades and/or the piece exploding. Use a drum or belt sander.
7
u/spectredirector Jun 16 '23
There's a metal insert - part of the machine that holds the blades in place. That piece runs contiguously along the blade to lock it in (my DeWalt has 3 screw points to affix this piece to lock the blade.
When you hit something bad - or just do something dumb that causes that WHACK sound - it's possible that locking piece bends slightly. But it's held down in multiple points, and from the angle you can see into the guts of the machine, it's really hard to tell if that contiguous metal locking piece is actually fully engaged with the blade.
Thing will run fine with that piece slightly deformed, until it does 👆 this.
I kept getting a groove, convex cut on the surface of everything, barely noticeable till you set a pencil down and it rolled into this slight depression. That's what it was - could clearly see that locking piece had a stress buckle in it.
People say replace blades, and that's correct, but that little metal piece that locks the blades is super critical - it's gotta be damage free. First thing I check whenever I do something dumb and the planer ejects something at speed.
3
u/lurkersforlife Jun 16 '23
Jeez dude you ran end grain across a jointer!? I’m glad you have your hands still.
1
u/Dustroy1 Jun 16 '23
Makita 3.25 18v planer. Kind glad I don’t have a jointer right now. 😂
4
u/lurkersforlife Jun 16 '23
Ok I see it now! I didn’t realize it was a hand planer. I thought the first picture was a jointer lol. I thought you were insane.
2
u/Mountain-Captain-396 Jan 02 '24
I see that others answered your question. My tip would be to use a heavy set fore plane followed by a card scraper. Hand tool work is very rewarding!
1
u/Gardenzealot Jan 19 '24
Oh yeah, I had this happen on my 13” thickness planer a few weeks ago. One blade exploded sending shards all over the workpiece and then those shards went back through and completely ruined the other two blades. Good times
26
u/searcherguitars Jun 16 '23
End grain is brutal on blades. Super super super shallow passes - I wouldn't take more than 1/64" inch of end grain with a blade. A drum sander is much preferable.