HELP! Ryobi 1300 not feeding workpiece

[ejs1097]

Today's the first shop day I've had since May, horible isn't it? I'm planing down the faces of some boards to get a uniform thickness.

I used the thickness planner for my last project in May with no problems. Today it doesn't seem to want to feed. The front roller isn't grabbing the wood and sending it through. I have the cutter head locked, the cut depth is about 1/64" - 1/32" the replane indicator is at 1/2" (3/4" boards). If I try anything less the board doesn't hit the cutters or the rollers don't catch. Anything more and the wood just seems to get jammed since the rollers aren't grabbing it and seem to be getting in the way.

When I raise the cutter heads up higher to see and turn on the planer, the rollers are spinning slowly and the cutter head is also spinning.

I'm at a loss for what's going on. have you ever experienced this? or have any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

[jwaterdawg]

Umm, just to be absolutely sure: you are feeding the stock from the correct side?

[afortune]

you can try this...

I've run into this with a Delta 22-560, but only when planing a hard, slippery wood like maple under 3/4" thick. I raised the cutterhead and ran my pieces through on a melamine shelf board. That seemed to reduce the friction against the table so the front roller didn't slip. My rollers seem to work best when the thickness is above 1" in general, so I often run boards through on a sled anyway.

Good luck!

Andy

[ejs1097]

Umm, just to be absolutely sure: you are feeding the stock from the correct side?

Yes I am running them through on the correct side.

I also tried a new piece of pine, old pine, and a 2x4. same problem on all of them.

[gsmittle]

Could be the front roller is dirty and losing friction. I usually run stuff under 3/4" on a sled, too.

g.

[SARGE..g-47]

As GS mentioned.... clean the rollers and wax the table as that is step 1 in trouble-shooting for that problem...

[jwaterdawg]

Okay, just had to be sure about the correct feed side. I have that exact planer and I have never had any problems like you describe.

To echo what other posters have mentioned you could try to run a thicker piece of stock through it. Just as a test you could use double sided tape to stick to 3/4 scrap boards together. See if it will take that.

What happens if you try to run 'em through with the cutterhead unlocked? You could also try, with the cutterhead unlocked, to get them to the point where they jam and then back off the cut depth a little to see if they grab.

I'll take a closer look at my planer when I get home to see if anything else comes to mind.

[LCHIEN]

don't know about the Ryobi, but most planers have a geared drive chain or belt coming from the planing motor to drive the rollers. Take off the side covers to see if the belt has broken or falle off the pulleys or gears.