I have a Ridgid R4330 thickness planer and love it. However, I need some
advice.

I bought the planer back in January and finally had to reverse the knives on
it. That is when I realized I had a problem. The knives are held in with
domed top allen screws. These are not designed to stand up under a lot of
torque, especially being as shallow as they are. I found two that were in
so tight I could not break them loose, and there is no way to get a pair of
vice grips on them. Add to that, one of the two "rounded out" on me. It
being still under warranty, I took it back to Home Depot and let them
wrestle with it.

That is the problem.

Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

Thanks

Deb

Thanks

"Dr. Deb" wrote
Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. I do, however
have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on my Delta planer.
Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not ungodly tight. They are now
easily removed with the torx driver in a normal manner. I cannot imagine
why the factory put them so tight.

"Dr. Deb" wrote in message
...
I have a Ridgid R4330 thickness planer and love it. However, I need some
advice.

I bought the planer back in January and finally had to reverse the knives
on
it. That is when I realized I had a problem. The knives are held in with
domed top allen screws. These are not designed to stand up under a lot of
torque, especially being as shallow as they are. I found two that were in
so tight I could not break them loose, and there is no way to get a pair
of
vice grips on them. Add to that, one of the two "rounded out" on me. It
being still under warranty, I took it back to Home Depot and let them
wrestle with it.

That is the problem.

Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

Thanks

Deb

Thanks


Is it possible that you used the wrong size allen wrench? (SAE instead of
metric, or the reverse)
A quality socket head cap screw (grade 8 [or 10.9 metric] ) should not be
that easy to cam out)
I wouldn't hesitate to replace the screws with the same type screw but in a
higher quality.
for *example*:
http://tinyurl.com/2c8aqzr (in SAE thread)

Max

Perhaps some thermal shock on them? A shot of 60 below spray?


"Max" wrote in message
eb.com...
Is it possible that you used the wrong size allen wrench? (SAE instead of
metric, or the reverse)
A quality socket head cap screw (grade 8 [or 10.9 metric] ) should not be
that easy to cam out)
I wouldn't hesitate to replace the screws with the same type screw but in a
higher quality.
for *example*:
http://tinyurl.com/2c8aqzr (in SAE thread)

Max

In article , Ed
Pawlowski wrote:

"Dr. Deb" wrote
Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. I do, however
have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on my Delta planer.
Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not ungodly tight. They are now
easily removed with the torx driver in a normal manner. I cannot imagine
why the factory put them so tight.

I had the same problem with my Delta. Fortunately my wife's cousin has
a tool repair business and was able to bust them loose for me.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in
:


"Dr. Deb" wrote
Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to
use cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733
(yes this was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if
they might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. I do,
however have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on my
Delta planer. Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not ungodly
tight. They are now easily removed with the torx driver in a normal
manner. I cannot imagine why the factory put them so tight.


I had the same problem with my DeWalt. Why are those things so tight? I
wouldn't imagine they'd need to be more than 1/4 turn past snug. I had
to take them off with my impact driver.

I still need to get in touch with DeWalt and ask them to send me some
replacements for the ones that stripped.

Puckdropper

On 12/22/2010 5:58 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Dr. Deb" wrote
Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. I do, however
have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on my Delta
planer. Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not ungodly tight.
They are now easily removed with the torx driver in a normal manner. I
cannot imagine why the factory put them so tight.

so they don't take any chance of them coming loose and getting sued.

dave wrote in
:

On 12/22/2010 5:58 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Dr. Deb" wrote
Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to
use cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733
(yes this was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if
they might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. I do,
however have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on
my Delta planer. Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not
ungodly tight. They are now easily removed with the torx driver in a
normal manner. I cannot imagine why the factory put them so tight.

so they don't take any chance of them coming loose and getting sued.


It's been my experience that screws that are too tight often let go and
things start moving extremely quickly. If your hand is down in the
machine (where the bolts are, eh?) the chance of hitting something is
pretty good.

I guess it's a way to shift responsibility. If the user can't remove the
tools with the chosen (included?) tool, it's his fault. If the machine
suddenly lets go, it's the company's fault.

Puckdropper

On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:32:33 -0600, "Dr. Deb"
wrote:

I have a Ridgid R4330 thickness planer and love it. However, I need some
advice.

I bought the planer back in January and finally had to reverse the knives on
it. That is when I realized I had a problem. The knives are held in with
domed top allen screws. These are not designed to stand up under a lot of
torque, especially being as shallow as they are. I found two that were in
so tight I could not break them loose, and there is no way to get a pair of
vice grips on them. Add to that, one of the two "rounded out" on me. It
being still under warranty, I took it back to Home Depot and let them
wrestle with it.

That is the problem.

Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

Thanks

Deb

Thanks


I had the same problem with my delta portable. I drilled the heads off
and the screws came right out. I replaced them with the same type from
ace. If memory serves they were 6x19 or 6x20 metric. The factory
screws are crap. I replaced all of them for a few bucks and have not
had a problem since. They need to be tight but not gorrilla tight! ;-]

skeez

To one and all, thanks for the input and advice. I am glad for three things

1) I am not the only one with this problem

2) There is an easy fix

3) This group exists

Thanks again

Deb





Dr. Deb wrote:

I have a Ridgid R4330 thickness planer and love it. However, I need some
advice.

I bought the planer back in January and finally had to reverse the knives
on
it. That is when I realized I had a problem. The knives are held in with
domed top allen screws. These are not designed to stand up under a lot of
torque, especially being as shallow as they are. I found two that were in
so tight I could not break them loose, and there is no way to get a pair
of
vice grips on them. Add to that, one of the two "rounded out" on me. It
being still under warranty, I took it back to Home Depot and let them
wrestle with it.

That is the problem.

Here is the question. Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if
they might work here.

Thanks

Deb

Thanks

On Dec 22, 4:58*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"Dr. Deb" wrote

Here is the question. *Is there room in where to cutter head spins to use
cap screws instead of allen screws? *I know my old Dewalt 733 (yes this
was
a trade up in finish quality) used cap screws and I was wondering if they
might work here.

I don't have the answer to the question about cap screws. *I do, however
have a solution. I had a similar problem with the screws on my Delta planer.
Once I got them out, I put them back snug, not ungodly tight. *They are now
easily removed with the torx driver in a normal manner. * I cannot imagine
why the factory put them so tight.

Ed,

Therein lies the "real" solution. You say yours uses Torx head
screws. HALLELUJAH!!

Norm