Lateral Adjustment keeps slipping
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I’ve been given a nice old Stanley No.4 1/2 plane by a friend – it used to belong to his Dad. I’ve managed to clean it up and get it cutting nicely but I’m finding that no matter how I adjust things, the blade keeps slipping of of lateral adjustment. All the tensioning seems to be the same as my Stanley No.4 and I don’t have this problem at all with this plane. I’ve noticed the problem occurs even when planing quite soft woods.
Any one got any ideas what the problem could be? I’ve included a photo of the two Planes in case it’s of help.Keep Calm and have a Cup of Tea
I would start by removing all the parts, especially the frog and make sure there are no chips that are keeping things from tightening up.
Look for nicks in the metal and sand or file as needed.
When assembling the frog, make sure it is all the way forward and even with the slot in the sole. This will assure that the blade is seated properly then tighten the hell out of it.
Hopefully this will solve it.
Some of my planes have a little screw thru the side wall of the plane. This “locks” the blade from moving side to side. Not saying to tap a hole for this but perhaps a small wedge if the above dosn’t work.
Located in Honeoye Falls NY USA. The Finger Lakes region of Western NY.
"If you give me 6 hours to fell a tree, I will take the first 4 to sharpen my axe" Abe Lincoln
Thanks for the reply. I’ll strip it down and take another look. I’ll report back in case the findings are of any use to others on this site.
Keep Calm and have a Cup of Tea
In addition to Brett’s good suggestions, you may want to look at the little round disk which is riveted to to the end of the adjusting rod. Sometimes these wear out–they get so flat they don’t engage the slot in the blade. Strictly speaking, you don’t need a lateral adjustment lever, and I have a tiny hammer that I sometimes use for blade adjustment, just as you would for wooden planes. Your problem sounds like it’s more about tensioning the plane, and so I would be looking at the screw in the front of the frog–is it tight enough, and also is the lever cap functioning properly…sometimes the lever cap rides up partway off the tensioning screw, and this loosens up the plane. This could be either the cap or the screw, and it will help to look at the wear patterns. Sounds like quite a bit of detective work to do. You can also swap out the lever cap from the 4 [not permanently, just for diagnosis] and see what happens. Good luck.
Jon,
If it’s not the frog, or the adjuster as mentioned by Brett and jlmount, it could be a simple as tightening the screw to which the lever cap attaches a little more? I would also check to see if the blade, iron cap, and frog all seat together nicely. If there are gaps, it could reduce the amount of friction the lever cap can place on the blade assembly. Even if that’s the case, I would think the tighter you make the screw, eventually the lateral adjustment won’t creep. Then again, you might not be able to move it either. 😉
Wow. A lot of very useful ideas for things to consider. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken time to reply. I was away this weekend (birthday treat) so I haven’t yet had chance to try out your ideas. I’m hoping to get out to the workshop tomorrow night and do some investigating. I’ll also be playing with my nice new plough plane that my wife got me for my birthday.
Thanks again guys.
Keep Calm and have a Cup of Tea
If the helpful advice you have received already doesn’t work, I would measure the slot in the iron and ensure that it is compatible with the lateral adjustment lever on the plane. Also, the spring on the bottom of the lever cap may have been over tensioned and you could simply pry it out a little until the lever cap screw will be able to serve its purpose once again. Enabling you to tighten or loosen the pressure on the lever cap. Remember not to over tighten the lever cap screw. The iron should move by utilizing the lateral adjust lever but not during normal use of the plane. Hope this is helpful and makes sense to you.
I had some time to myself this weekend so I took the opportunity of looking in to this problem.
I stripped the whole plane down and discovered that there was a lot of wood working its way under the blade and into a gap between the underside of the blade and the frog. Stripping and cleaning this out showed that the frog was not properly seated on the bed (it had a small ding on one side); a few minutes work with a file resolved this problem and the frog now sits much better.
I also checked the spring on the back of the lever cap and it did seem to be a bit iffy so I eased it away from the cap to give it back a bit of life. The tensioning of the blade does feel much better and the lateral adjuster is not ‘sticky’ anymore.
I sharpened the blade and tested the rebuilt plane on an Oak board. I figure if it can handle that it’ll handle anything else I’ll ever throw at it. It now cuts beautifully and the blade so far has stayed put.
Thanks again to everyone who bothered to give me some advice it was much appreciated.
Keep Calm and have a Cup of Tea
sounds like you will be making some nicely planed projects now Jon cant wait to see them in the gallery well done
Eddy .. Liverpool, Merseyside, UK
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