Quick and Easy Blade Changes on the AP1300... (perhaps in bizaro world)

now that is a really quick and effective blade change! lol! thanks for the post.

That’s crazy, Damian! BTW, awesome picture of you grinding the slot in the hex screw. How’d you do both at the same time (taking the pic and grinding).

-- Kevin

I know, absolutely ridiculous. I did the grinder pic with a ten second timer, and the camera propped up on a block of wood.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Nice little new tool you got there! Great little video.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Pretty funny…and painful. But, all is well that ends well.

Did you lube those buggers with anything?

Are the knives, at least “quick-set,” (i.e., did they have pins to align them?) or are you going to have to break out some of your mad knife setting skills...

What is it with you and Allen wrenches? Love/Hate, eh?

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

wow that sucks…and to think—-we go into the shop to RELAX…sometimes at least…may your next two days in the shop be spent enjoying every moment…actually two straight frustrating days should equal about 20 ugly ones…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

In for a penny, in for a pounding.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

The knives are quick set Dorje, and they were reversible, I doused it with WD40 many a time before going this route. This is a common problem with these planers.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

I finally got mine loose with a with a high dollar machinists grade allen wrench and, believe it or not, an 18” cheater bar made from 3/8 inch pipe. By the way, I had to buy the allen wrench as a set. Go figure. bbqKing

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville

THANKS DAMIAN…as I read and wrote my comments yesterday about your frsutrations I was literally itching to get home and into my garage to open up three huge boxes I had just received—-my new (used) shopsmith pro planer…well today I got home early enough to tear open the boxes and start putting my big purcahse together…

Each time I ran into trouble i thought: “ok…this aint nothin’.....damian struggled with one screw for two days and persevered…I can put table legs together!!!”

Well…the stand is complete…the planer is mounted…all ready to go…then I hear the one of the worst things a wood worker can hear—-”DINNER!” (well of course there are many worse things)...this is not a bad thing to hear…but just when I was ready to get to the next set of directions and maybe turn the thing on…I had to quit for the night…

Probably a very good thing since I still havent gotten this far in the manual…

Thanks for this story…you kept me going at times while i was laying on my back trying to turn a screw sneazing dust…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

I wonder how hex bits would work with the PS40. I managed to remove a water pump one time WITHOUT breaking any screws by using an impact wrench, the impact seems to loosen them without over torquing them

To prevent problems next time invest in a nice big jar of antiseize. That stuff goes on EVERYTHING, and worth every cent too

talk Ryobi into using torx; much less likely to strip than an allan, though much more expensive

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

yeah so about torx …. when i was putting together my bench …. pics are on my site….. anyway i decided that i should use torx head screws cuz there tuf righttttt. so just about 17 bits and screws later i decided to that all things made in china that are sold at a HARDWARE store should be hard….. well im thinking just based on my experience and your own that there must be some lead slipping into our driver bits …. good luck

-- to the endeavor

damian

You dont know how funny this is . I have the same planer and tried taking the blades out this past monday .I got all the screws out but one the allen screw rounded out so i plulled out the dremel and cut my slot thought i was going to strip the head again .Well i got it off and all is good . Just thought it was funny that i just went thru the same thing 3 days ago .

Hey Fred, I’m sure a hex bit in the PS40 would have worked just fine but I couldn’t find one (4mm) that didn’t come in a kit with a gazillion pieces. I’d take Torx or Square over an allen head any day of the week.

That’s funny Matt :) I should put one of those inspiration posters together :)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Just wondering, did you send a copy of a link of your video to your friends at Ryobi? Their customer service department may send you a new unit, perhaps the dewal 735 for your troubles

-- I love the smell of sawdust in the morning....

That’s a great idea, I’ll do that.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Thanks for a good laugh at 5:00 am in the morn. Glad it worked out ok in the end,

Take care

-- Keep your tools sharp, your mind sharper and the coffee hot

You know I worked on cars for 12 years, and this is the kind of thing that I always feared. It seems things like this only happen when you have a few days to try and accomplish something, then chaos strikes!! This is the prime reason I don’t work on the car on Sundays anymore. I own a Delta 13” planer, and the blade change on mine went smoothly, much to my bad luck. I had a similar problem with my Delta hollow chisel mortiser. It seems the plunge arm is attached to the gear mechanism with a roll pin. Well the roll pin cracked in half, and I couldn’t find one at Home Depot(it is a metric roll pin). So I bought a bolt, and a nut, and put it in there, and finished mortising. The next day I called Delta to order a roll pin, and a new arbor (had to partially drill the old roll pin out. Well they were backordered for 5 months, and I just got it a few weeks ago. They brilliant guys at Delta redesigned the roll pin so that it isn’t hollow anymore, thus it won’t crush and collapse anymore, and I am now back in business. I wonder what tomorrow will bring???

-- Matt, Houston Texas

After reading some of the nightmare comments about removing blades from the AP1300 and watching the video that showed a very desperate procedure, to say the least, I decided to remove and reinstall mine as a preliminary operation before they got so worn that I would be in serious straights in the middle of a project down the line.

Rather than use the supplied Ryobi wrench, or even a standard L-shaped allen wrench, I installed a premium 4 mm allen tip in my impact wrench and proceded to VERY easily remove each screw that way. An impact wrench basically jars the screws loose and does so before the head or tip can deform. I also pulled each blade and cleaned it and also cleaned the mounting bosses and clamps (acetone did the trick) and then reinstalled everything. The allen screws were absolutely pristine after this operation.

My only beef against the planer, which has worked very well so far, is the cost of replacement blades. The price is considerably more than replacement blades for the more expensive Ridgid TP1300 planer, which I find peculiar. Ryobi stuff is supposed to be reasonably priced. The Ridgid blades are also heftier and obviously cost more to make. However, the Ryobi blades still cost more.

Ryobi should be ashamed.

Howard Ferstler

I phoned Ryobi today to get a price for a pair of AP1300 blades and the quote was $41, which is even higher than it had been before. Given that I have seen blades for the more expensive Ridgid TP1300 planer on sale at HD for $29, I think that Ryobi should remain ashamed. Interestingly, I recently saw single-blade (not double-blade) packs for Delta 12.5-inch planers on sale at HD for $25 each. Can they get that much for those suckers?

Howard Ferstler

Sounds like my experience. After grinding off the screw heads so I could remove the blade holder, I had to drill out most of the screws. I replaced all the screws with stainless steel hex head bolts which are much easier to remove.

-- Robert in middle TN

Replacement blades are available cheaper at HomeDepot online

-- Robert in middle TN

Type in the search box on the HD website 6660664 and you will get the replacement blades. Just got my set in the mail today. $19.91 +free shipping. Good luck.

I thought I would have all your problems and things were really tight so I used some WD40, sprayed, prayed, and waited a few minutes. The siupplied wrench worked just fine and I was able to change the blades without stripping anything and I didn’t even have to buy new blades because the blades on the machine are double edged so I just reversed them.

Thanks…
Manuel