HL 850 a little help

[Gipiv]

Hi,
a newbie here. I have an old HL 850 and I am just beginning to familiarize myself with this planer. On my first job I noticed a coouple of odd things.
1. When the blade is set in the P mode it seems that it protrudes a slight bit (img*0703 and*0847)
2. When I place a stright edge over the plane of the machine as you can see by the images img*0853 to 1054) it seems bowed.

Is all of this normal ?

I only checked this as I was have problems planing a surface that ended up not being uniform (img*1124, I know that the slanting was probably due to how I was holding the planer) and from that I noticed that the depths were different even the the measurment was blocked.
Thanks for your help

 

[luvmytoolz]

With the plane upside down, if you put pressure on the very front edge of the front plate does it tilt a little?

The front plate is attached by a rod with a bolt through it for the depth adjustment, and usually has a little bit of movement as a result.

With the slanted result on the timber, this could be technique, but also could be that the mylar anti-friction sleeve around the rod in the front plate has become worn/damaged and is allowing a bit extra flex as a result depending on where the pressure is applied. Opening the planer to inspect the mylar sleeve isn't trivial, and might actually cause further damage to it. Is there any noticeable play on the front plate in all directions?

 

[Gipiv]

Thanks so much for your reply,
I checked, it's rock solid. Only the back of the front plate has a little movement, tilting towards the cutting drum. In the picture I am actually squeezing the back end of the front plate.
Perhaps this is normal ?