Powermatic 201 Planer Feed Issues

[boonesyard]

I purchased a used (in excellent condition) Powermatic 201 22" planer with straight knives. We've had it for about 4 months and planed a fair bit of material with it. We've always had some issues with it feeding. Some boards will feed, others are iffy and seem to catch/stop feeding and you have to help it along. Even milled boards that we're just thickness planing will catch. I just installed new knives, took a few hours and set up the infeed, cutterhead head, pressure bar and outfeed according to the manual specs. We are currently running an order of 1" white oak 3-1/2" x 12' boards, but they still will not feed properly. I've adjusted the pressure bar up, I've dropped the infeed roller lower and tightened the springs, pretty much tried everything I can think of, with not much change. I'm going to give the table another coat of wax tonight, but looking for any wisdom or pointers out there? 

[alan gage]

You'll get more informed answers from others but after recently getting a power feeder I've noticed that sometimes more down pressure makes for more feed problems. That presumably the friction created from the excessive down force more than counteracts the extra traction.

Not necessarily recommending you back off the feed rollers to less than spec but that putting them above spec could possibly have the opposite effect of what you'd expect.

I don't hear a lot of talk about planer feed rollers but I suppose they could get hard/glazed with age and use. With power feeders the answer seems to be replacement wheels of a softer/more grippy material. Mine feeds fine on rougher stock but really starts to have issues on stuff that's already been planed.

The only times I've had feed 'problems' on my Woodmaster planer was running multiple boards when one wouldn't feed without help.

Alan

[dchiapin]

I have them same machine, I have had that problem and finally figured it out.
My problem but maybe not yours was the rollers on the bottom where not adjusted to the maximum upward position that they should be in so when the upper rollers pushed down they just literally pushed the board down flat on the table and did not allow the board to run smoothly through the cutters.

[muggs]

I have the Powermatic 16 inch planer. I have to keep the pressure bar blocked up to get it feed. You might have to do that.

[boonesyard]

Got it to run perfectly, thanks for help. I raised the infeed a bit, had already raised the pressure bar, and waxed the bed. Ran 600 BF of white oak last night without missing a beat. Sure is nice when you don't have to fight it  .

[teakwood]

I can plan teakwood for about half an hour and then the table needs wax again, or push the boards by hand

[boonesyard]

Yea, we plane about 2 hrs or so, then we rewax, it's been working very well. Now I just need to upgrade to a helical head, it's going to happen sooner than later  ;D. 

[YellowHammer]

I only wax my bed infrequently. Weeks or so apart.  What is happening to cause you to rewax?

The 201 shouldn't need it except to keep the bed from rusting.  Is it having trouble feeding besides the original issue?  Have you cleaned the debris between the bed rollers and the bed roll slots in the bed?  Are the bed rollers spinning freely by hand?  They are very prone to dragging and jamming and causing reduced feeding.  

The bed rollers should not retract more than a couple thousandths shy of flush with the bed, because of jamming and snipe issues.

If you chamfer the bed rollers cutouts, it will reduce catching the leading edge of the board.  

The pressure bar adjustment is critical, it should only be about the thickness of a coat of paint above the top of the board.  

[boonesyard]

Ya know, I have to admit that I just never cleaned out the grooves on the front and back sides of the bed rollers without waxing the bed at the same time. We'll be back on it after work tonight, I'll just clean it up and try without waxing, duh say_what.

The bed rollers turn freely and I've got the pressure bar set just a whisker above. Thanks YH

[YellowHammer]

I'm probably just saying what you already know, but the bed rollers should be about halfway up for planing most wood, especially rough sawn.  Rough sawn basically should not touch the bed or only lightly. 

For normal planing they should always be up a little, maybe a quarter.

Only for fine finish planing should they be level with the bed. 

Continually planing on the cast iron bed will wear it out prematurely, and isn't necessary for most boards.  

[farmfromkansas]

Check with Grizzly for your helical cutterheads, they sell them for several different machines.  And I would buy the Grizzly cutterhead instead of the Byrd, I have one of each, and the Grizzly head never has broken a cutter, and last time I cleaned and turned them, 2 of the Byrd cutters were cracked, and fell apart when I turned them.