Planer gouging boards

[RK Ron]

Hi Fellas'
Got a powermatic p/m 15" and I'm havin' trouble w/the feed- seems the boards "catch" or stick momentarily, just enough for the planer blades to gouge the board, sometimes a heavy 1/16".  It's radom, but certainly present when I try to go anything deeper than 1/32".  Last board I passed thru had OVER 9 gouges in 8'-0".  I went thru the adjustments in the manual, made my own spacer block for guaging, etc.  Then I called the tech's @ powermatic, who were sympathetic, (more like pathetic to me) but offered little encouragement.  The "catch" or hesitation of feed is not rythmatic, nor does it seem to have a pattern. Trying different boards makes little if any difference.  O.K., I'm stumped- and I'm back to using the 1987 grizzly 20" w/2 sets of earplugs and cotton for nose bleed- Gosh that thing is loud...
Help
RKRon

[Fla._Deadheader]

How smooth is the mill cuts on your boards ???  I don't presently have infeed-outfeed tables on my planer, and a rough(er) spot on the board, will catch on the front edge of the planer table. Happens on rough (er) boards pretty regular.  : :

  I take smaller first cuts to get a smoother surface, then go for the deeper cuts.

[flip]

I have similar problem with my 20" Griz.  Board will get about 3/4 the way through without a hitch then just stop.  If I lift up on the board it seems like the outfeed roller will grab and pull it the rest of the way through. Don't know if that's what you got or not but I think my bed rollers are set a wee too high.  As for snipe I usually have to lift up slightly on the board as it exits and have no problems.

[bedway]

Depends on your feed roller material and their condition. If they are rubber or neoprene you need to clean them well with denatured alcohol, with a rag. Make sure your bed is clean and wax it with a good paste wax,,,,bedway

[Justin L]

It sounds like either the chipbreaker in front of the cutterhead, or the pressure bar after the cutterhead are too low. If they are too high you will get more snipe, and to low the board sticks. If the bed rollers are too low and the table needs waxed, the board will stick too. Planers seem like they need constant adjustment to keep working like they should.

Could the bed roller bearings be bad? Maybe the adjustments are too loose if the board is getting gouged that deep( I just reread the post). If the board sticks and the adjustments are too tight, then the knives will burn but not dig in.

[RK Ron]

Thanks Fellas-  I'll check the the chipbreaker and pressure bar again.  Table does need a wax job, but I'll have to do that after the wife goes to bed-  if she see's me waxing my tools after ALL these years of vehicle neglect, I'm cooked!
That gouging thing bothers me also.  My experience is that the knives will "burn" too.  Guess I'll look into that again.  Know a easy way to check for bad roller bearings?  Thanks for the response Justin

Bedway- Rollers are noeoprene, I believe.  There is a groove made from over use of a moulding run, but I don't believe it is a size that is detrimental to general planing.  Cleaning the machine rollers?  Is that like flossing your teeth?  When the dental hygenist asks me if I floss, I tell her it's her job.  I do need to develope better diciplines towards maintainence.  Lemme check--

Flip-  Yeah, my ol'e grizz tells me how to treat it too..  Bought it used years ago for $750.00 and the first thing I did to it was tip the *#!!x thing over on a concrete floor.  Just sold it for $700.00 and am using it like crazy until the new owner wires up a 220 line for it.

Florida Ded hdr-  Gosh that lumber pile is crap!  Rotted logs to start, Knots twistin' up the boards, twist, cup, and bow- looks like there was no weight put on the stack.  Did I mention wavy cuts?  Whoever milled this needs another occupation.  (I should have a better self-image than this)

Thanks for all your help- I'll post back w/results-  RKRon

[Justin L]

My response is worth every penney you paid for it Other than spinning the roller to see if it rolls smooth, I just look for the little ball bearings rolling around on the floor- that tells me something is wrong somewhere...I just wait until a machine grinds to a halt then I know which one it is!

I try to wax feed tables every 500-1000BF or every couple weeks whichever comes first. It will make boards slide over a jointer very smoothly. It also takes a load off the feed drive on the planer.

Sometimes I think I'm smart for being able to do all the things I do, but then I think the guy who goes to Lowes & gets his job done is pretty smart too... :-[

[pappy]

Hey Ron, Welcome ta da bestest forum on da web !!!!!!!!!!

My first thought of your planer probs is humidity ????? Second is improper feed roller tension...

Try this ole thread maybe you'll find some help in here ??? If knot let's dig deeper till we find out... OK

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=6156.msg85532#msg85532

[jgoodhart]

I have a little 13" grizzly planer / molder with rubber feed rolls and hard woods and when the blades get dull I always need to assist with the board feed. Kind of got tired of that and put the planer in semi retirment and use it just as a molder and picked up a 89 Bridgewood 20" planer with steel feed rolls to do the planing work 8)

[pineywoods]

Woodmaster has a real neat fix for the sticking feed problem.  they have an optional plastic overlay that fits on top of the table, fastens down with four recessed screws. The stuff is called HDPE, about 1/4 inch thick and slicker than snot. should be an easy fix to apply to any planner available in sheets from most plastics suppliers.

[MikeH]

 Pineywoods you rock, I tried what you said and bought a piece of 3/8" HDPE for my grizzly planer. Best $50 ever spent on planer upgrade. 

Before when I sent boards through planer I had to have the rollers up for it to feed through, and when the rollers were up they would push up on the saw marks making a washboard effect.  Now I dropped the rollers, clamped on a piece of HDPE and send the boards through.  They had no problems pulling through on the slicker then snot board.  Washboard gone.  Yip, yip, horray.   smiley_turkey_dancing pinkie_invert smiley_fiddler smiley_angel02_wings smiley_bouncing smiley_biggrin01