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Planer feed rollers

Tony Baideme

Tony Baideme

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I was going to highjack my own thread, but on the same machine. That didn't work well so here is my newest thread.

What do others do to keep the feed rollers gripping the wood and feeding smoothly and continuously? At times, mine literally stops and I have to pull the material along from the outfeed side, of course keeping my hands in the clear. Replacement rollers seem to be getting unobtainable, but my supplier is going to keep looking for me.

In the meantime, what can I do to get the roller surfaces stickier? Any thoughts on maybe wrapping self adhesive sand sandpaper ( like would be done on a drum sander)?

I am open to trying suggestions from the "family".

Aloha, Tony
 
In case you missed it in the other thread, I've had good success using denatured alcohol to clean the rubber feed rollers in my Delta lunchbox planer. :thumb:
 
+1 on DNA but, waxing the tables/platen is a cure as well. Does the wood going through the planer have a smooth jointed face down? If so, a slick surface shouldn't need much grip to feed things through . . . hmmm, are the knives nice and sharp? Anytime I have to muscle material through a cutter, I check for cutter sharpness and surface slickness.
 
This is clear out of woodworking, however, it might give you a good idea.

When I was in Jr. High School I worked after school repairing typewriters. You have heard of typewriters? They show up in old black and white movies in the editorial room in the newspaper scenes.

Anyway the platen (round, cylindrical, rubber part of the typewriter where the mechanical keys struck the paper) would, over time form a hard crust. The cure was to soak some black, I would guess 400 grit, sandpaper with alcohol. Take an entire sheet of the paper in your hand, curve it around the platen and stroke the platen bach and forth while rotating it back and forth. This would remove the "crust" and the platen could pull the paper through the machine again.

This would last through an entire year of typing classes at the High School. Most of the machines did not need to have it done after only one year.

The entire point of that disjointed description was: When the student hit the return lever, to turn the platen, to feed the paper up one line to be ready to type the next line, the platen glaze would just slip on the paper and not feed it up. Alcohol sanding the platen made it work just like new and it would last a long time.

I hope this helps you.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
I recently planed a bunch of SYP and the feed rollers had pitch buildup on them. Ammonia took it right off, really improved the traction of the rollers, and cleared my sinuses as a side benefit. :D
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Vaughn, I have tried DNA, very short term results. Even a lacquer thinner wash.

Glenn, The boards have one side jointed first and that side is down going through the planer. The platen is clean, smooth and slick. This doesn't happen with every board either. And when I have to pull the piece through, I need to pull pretty hard. The knives are new and sharp and set properly.

Jim, I have tried alcohol with Scotchbrite, and light sandpapering too.

Larry, the platen has been checked and as I mentioned above, this doesn't happen every time.

Roger, this material is all dry red oak and jointed on one face. I am planing no boards over 4" wide, and most are 1.5.or 2 inches wide. Taking light cuts, but cutting on every pass.

I am going to pull the rollers out of the planer and do some close ckecking. Anybody see anything wrong with trying PSA sandpaper strips wound on each roller like a drum sander? I wonder what grit I would need to try to avoid leaving dents on the wood surface?

Gotta try something. I am needing this planer more all the time. (Flatwork Larry, LOL)

Much mahalos gentlemen. Aloha
 
Bob, good question, but the only belt is a "timing" type belt from the motor to the cutter head. That is good shape at proper tension and not slipping. The cutter head runs consistantly. Now, the rollers are all chain driven and no problems found there either.

I am going to recheck everything and I will post my findings.

Thank you.
 
I'd recommend Johnson's paste wax on the table. Mine had similar issues. Even though my table seemed clear and fine to me, after waxing it, everything worked perfectly. One can of wax will last you many years. It also won't contaminate the wood with silicates, which effect finishing later on.
 
This is going to be an interesting fix. Something is causing drag somewhere if the rollers are turning but not feeding. Could be that the rollers are just hard or burnished and when they encounter the right surface plus the right amount of drag and a butterfly flaps its wings on a beach in Bali; presto, perfect storm and no feed. I will be interested in the cause/cure and hope it reveals itself soon ;-)
 
Oh dear, I cannot believe this thread is almost a year old already.

Well, I tried all the tricks to get the plate of the planer slick and slippery. Everything I tried seemed to make it stick, even though it felt very smooth.

I gave up, and didn't use the planer until needing it today. I took the stainless steel plate out and washed it off with mineral spirits. That was to remove any old wax from before. Then I was going to try re-waxing it again, but stopped, and thought about trying polishing the plate. I used my automotive polishing compound with a 7" slow speed sander/buffer. The lamb's wool buffing pad turned black, but the plate got very smooth. I was going to apply wax again but decided to install the plate in the planer and run some pieces of pine I needed thicknessed.

Well, these pieces fed through as they are supposed to with no sticking. I think I will forego using anything on the plate for now and see how slippery it stays.

I hope this helps others with the same problem, even though I took forever to come up with a solution. I have my old planer back working good again.

Aloha, Tony
 
Jim C Bradley said:
This is clear out of woodworking, however, it might give you a good idea.

When I was in Jr. High School I worked after school repairing typewriters. You have heard of typewriters? They show up in old black and white movies in the editorial room in the newspaper scenes.

Anyway the platen (round, cylindrical, rubber part of the typewriter where the mechanical keys struck the paper) would, over time form a hard crust. The cure was to soak some black, I would guess 400 grit, sandpaper with alcohol. Take an entire sheet of the paper in your hand, curve it around the platen and stroke the platen bach and forth while rotating it back and forth. This would remove the "crust" and the platen could pull the paper through the machine again.

This would last through an entire year of typing classes at the High School. Most of the machines did not need to have it done after only one year.

The entire point of that disjointed description was: When the student hit the return lever, to turn the platen, to feed the paper up one line to be ready to type the next line, the platen glaze would just slip on the paper and not feed it up. Alcohol sanding the platen made it work just like new and it would last a long time.

I hope this helps you.

Enjoy,

JimB
Click to expand...

Jim i must be getting old too cause i still know what a typewriter is and even had to do the same as u did at school but in the army :)
Sorry for hijack Toni...hope u find problem.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
 
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