20" Planer feeding issues

[Craig D Peltier]

I have the Powermatic 20" planer. I recently asked about an issues with the planer on one side cutting tunnles in the wood every 5 inches.I found the culprit , glued on stick on roller. Thanks

Now I wonder what to adjust or what the adjustment should be for the wood to pull itself through. I fight pushing it in and taking it out. Only taking off 3/32 at most. I was told on my last post that theres these 4 set screws , 2 on each side , when you fully take them out they have springs in them , this controls the infeed and outfeed roller pressure. I was told that they need to have the same amount of turns in on all 4 to be equal.
I tried backing off and then seeting deeper and neither seemed to help much.Im only talking one full turn. There currently about 1/8th below surface maybe 3/16.
My rollers are fairly clean. The wood sometimes pull through 3 feet and then I need to push it again an that happens alot. Every board.

Thanks

[Paul Murphy]

Would that be “the” model 221 20” planer,
http://www.owwm.com/mfgindex/pubdetail.aspx?id=1295 (http://www.owwm.com/mfgindex/pubdetail.aspx?id=1295)

or “the” model 209 20" Planer?
http://content.powermatic.com/manuals/1791296_man.pdf (http://content.powermatic.com/manuals/1791296_man.pdf)

Anyway, 3/32” is a pretty heavy cut. The larger the cut, the greater the odds of tearout.

Feed - In addition to the feed roller pressure:
If your stock is not face jointed, you will probably have to raise your bed rollers to reduce friction from the rough stock. You can lower the bed rollers some after the first pass.
You can also check the pressure bar height, and make sure it isn’t set too low. Same check for the chip breaker.
http://wiki.owwm.com/Getting%20Peak%20Planer%20Performance.ashx (http://wiki.owwm.com/Getting%20Peak%20Planer%20Performance.ashx)

[Ray Dockrey]

Have you tried taking lighter passes? 3/32" sure sounds like a lot for each pass but I have a lunchbox planer and so I make shallower cuts like a 1/32" at a time. It may be different with the big planers.

[Jeff Duncan]

I had a "heavy" duty 20" Bridgewood planer w/ the spiral insert head. Very similar to the Powermatic 209 if not a little beefier. It was good for about 1/16"th max in hardwoods. These planers aren't really built or powered for taking large bites out of hardwoods. Set your rollers back to the factory specs and try taking smaller bites and see if it doesn't improve the feed.
I now have a 9 hp 20" machine and it'll take a 1/8" pass in oak without even working. Of course this machine would have been over $10k new so kinda different animal altogether:D
JeffD

[Abe Hachmann]

I have the exact planer that you do. I experienced feed problems when the bed rollers were set too low. I also added a coat of wax to the tables and that made a huge difference. When planing jointed material with the tables well waxed I set the bed rollers flush for a snipe free finish. When starting with rough lumber I set the rollers at their highest position. I haven't adjusted the infeed and out feed pressures from the factory settings. It shouldn't make a difference how much material you take off the pressure applied by the rollers will be constant. I take off 3/32" without problems of bogging down all the time. Tearout is greater on the deeper cuts though.

[Panos Galikas]

I bought my 20" planer (general international 30-300) used so I had some issues, there was snipe on one end and I would need assist wood half way through the machine. I went to owwm and downloaded this Getting Peak Planer Performance - OWWM Knowledge Base (Wiki) (http://wiki.owwm.com/Default.aspx?Page=Getting%20Peak%20Planer%20Perfor mance&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1). It is also available on FWW if you have a subscription. I purchased a dial indicator and made the adjustment blocks suggested. I adjusted everything as is indicated in the picture contained in the article on OWWM. The only thing I would suggest is set the blades frist then set everything from them. After completing this setup I have had no issues and have been very happy with the quality of the finished product.

[Travis Porter]

I have the PM 209HH and have had feed issues as well. I checked the chipbreaker, infeed rollers, outfeed rollers and pressure bar to the manuals specifications and found the manual to contradict itself in what the correct settings were. I downloaded the Grizzly manual (looks to be the exact same planer) and found their specifications and overall documentation to be far superior to WMH. I did call WMH and get their recommended settings (several of which did not match their manual at all and most did not match Grizzly), made the adjustments, and still have feed issues not to mention a lot of snipe at times......

Sooooo.......... I don't know..... My feed rollers are clean, I have tried the bed rollers slightly above and perfectly flush, and I have tensioned the feed springs up. I would like to know what the proper tension on the springs should be say maybe using a torque wrench, but I really haven't pursued it. Just sort of irritates me.... The shelix head is a sweet thing, but my old Grizzly 1021 had much better feed and almost zero snipe.....

Who knows. Maybe I should pull the General manual as well. I will definitely pull the OWWM document. Thanks to Panos for posting.

[Panos Galikas]

Travis the general manual has different settings from the OWWM article. Alot of the 20" planers look to be the same with different branding. I took my settings from the OWWM article and the performance has been great. For the pressure of the feed rollers I tried something different. Large planers have metal rollers with grooves to grip the wood becuase of this when pressure is exerted on the wood it will leave marks. When a fairly deep cut is taken it will remove the grooves caused by the more aggressive infeed roller. The outfeed rollers has grooves that are fine but if the pressure is set high your will be able to see and feel them in the wood when it leaves the planer. I set my pressure by sending a piece of wood through the planer and raising the bed a quarter of a turn. I backed off the pressure bolts until I could send the board through and it would no longer have grooves in it.

[Tom Hintz]

Waxing the tables should be a regular part of using all planers and has a major impact on how they work. I get this question all of the time on my site and just waxing the tables fixes most of those problems. I know the machine has to be set up right but when it feeds good then doesn't, wax the tables first because it is cheap, easy and fast. At least then, if the feed problem continues, you have eliminated the most common problem and easiest solution.

[Craig D Peltier]

Hmmm, I will wax. I never have.

I looked in my book for the PM209 an ther werent any settings indicated on the infeed and outfeed roller setting , as far as how many screw turns in or pressure.
Just from using it alot I remember thye were almost flush , the large set screws with large springs under them. I had it set 3/16th in , I moved them to flush and it helped a little.
I forgot to mention that the boards I was sending through were ash and had industrial sanded faces with a plywood sander. When I plane off one side or both sides of that it feeds slightly better.
So im not sure of after waxing I should back of these srpings more or set deeper than the 3/16th.

Another fact I think two people brought up was that they will adjust there infeed an outfeed bed rollers , some flush , some as high as they go. All I see that doing is hard to get it fed in the machine opening if its all the way up. Is my though process wrong.I dont get any snipe and never had, Im also very careful not to hit these beds as I dont want them to go out of adjustment since I get no snipe.

Thanks for the help so far. :)

[Steve Jenkins]

wax,wax,wax.
any tool that you slide the wood across should be kept waxed. Not only is it easier but it is much safer if you don't have to force the wood on the table saw or jointer.

[Paul Atkins]

I ran out of wax one time and put a piece of waxed paper under the board- it worked great. Not only did it slide easy but waxed the bed. I wax a bit every time I need to plane something - same with the table saw, jointer, router table, lathe tool rest, but I haven't waxed my car for years.

[Joe Jensen]

I too wax. I've been using the same tin of "Johnsons Carnuba Wax" that I bought 20 years ago with no finishing issues. What do others use? My dad used a stick of parafin..joe

[Jeff Duncan]

Bed rollers shouldn't need much adjusting. Basically if your planing wood that has a smooth face you want very little roller above the table. If your planing rough stock you raise the rollers to allow easier passing of the boards. If you never use rough stock there's no reason to change to bed rollers once set.
good luck,
JeffD