How thin can ya go, with a Woodmaster planer?

[dirk martin]

I'm wondering if anyone out there has used a bed-board with their Woodmaster planer to go down to 1/8"? I think it's rated to go down to 5/16, and I'd like to go down to 2/16". If so, I'm also wondering if you did so with the helical head, or straight knives?

[Ron Blaise]

Go all the way to the bed! Course, it ain't a wood master either. Maybe yours has a stop built in. I have plained down to 1/4" inch. Any thiner than that and I would use a sled, even at 5/16" it would be safer to do that.

[Jim Chan]

There isn't a stop built in. You can technically plan thinner than 5/16", but that's the point at which the rubber rollers make contact with the planer bed. Even if you use the bed boards, the rollers will still be rubbing against a stationary surface, which will probably wear them out really quick. I've planned thinner than 1/4" by attaching it to a sled that runs through along with the stock as Ron suggested.

[george wilson]

Best to use a sled. If the table has rollers in it,the wood will vibrate up and down when it gets too thin. The sled will support it.

[Philip Rodriquez]

as others have said, use a sled or simply clamp an MDF board to the bed of your planer.