Minimum cut on a Powermatic planer without feedroller marks?

[Jim C Martin]

Hello All:
I am a long term Makita 2040 user. The Makita uses a poly infeed roller so you can take essentially a zero cut. There are a couple of really good deals locally on used Powermatic planers. Those use a steel infeed roller with a sort of helical pattern. Can any of you tell me how small of a cut you can take with one of these Powermatics (or similar) without showing marks from the infeed roller?
Thanks,
Jim

[Robert LaPlaca]

Well not quite a Powermatic, but my Minimax FS410 Elite uses serrated infeed rollers like most larger planners do, the minimum cut on the machine is ~ 1/32" to remove the serrated feed marks..

[Jim C Martin]

Thanks Robert.
Since posting this I called M and M tool here in Salt Lake City. The guy I spoke with said the powermatics had adjustable spring tension on the feedrollers. Said you could lighten that up to leave no marks even with a light finish cut. Not quite sure I believe him (salesman bias).
Can any of you support or refute his claim?
Cheers,
Jim

[joe maday]

We had a job that required a lot of thicknessing of doug. fir, and some hemlock...no matter how we adjusted the rollers on the jet 15" Taiwanese planer we had marks left in the surface. Some would not show up until a finish was applied...We switched the in-feed and out-feed rollers to rubber rollers from a reliant planer (which is now out of business). Problem solved!!.. actually pulls the wood through the planer better than the original steel rollers. We have since used the rubber out feed roller from the 15" delta planer in other machines. Search this site for other related posts about the same swap. easy and no more roller indentations! I do not see why they are not offered as original equipment or and option on all the thickness planers.

[John Sanford]

Thanks Robert.
Since posting this I called M and M tool here in Salt Lake City. The guy I spoke with said the powermatics had adjustable spring tension on the feedrollers. Said you could lighten that up to leave no marks even with a light finish cut. Not quite sure I believe him (salesman bias).
Can any of you support or refute his claim?
Cheers,
Jim

Sounds like somebody has an eye on a certain PM 209 ..... I'd snag it if I had the room. If you want a stout test for it, I've got a 9' long x 16"+ wide by 4"+ thick slab that could use a couple of trips through.... :D

[Jim C Martin]

Thanks Joe! Will search now. If you happen to know the link please pass it along.
Cheers,
Jim


We switched the in-feed and out-feed rollers to rubber rollers from a reliant planer (which is now out of business). Problem solved!!.. actually pulls the wood through the planer better than the original steel rollers. We have since used the rubber out feed roller from the 15" delta planer in other machines. Search this site for other related posts about the same swap. easy and no more roller indentations!

[Jim C Martin]

Sounds like somebody has an eye on a certain PM 209

Ha, busted! There's also a 15" with a Byrd head.

[Mark Wooden]

My Powermatic 100 will take a clean 64th off and leave no marks if I drop the bed rolls out(easy on mine). The salesman is right, you can ease off the tension on the feedroller. But I can't ever remember needing to, it's always been set to the dimension needed and plane.

[joe maday]

Jim,
Look for the post : "Powermatic Model 15 Questions.." ( I had trouble adding the link) or look at my posts around 5/2014

[Matt Day]

I'd agree with the ~1/32". If it's the typical 15" 4 post clone, you can replace the serated roller with a rubber one from Delta IIRC. It costs about $200 for the part I think.