Problem with Stock Feeding on One Side of my Powermatic 208 Planer

[Brian Harding]

As the title says...I have a Powermatic 208 20" planer that I have had for several years. 5 or 6 years ago I swapped out the straight cutter head for a Byrd helical head. Up until now I have not had any issues with the planer. About 6 months ago we moved and since I set up my new shop I noticed an issue with the planer. When I feed a board in on the right side the board feeds through without issue. When I feed the same thickness board through on the left side it goes in about 6 inches and stops. With a significant amount of pressure on the back end of the board I can get it to continue through the planner. I checked the infeed roller height from the table on both ends and they are within .001 of each other. I did the same with the pressure bar and it also seems to be parallel based on my dial indicator reading. I haven't really adjusted anything at this point for fear of really screwing things up. I was wondering if anyone had an idea what could be causing this issue?

A couple more things. When the piece of stock starts into the left side and stops...if I lower the feedtable by a 1/8 to 1/4 turn the stock will go through. When it comes out the other end you can see where the cutter head has cut into the end of the stock. See the picture below



I can run a piece of wood through the right hand side and take a serious amount of stock off. Not that I normally do this but I noticed I this side it seems I can take an 1/8" but on the left side the board stops when I am trying to take a 1/6 or less.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Brian

[Joe Jensen]

On my PM planer when I have trouble feeding it's because the knives are getting dull. Have you made sure they are sharp?

[Curtis Horswill]

Try cleaning and waxing the bed first, that usually takes care of feeding issues.

[Bradley Gray]

Sounds like the pressure bar, out feed rollers or the out feed bed rollers are out of adjustment. Maybe from your move.

[Philip Rodriquez]

+1 for checking your out feed rollers (top and bottom) since it sounds like you are clearing the cutter. 1/16 to 1/8 inch cuts should never impact you. Grab your manual and re-tune everything because something shifted on you.

[J.R. Rutter]

+1, tune it up.

[Brian Harding]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Turned out, after further investigation to be the pressure bar. The planer must have gotten jostled in the move. The pressure bar had moved all the way to one side of the planner. I loosened things up, repositioned it, and tuned the pressure bar, infeed and outfeed rollers... I also rotated the cutters while I was in there. It is running smoothly now. Next I will be cleaning and waxing up the table. Thanks for the help.

[Steven Wayne]

Where do I get info/instructions on how to adjust everything. My 20" import planer with Byrd head is doing the same thing.

Thanks in advance!

[Mark Bolton]

When you wax your table, we take a maroon scotch brite pad and embed it with wax and buff out the entire table as well as the bed rollers. We keep a can of wax with a scotch brite stuffed in the can for this very purpose. The scotch pad coupled with the wax will help to remove stuck on pitch/resin and helps to embed wax into the table. Then a handful of shavings will buff it off slick. Just the way we do it.

[Chris Fournier]

When you wax your table, we take a maroon scotch brite pad and embed it with wax and buff out the entire table as well as the bed rollers. We keep a can of wax with a scotch brite stuffed in the can for this very purpose. The scotch pad coupled with the wax will help to remove stuck on pitch/resin and helps to embed wax into the table. Then a handful of shavings will buff it off slick. Just the way we do it.

Agreed! I've used more paste wax on cast iron than I have on wood. Great stuff on both! Scotchbrite applicator is the ticket, Maroon to white, never green!

[glenn bradley]

Where do I get info/instructions on how to adjust everything. My 20" import planer with Byrd head is doing the same thing.

Thanks in advance!

This thread has been resurrected but, the info is still valuable. If your planer is like many import clones a manual from a Grizzly G0454, G1033 or G0544 could help depending on your machine's format. these are available on their website.

To the original question, if the feed rollers are correct and the behavior is different I would look to surface resistance and or dull knives. Both easily remedied as discussed in the thread.

[Martin Wasner]

Agreed! I've used more paste wax on cast iron than I have on wood. Great stuff on both! Scotchbrite applicator is the ticket, Maroon to white, never green!

Why not green?

We use paraffin wax and #0000 steel wool

[Mark Bolton]

Paraffin is interesting. Never tried it. Ive always used Minwax furniture wax. Our finish rep was in the shop a loooong time ago and scolded me about using any form of wax even after a conversation with regards to silicone-free wax but he was adamant that there was no place in the shop for wax (we still use the wax). He swore up and down that baby powder was the best solution for lubricating sliding surfaces. I absolutely despise the smell of baby powder and have no intention of having my shop smell like a diaper factory so never tried it.

We will put a piece of 60 grit paper on the RO occasionally and drop it on top of a 1/2 sheet of maroon scotchbrite with wax and really polish up the sliding surfaces on the planer, saws, and so on. I'll give the steel wool a try for the heck of it. We spray waterborne so I shy away from steel wool for the most part.

[Martin Wasner]

I buy paraffin in the canning aisle at the grocery store. Rub it in, buff it off with the steel wool. It seems to last a lot longer than the Johnson's paste wax. It's not as slippery initially though.

Baby powder? Seems useless to me.

3M sells scotch pads with the hook and loop on one face in 5". I use those door cleaning up cast. They also work well for polishing up a jig when you want it real slippery. Cook paraffin wax into the surface with a heat gun, and buff it with those scotch pads in an orbital sander

[Mark Bolton]

Baby powder? Seems useless to me.

That was my immediate response but he looked right at me and said "no... Im serious".

I tend to do the same thing with the scotchbrite and wax, get it good and hot/worked into the surface. Never tried Johnsons but I have a bunch of paraffin from our canning days. Will give it a go. Its definitely a lot harder than any of the paste/furniture waxes so it makes sense that it would hold on longer.

[Martin Wasner]

That was my immediate response but he looked right at me and said "no... Im serious".

I tend to do the same thing with the scotchbrite and wax, get it good and hot/worked into the surface. Never tried Johnsons but I have a bunch of paraffin from our canning days. Will give it a go. Its definitely a lot harder than any of the paste/furniture waxes so it makes sense that it would hold on longer.

I wonder how he feels about everything coming off of a moulder with the wiper adding lubricant to the beds? Some of the planers it's an option too.

[Mark Bolton]

I wonder how he feels about everything coming off of a moulder with the wiper adding lubricant to the beds? Some of the planers it's an option too.

No idea. I think most of those are paintable silicones or silicone free so who knows. Obviously they are not an issue. Im sure as a finish rep your opting to eliminate any and all possible contamination and over-reaching is likely viewed as good measure. I do tend to think of it in the shop as I have drill presses that will occasionally drill steel... we occasionally run aluminum on the cnc, and every time we grease we wear rubber gloves.

Your lucky you dont do any finishing :-)

[Martin Wasner]

Your lucky you dont do any finishing :-)

That wasn't by accident. For the amount of finishing we require, I can't make the space pay for itself in a realistic schedule.

But, that's not figuring that there's potential for doing other shop's finishing as well.

Potential doesn't pay the bills though.

[Bradley Gray]

We use paraffin wax and #0000 steel wool

I use paraffin for lots of things; I use an old(clothes) iron on my old iron jointer to fill the rust pits with paraffin then buff it with a 1/4 sheet sander. I use it on hand planes (I draw an"8" on the sole), hand saws (just saw into a chunk before and during use). It is also the best screw lube I have used.