Eliminating the rollers on a planer?

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a SCM 520S and would like to eliminate the rollers and have a smooth table. The planer was available in Europe without, and they are nothing but a source of aggravation to me.

I was wondering if anyone has ever filled them and if so how they went about it? I could probably order a smooth table but I am sure it would cost me more than I want to pay.

[Darcy Warner]

Why are they an issue? I have a couple s63 planers an other then they are not powered, they never have cause me any issues.

[Bradley Gray]

Hi Larry,
I have an old Parks 12" Planer. Before I had a thickness sander I used it to surface thin wood for instruments. I cut a piece of plywood 12" wide a bit longer than the planer bed with a cleat to hit the front edge of the planer bed. I dropped the bed rollers below the table and inserted the ply rubbed with wax.

[Joe Jensen]

Just adjust them to be flush with the table. That's what I did and no more snipe...joe

[Cary Falk]

I have a 15" Grizzly. I moved the table rollers below the table. I don't have any issues with the gaps where the rollers are.

[John Sincerbeaux]

Martin T45 planers come stock without bed rollers. They employ a wax/lubricant system.

[Larry Edgerton]

Hi Larry,
I have an old Parks 12" Planer. Before I had a thickness sander I used it to surface thin wood for instruments. I cut a piece of plywood 12" wide a bit longer than the planer bed with a cleat to hit the front edge of the planer bed. I dropped the bed rollers below the table and inserted the ply rubbed with wax.

Bradley, thin stock is one problem and that would address that, but I would lose my digital readout. Obviously I could compensate, but hate that kind of thing. The other is chips sticking to the rollers and leaving marks,, I'm just tired of cleaning the rollers, especially when they are not necessary.

And they are all the way down, but all that way down is flush with the table as they should be, but they still pick up chips and leave marks. My question was...........

I have to take the table off to change the billows, so if I can come up with a solution for the roller holes I could do it all at the same time.

I like the Martin idea, but not in the cards for me just now, or probably ever.:p

[Jason Mikits]

Can you calibrate your DRO? You could also do as Bradley suggests with thin piece of stainless put on a brake, with a 90 at each end, to just slide over your table and secure it with screws at each end.

[Joe Jensen]

I'm sure with creativity you could remove the bed rollers and make some filler pieces to bridge the gap without removing the bed.

[Frankie Hunt]

Fill with a wooden piece, leaving it about a 1/4 inch below surface then fill the rest of the way with bondo?

[Bradley Gray]

How about a block of UHMW plastic the size of the opening mounted like the bed rollers so you could raise it a bit as it wears?

[Larry Edgerton]

How about a block of UHMW plastic the size of the opening mounted like the bed rollers so you could raise it a bit as it wears?

The openings are kind of crude for such an expensive piece so I am not sure that would work. Besides the rollers picking up an occasional chip the edge of that opening will get a chip stuck half way and make drag marks in the wood. I keep an airhose with a long nozzle handy to blow it out once in a while on that edge, but kind of a pain. The planer does such a nice job there is almost no sanding, except for the things the rollers and openings cause. So I figure I know why they don't have them across the pond.

I was more thinking of pulling it and machining the bed to recieve a filler or if it can be done without warpage welding it shut and having it remachined. Machining would be safer if it was close enough to not grab stuff on the way by. I thought about a thin stainless cover, but then I remembered how my portable planers would get stuff under the stainless bed cover and would throw them off. Besides, the bed is 3' long, long way between fasteners.

Anyway, the veneers catching is my biggest gripe, so I may try some variation of your sled. I miss my WB!

And how are things in Ohio? Well, let me change that question, because you know, Ohio. How are You doing.:p

[Bradley Gray]

The sled would be an easy thing to try. You could use something exactly 1" to keep the math simple. Welding/machining does sound like a surer thing. My main planer has powered bed rollers that pretty much clean themselves.

Things are remarkably warm for winter in Ohio. I am having a fine time making a bunch of music stands.

[Chris Fournier]

I simply made an auxiliary table out of melamine faced MDF and waxed that. Add a cleat and you have the table you want, don't forget to cut two reliefs on the bottom to clear the rollers. The only downside is that you lose 3/4" of capacity. I left this auxiliary table on my planer pretty much full time. Worked like a charm and cost but a few scraps.

[Bob Vavricka]

I would try a piece of Formica or other plastic laminate. Use a light coat of spray contact cement to get an even thin coat and glue it down. No screws, supported entire length except over the rollers and glued down so nothing can get under it. It would be easily reversed with a little solvent if you change your mind. Guess you could contact cement a piece of stainless steel instead of plastic laminate also.

[Cary Falk]

And they are all the way down, but all that way down is flush with the table as they should be, but they still pick up chips and leave marks. My question was...........




This statement caught my eye. How are you getting chips stuck to the bed rollers? Do you not have dust collection? I have never had a problem with chips on the bed, wood or bed rollers.

[J.R. Rutter]

DC was my first thought. The only chip dents I get on my Rockwell / Invicta (~SCMI 630) are on the top face on heavy cuts.

When I had a 4 post 20" I had a 1/4" mdf filler with laminate top held in with a front cleat. I just recalibrated the height and it worked great.

[Larry Edgerton]

It might be dust collection, but I doubt it. I have a 5hp fan blowing outside/no filter on a short 6" run to the planer. It is more cfm than needed according to SCM

I do know it happens when I am running at 72 fpm Took me a long time to figure it out, but the chips hit the outfeed side of the second roller opening and kind of fold over there and stay. Doesn't happen at finish speeds and has to happen between the time the wood hits the head and when it passes the roller opening. If I take the time to blow it out after the high speed rough, OK. I use mostly rough stock so run at 72FPM fairly often.

[Joe Calhoon]

Larry,
our SCM planer had bed rollers and always had chips stuck in the rollers. Seemed like it was worse with softwoods leaving the gouges in the wood. Bed rollers have never made sense to me on a finish planer. When they get chips they don't roll anyway. The shop we set up in Bhutan had a new Griggio Tersa head planer with one bed roller at outfeed. We were getting a perfect finish on softwood scantlings until the chips started collecting. Adequate D.C. In all cases.
no Idea how to fix. Probably too big for JB weld.

[Larry Edgerton]

Larry,
our SCM planer had bed rollers and always had chips stuck in the rollers. Seemed like it was worse with softwoods leaving the gouges in the wood. Bed rollers have never made sense to me on a finish planer. When they get chips they don't roll anyway. The shop we set up in Bhutan had a new Griggio Tersa head planer with one bed roller at outfeed. We were getting a perfect finish on softwood scantlings until the chips started collecting. Adequate D.C. In all cases.
no Idea how to fix. Probably too big for JB weld.

I think I need to find a shop with an oven to heat it up before welding, but I am chicken. The Parts Pronto site does not list the bed in the parts section, so before I commit to that I need to find out what a new one costs, and how hard they are to get. You know, just in case it warps. The salesman told me that the bed is cast steel, not sure if that is true or not, but that would be better to work with.

Same here, soft woods are bad. The marks are on woods like maple but a swipe with a sander and they are gone, but in soft woods from Poplar on back they are more pronounced. If I clean it with air and keep my speed down to 16FPM I have no problems. Its not really the end of the world, but it is an annoyance, I told my wife to win the lottery so I can buy a Martin, hell, so I can buy all the Martins!:)

Send me one of each please......

[David Kumm]

If you can redo the dro, how about a piece of anodized AL with a couple of cleats? You could remove when finish planing and just set on when rough. At 72fpm I don't doubt the DC can't keep up. If the port is 120mm it is too small for that speed. I run a high pressure blower on my DC to compensate for small ports. Dave

[J.R. Rutter]

There should be enough adjustment in the DRO to compensate for a thin plate. Aluminum has highish friction once the anodizing wears off, so I would just get some sheet steel cut and bent to fit.

[Jeff Duncan]

I have a SCM 520 as well and would have to second, (or third?) the recommendation to double check your dust collection. I run mine at max speed most of the time and have never encountered any chip problems with the rollers. Then I'd double check your roller height as it seems to me that mine will adjust slightly below the table surface. Maybe there's some debris causing them to get caught up? After that I'd probably try something less drastic than reworking the table like maybe installing a cleaning brush to the underside of the table to brush off any chips that are clung on to it?

good luck,
JeffD