SAC RS63S planer feed rollers

[Darcy Warner]

Picked up really clean SAC planer with a Tersa head. The urethane out feed rolls will need recovered. I even have the manual and have no clue if they are on a sleeve that slides over the feed roller shaft or what.
Place that did have parts in CA seems to be a dead end, western roller can provide new press on sleeves, plus other companies as well. Any one ever had a rubber roller on one of these off before, or seen what it looks like broken down?

Planer leaves a great finish with the tersa head and carbide knives, but I need to address feed rollers. Hoping I could order what I needed before I had to take a roll out.

[Bill Dufour]

AFAIK most rubber rolls they have to machine off the old rubber and cast new in place. Then the new rubber is turned down to the correct diameter. There are shops that specialize in this work. No idea on cost.
Bill D

on edit: I had no idea they make heat shrink roller covers! No idea how strong or resilient they are or should be.

https://www.grainger.com/category/heat-shrink-roller-covers/conveyors/material-handling/ecatalog/N-gbp?cm_sp=Product_Details-_-Categories_Based_on_Your_Search-_-IDPPLACAT

Might help if we knew where you are?

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/recoating-rubber-drive-roller-185582/ (https://www.grainger.com/category/heat-shrink-roller-covers/conveyors/material-handling/ecatalog/N-gbp?cm_sp=Product_Details-_-Categories_Based_on_Your_Search-_-IDPPLACAT)

[John Sincerbeaux]

Darcy,
is that the planer you have listed for sale?

[Darcy Warner]

Darcy,
is that the planer you have listed for sale?

Yeah, I put it into service while I work on a couple of my Buss 4L's. Rubber rolls are decent, but not something I don't want to take care of. Tersa head is nice.

[Darcy Warner]

In case anyone finds this, I sent rollers to a place in TN called urethane specialists. They are casting them and grinding them true. Cost was very reasonable.

[Martin Wasner]

Rubber rolls are decent, but not something I don't want to take care of.


I looked for one of those planers. I've got a bit of a soft spot for SAC equipment. I don't understand the rubber rollers. I guess if they aren't that expensive to replace that's one things, but are they easy to pull so you can send them out?

When I was looking at a new planer, the SCM invincible was on my list of potentials, and they seemed super easy to swap out on that. Not cool though if you need a planer, and you've got a pile of parts once every few years.

[Darcy Warner]

I looked for one of those planers. I've got a bit of a soft spot for SAC equipment. I don't understand the rubber rollers. I guess if they aren't that expensive to replace that's one things, but are they easy to pull so you can send them out?

When I was looking at a new planer, the SCM invincible was on my list of potentials, and they seemed super easy to swap out on that. Not cool though if you need a planer, and you've got a pile of parts once every few years.

It took me about 30 minutes to pull both rolls. Shipping will cost almost as much as having them recast.

As far as having rubber rolls, I am not sure. This thing is a sweet finish planer, Tersa head, sectional rolls, chip breaker, 12hp, digital height, I guess they chose rubber to eliminate any chip impression in the planed surface? The rolls should last a long time, I think someone wasn't paying attention and got a board hung up in between the rolls and it started chewing them up.

It planed great and fed fine, just something I needed to address.

[David Kumm]

I agree that Sac made some good stuff and their planer is worth a look. The only proprietary part as I recall is the module to control the table lift. The base is 6mm steel, the table is heavy and long front to back. Aluminum chipbreakers vs cast iron on SCM but well machined. The pressure bar adjustment on mine is not as easy as some old planers but a fairly strong design compared to many with just a spring steel piece attached to an extrusion. My rubber rollers are still good but the motor brake isn't adjusted right but at least there is one. The Tersa head is at least 120mm diameter and does leave a good finish. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

I ended up with a format 4 with a tersa head. It'll be a long time before I kill it. I'm kinda hoping it makes it to the end, but that might be unrealistic.

[David Kumm]

Martin, I know it is off topic but what is your opinion of the Format? I don't see many on the used market and will never justify new. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

It's okay. I bought mine used, but I don't think I'd go with the felder new. For a little bit more you can get an invincible, and for a little bit more than the invincible you can get a Martin. If you're spending the money, just go whole hog. It's not much when looking at the $20k+ planers.

The build quality doesn't blow me away.
Fit and finish is good, but not astronomical.
Programming the key pad is a nightmare I haven't figured out yet.
Cut quality is good, though mine needs some adjustment in the hold downs. I'm getting snipe when I shouldn't be.
It is very smooth sounding
Dust collection is top notch
The feed rate adjustment is very good too.

It does seem to mill very accurately, I would've liked to have seen a little more steel and mass in it's construction. That's my only real complaint.

Darcy doesn't mind a thread hijack.

(edit)- btw Dave, if you ever come through here, you should swing by. You'd get a kick outta my shop. And you can visit your T130. :)

[Martin Wasner]

As far as the SAC module being proprietary, the Des Moines tech school had one where it crapped out. The instructor had the electronics kids make a new one from scratch.

The four people woodworkers need to know:

-A machinist
-A metal fabricator
-An electrician
-An electrical engineer

You can solve just about any problem with those people on tap.

[David Kumm]

i'm lacking the electrical engineer. I bought a spare module when I got the SAC. I usually look at any electronics and if somethinglooks hard to replace, I buy a spare. When I do, I never eem to need it. Hope the T130 is still good. I seem to remember you had to change bearings? Dave

[Darcy Warner]

Most things can be repaired/retrofitted if you just think hard enough and know where to look.

[David Kumm]

Most things can be repaired/retrofitted if you just think hard enough and know where to look.

thinking slows me down.

[Martin Wasner]

Yeah, the top bearing started howling. I'm not sure what went wrong there, I'm kinda thinking the assembly was too tight and putting too much side load on the bearings. It was an easy enough swap and has been flawless ever since. That's still my main shaper. It's life is going to get a whole lot easier soon though since the moulder will be doing all of the S4S and sticking work once it's installed.

That little incident taught me to buy a spare shaper. It costs less.

[Bill Dufour]

once they come back would you please post the cost with shipping and quality.
Bill D

[Joe Jensen]

With my current planer with a smooth outfeed roller I often get impressions of chips from planing in the surface. Apparently the occasional chip doesn't get picked up by the dust collection system. I assumed for my serious hobby use that rubber outfeed rollers would be the best bet. If I had to have them recovered in say 10 years it wouldn't see like a big deal? Is the consensus here that rubber rollers are a bad idea?

[Martin Wasner]

I think it's for softer material to avoid exactly what you're saying. I'm almost never taking things from the planer straight to the downdraft table for sanding so I'm not real concerned with it. But, if it's mission critical then that's what you need to use.

I wonder what typically kills them faster. Use? Or age? It seems like power feed wheels never last as long as you want, it'd assume this would be a similar scenario?

[Bill Dufour]

I wonder what typically kills them faster. Use? Or age? It seems like power feed wheels never last as long as you want, it'd assume this would be a similar scenario?[/QUOTE]

I have seen plenty of copiers and printer fail. the rollers get hard and can no longer grab the paper. I assume this would be the same with a planer. it is not wear but a little wear and mostly hardening on the grip face. They can be sanded down few times until the diameter is too small to be adjusted correctly .

[Darcy Warner]

I have no clue if these were original from 1999 or not. They were plenty soft, it looked like a board dropped without someone tailing it and got wedged/jammed in between the out feed rolls and just kind of chewed them up.

At a couple hundred per roll, that's not a whole lot for 18 years of service.

[Joe Calhoon]

My 2003 Martin planer has rubber rollers. I just had to replace the infeed rolls a couple years ago. What is hard on these is running narrow pieces. Especially if the knives are dull. We keep a spray bottle of Waxlit handy to give a little lube when running narrow. I like them, it makes a excellent finish planer with no snipe and runs narrow stock on edge better than any planer I have owned. The other advantage is you can remove only 0.1mm without getting any roller marks on the wood. This is nice when sneaking up on a critical dimension.

We face and joint one edge on everything that goes through the planer. If you are a shop thet is just planing rough lumber or removing a lot of material steel rollers and bed rolls would be a better option.

[Alyssa VanZandt]

Picked up really clean SAC planer with a Tersa head. The urethane out feed rolls will need recovered. I even have the manual and have no clue if they are on a sleeve that slides over the feed roller shaft or what.
Place that did have parts in CA seems to be a dead end, western roller can provide new press on sleeves, plus other companies as well. Any one ever had a rubber roller on one of these off before, or seen what it looks like broken down?

Planer leaves a great finish with the tersa head and carbide knives, but I need to address feed rollers. Hoping I could order what I needed before I had to take a roll out.



i have the SAC RS63S and it works great. However ive run into a problem. The table was put all the way up and now it wont go back down. Ive tested the switch, its fine, its almost like the transducer is over extended? does this happen? any way to put the table down manually? any advice is appreciated.