Planer Infeed/Outfeed Tables

[Lisa Starr]

I acquired a 15" Grizzly Stand Planer, Model G1021, free for hauling it away. After a bit of clean up and a set of blades, it seems to be in basic working order.
My problem is the infeed/outfeed tables. Several of the tapped holes for mounting them have been damaged. I tapped them out to a larger bolt. The adjusting process of the set screws to jack the far end/tighten the mounting bolts seems to be very poor. How do other planers work in this regard? Would I be better off to abandon the stock tables and try to use something else? If so, what arrangement would you suggest?
TIA

[Mike Cutler]

Lisa

Do you have "tables" or bed extension rollers?The extension rollers are pretty finicky.
I have the same bed extension rollers on my Jet 15" Planer and it was a pain in the but to get them set. I finally ended up abandoning those jacking screws and used motor shims under each bolt. The result is "OK" at best.

[Matt Day]

Honestly you don’t need them. I’ve had a four post Jet planer for about 8 years without extension tables and it works just fine. The tables really just catch the board and let the user do a little less work catching the board. When planing a long board, give the infeed support until halfway through, walk around to the outfeed and support the board as it exits.

It takes up a lot less room without them too.

[Lisa Starr]

Mike - I have bed extension rollers.

Matt - Wondered about that option. I often run my sander with an infeed and outfeed roller stand setup for long stock. Maybe I could do the same.

[glenn bradley]

That same basic method is used on the cast iron tables on my G0453Z. It worked well for me but, if the extension tables (roller frames in your case) are not reasonably true it would be a losing battle. You could run without them and use outboard supports but, this gets old with shorter pieces of material. You will have to judge for yourself. I know a lot of folks run without tables but, I am not a fan of snipe. I spend a bit of time on the alignment at the start so I don't have to deal with it going forward. For the price of a little elbow grease and some knives you have yourself a pretty workable machine. If it falls a bit short of "like new" I wouldn't let that bother me too much :).

[Robert Engel]

Hey Lisa, I have a 20" Grizzly sounds like the same type system. On mine there are two bolts on each side, one to pivot on and one to lock down.

I agree its a little cheesy, but if you really crank down on the bolts, it will be pretty stable.

On mine, I inserted a piece of ply w/ laminate because smaller pieces will fall through before they engage the rollers. This has also made the whole thing alot more stable.

BTW Matt is correct. I had the rollers removed for a while and the planer worked just as well without them. If you'll notice a lot of the old iron planers don't have infeed/outfeed extension tables.

I think the infeed table especially doesn't serve much usefull purpose. On a long board you have to support it anyway.

[Lisa Starr]

Robert-would you mind posting a pic of the ply/laminate arrangement you speak of. What keeps it in place? I'm wondering if I could remove the rollers from the outfeed table and insert a piece of laminated ply instead. I could then abandon the adjustment method from Grizzly and put jacking screws in the ply to achieve a more stable, consistent alignment with the planer bed.