Buying a new thickness planer have questions about roller options

[Richard Haislip]

the planer im ordering is the Format 4 Exact 63 , 10hp , silent power head and digi drive and dual outfeed rollers.

What im going back and forth on are the infeed and outfeed rollers. Segmented steel , single spiral-toothed steel , or rubber for the infeed and Sandblasted steel or rubber for the dual outfeed?

Thoughts?

I have a Custom Cabinet shop I will be doing alot of cabinet parts such as face frames from rough lumber as well as tabletop glue ups and everything in between.

Thanks

[Andrew Seemann]

My 15" planer is wimpy compared to what you are looking at, but I have had segmented steel and urethane rollers on various machines. I found that the segmented steel is better at grabbing rough lumber, but you need to take a minimum thickness otherwise you leave roller marks on the wood. Urethane allowed much thinner passes, but didn't aways grab as well.

[Doug Dawson]

the planer im ordering is the Format 4 Exact 63 , 10hp , silent power head and digi drive and dual outfeed rollers.

What im going back and forth on are the infeed and outfeed rollers. Segmented steel , single spiral-toothed steel , or rubber for the infeed and Sandblasted steel or rubber for the dual outfeed?

Thoughts?

I have a Custom Cabinet shop I will be doing alot of cabinet parts such as face frames from rough lumber as well as tabletop glue ups and everything in between.

That’s some big expensive kit. Maybe you could become a Contributor here? It’s only 6 bucks. That’s my thought.

[Bobby Robbinett]

the planer im ordering is the Format 4 Exact 63 , 10hp , silent power head and digi drive and dual outfeed rollers.

What im going back and forth on are the infeed and outfeed rollers. Segmented steel , single spiral-toothed steel , or rubber for the infeed and Sandblasted steel or rubber for the dual outfeed?

Thoughts?

I have a Custom Cabinet shop I will be doing alot of cabinet parts such as face frames from rough lumber as well as tabletop glue ups and everything in between.

Thanks

Richard I replaced my segmented rollers with rubber rollers because I found that segmented rollers mare the wood and sometimes leave little intentions or impressions that have to be sanded out. I buy my stock s4s so no milling rough and I only use my big planer when making raised panel doors or glue ups for table tops. Most of the time when I am running panels or glue ups they get sent through the wide belt directly afterwards, I do not plane my stiles and rails on the big planer. They do, however go through the wide belt on edge.

[Rod Sheridan]

Segmented steel infeed to allow feeding of multiple pieces simultaneously, rubber outfeed rollers...........Regards, Rod.