Thickness planer board return ideas

[Jeff Roltgen]

Just put a new SCM nova s520 into service. Would like to return workpieces from outfeed to infeed side via top, and this new machine has a huge 31x46" hood, 2mm thick steel, well reinforced, 4mm thick hinges and attachment welded inside, which leads me to believe it's expected to be used this way. It is simply painted, and has a blue vinyl stripe adhered to one edge for dressing. Naturally, I'd like to keep things looking new, so thinking of ideas for an overlay to protect. Initial thoughts:

1- Edge band a similar sized piece of 3/4" white melamine (adhesive rubber non-skid feet to float above and grip?)
2- Piece of automotive-style carpet, as seen on a Martin planer (adhered at the factory, I believe)
3- Combine the two for renewability?

Old planer had rollers, and I avoided them due to accidental roll-offs, so eliminating those types of conveyance.
Looking for suggestions regarding the above and of course, any fresh ideas/experience of others.

Thanks in advance!

jeff

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[Greg Parrish]

How about a sheet of HDPE plastic. Lots of choices for type, but a thin piece screwed or riveted to the top would keep the look nice and clean and protect the original paint surface. The marine boards like Starboard even have a textured surface which may help boards not slide off. https://www.interstateplastics.com/HDPE?kw=hdpe%20boards&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg4CB7MP79wIVS7eWCh2bxgcvEAAYASAA EgKNSPD_BwE

[Jim Becker]

Greg beat me to it...HDPE strips or a sheet and it doesn't have to be real thick and raise the boards up a lot as rollers would.

[Walter Plummer]

Just for fun: Here is a video of how they handle the problem in the shipyard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YeKT_jTI8. The Planer is mounted on a "lazy susan". Once the timbers go thru one way they spin the planer around and come back through. Its about the four minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole video.

[Bruce Page]

Just for fun: Here is a video of how they handle the problem in the shipyard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YeKT_jTI8. The Planer is mounted on a "lazy susan". Once the timbers go thru one way they spin the planer around and come back through. Its about the four minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole video.

Brilliant!

Beautiful planer Jeff. Jealous!

[Jeff Roltgen]

HDPE - perfect! Menards has carried black for a couple years. Searched and discovered they now also had white 4x8 x.25" thick in stock for about $90. Just got back home with a crisp clean sheet - thanks for that eye opener, Greg and Jim!

And yeah, what an awesome idea at the shipyard. Gets a person thinking, doesn't it?

Thanks to all!

jeff

[Bill Dufour]

I would screw/glue trim boards on all four sides that hang down below flush 1/2" or more. Similar to a picture frame or serving tray face down.This will keep it in place and still be easy to remove when needed.
Bill D.

[glenn bradley]

+1 on HDPE or UHMW plastic. Love the revolving planer platform ;-)

[David Zaret]

i have a relatively new SCM L'Invincible planer, with a big stainless steel top. when i got it, i felt the same way - better cover this to keep it looking nice. then i realized, "it's a planer." so, i've been using it as a planer, sliding wood across the stainless top for a few years now. looks just fine. looks like a planer should look when it's used as a planer. IMHO.

all that said, the menards HDPE option is indeed an excellent one. i used that stuff at the bottom of my plywood rack, and it's durable and slippery.

-- dz

[Jim Becker]

What's nice about the HDPE, Jeff, is that it's very durable while also being reasonably "slick"...perfect for the application. The biggest challenge is fastening it to things and as you've already surmised earlier, mechanical fasteners are the way to go. I'd consider pop rivets in countersinks with very careful layout of fasteners to insure they don't penetrate anything other than the machine skin.

[Bill Dufour]

The biggest challenge is fastening it to things and as you've already surmised earlier, mechanical fasteners are the way to go. I'd consider pop rivets in countersinks with very careful layout of fasteners to insure they don't penetrate anything other than the machine skin.
That is why I suggested a simple frame all round to hold it in place. I have no idea if that top ever needs to come off to lube or replace knives etc.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

The potential issue with a frame is that the frame itself might damage the material being slid over the surface. But yes, maintenance of the machine has to be taken into account for sure. Good call.

[Tom M King]

No lazy susan, but I do have planers on four swivel casters. If running a bunch of parts that need multiple passes, we just spin the planer around between passes. Since it pulls the piece through itself, it doesn't need much of a fixed hold against movement on the floor.

[Alan Lightstone]

Just for fun: Here is a video of how they handle the problem in the shipyard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YeKT_jTI8. The Planer is mounted on a "lazy susan". Once the timbers go thru one way they spin the planer around and come back through. Its about the four minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole video.

Unbelievable. Serious McGyver points on that one.

[William Hodge]

I use carts with a surface 32" off the floor.

Often the wood needs to move from the radial arm saw to the rip saw to the jointer to the planer to the edge jointer to the rip saw to the finish planer to the miter saw to the tenoner to the mortiser to the shaper and to the to the assembly bench, so having the stacks on wheels makes a lot of sense. Put the wood on wheels.

[johnny means]

Plus one on a cart. Why lift the material up over the machine?

[Brian Tymchak]

If it were my brand new machine I wouldn't want to permanently attach anything to it. I think I would put a bunch of self adhesive non-skid rubber pads on the plastic sheet to keep it in place on top of the machine.

[Jeff Roltgen]

I use carts with a surface 32" off the floor.

I do too - they're the hydraulic lift style. One on infeed, one on outfeed. These serve as parts catchers, as I'm typically alone while processing. Also used precisely as you describe.


Why lift the material up over the machine?

1> parts need to be flipped, and will be lifted no matter what
2> Now that I have a machine with no top rollers and no infeed extension, I'm certain I'll place stacks of parts up there to feed repeatedly til gone, then fetch from outfeed.
3> It is a 9.9 sq. foot flat surface. I'm a woodworker. Things will be placed there.

However, both of you are probably on a better track, and will try that methodology. In 15 years of business, I've always had tight quarters that prohibited cart recirculation around planer/jointer, but in my current shop, I may indeed be able to make that work. I appreciate the suggestion, as the obvious can be hard to see through old habit!

jeff

[Phillip Mitchell]

I use a smaller hydraulic lift table cart (on casters) on the outfeed side as a catcher along with a fixed height shop build table also on casters on the infeed side. My shop is tiny and does not allow rolling the carts in a circular flow (ie:outfeed cart filling up with parts then having enough room to move it back to infeed side) so I end up shuffling parts back to the fixed height table and starting again *sigh* one day this will not be the case and more space will allow for dedicated carts / tables to have a rotating flow without the parts shuffling.

I also have a (much older) SCM planer with a mostly flat top, though not as large and completely unobstructed from DC as yours is; I do use the top surface as staging sometimes depending on quantity and size of parts. I have a thin, ribbed rubber mat that came with the lift table that is sitting on top of my planer with double stick tape. Crude but it works - prevents it from skidding off but easy enough to remove for popping the hood, etc.

I really like the lazy Susan concept though! Brilliant.

[Kevin Jenness]

It requires a bit of floor space, but you can avoid flipping the pieces by rotating the outfeed cart 180* while rolling it back to the infeed side.

Keeping short parts flowing through the planer alone can be a race. With an unobstructed top like yours I will pull a stack of parts from the infeed cart and place them on the planer to feed from there. Dipping down to both carts can be a hassle.

A piece of carpet adhered with carpet tape should work fine. Personally I wouldn't bother - after the first ding you will get over it.

[Joe Calhoon]

I use carts and the flat top on my planer. The flat top is a natural to stack parts on after the first pass. Last pass they land on the cart.

[Bill Dufour]

Check this link for how to mount a flat top on that box.
Bill D.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?298102-Spindle-Sander-Table-Riser

[David Zaret]

I use carts and the flat top on my planer. The flat top is a natural to stack parts on after the first pass. Last pass they land on the cart.


this is exactly my approach as well. a cart next to the machine, and the steel machine top for material passes.

[Bill Dufour]

I saw a video of a lunch box planer paling a huge beam. maybe 6x12x30. The beam was supported at both ends and the planer walked the length of the beam. Removing and adding supports as it moved along.
Bill D

[Jeff Roltgen]

A little more clarification may be in order:

Kevin says
I will pull a stack of parts from the infeed cart and place them on the planer to feed from there
Exactly what I'm doing.

A 6' tall rolling parts tree/rack with adjustable brackets on each side is standing at outfeed of jointer. Based on machine arrangement, this puts the freshly jointed pieces at infeed end of planer. They are sorted by width on the brackets, and I'll grab a manageable stack with two hands and place at infeed of planer. Old one had a long infeed bed extension for staging, but this one doesn't, hence placement of the bundle on top to stage for feeding. With no extra hand in the shop, now's when I get to play "pick up sticks" at the outfeed, and return. Most often, I'm hitting quantities well over 100 pieces, so I'm at a loss for what else I could do. There just isn't enough space on the outfeed cart to catch anymore than a bundle of a dozen or so without complete chaos.
A classic problem for the solo woodworker.

Sounds like a new thread is being initiated: "Sorting/conveyor system for the one person shop?"


David: I think that SS top skin is a great move by SCM, and signals that indeed, they expect the planer top to be used as such. Not so worried about dings or perfection, I just don't want to grind all that paint off as the projects/years roll by.

Attachment: I've briefly thought of trying some of this crazy new product called Alien Tape to avoid hole drilling, but more likely to just tack in place with a pop-rivet at the 4 corners.

jeff

[Phillip Mitchell]

Do you have room for a pair of large (3x7 or 4x8 ish) shop built tables on casters to circulate between holding all infeed parts, catching all outfeed parts (neatly) and being able to roll from outfeed back around to infeed side and vise versa with the empty infeed cart moving over to the out feed side for the next round? I suppose it depends on the size of the parts we’re talking about as to relative size of table needed.

If I’m planing more than 30 or so pieces I will stop briefly in the middle of feeding parts and tidy up the outfeed table parts stack so that I don’t loose track of orientation, etc in the frenzy of feeding the beast. Takes an extra 30-60 seconds every so often but it helps my brain on the subsequent infeed side for the next round. You would obviously want to build the tables at a height that was low enough below your planer bed for most common thickness to allow parts to easily slide onto table (if not using something like a lift table.) Something like a large version of the Felder / Barth foot pump lift tables would be nice for this type of operation, but they are quite $$ new for what they are.

Yes, as you noted, this is a classic solo woodworker problem once you begin processing wood at volume.

[Tom Bender]

Carpet tape will hold it perfectly and is easier and cleaner than pop rivets.

[Erik Loza]

My suggestion: Hydraulic lifting table like the FAT300 or Barth and glue down a piece of low-pile carpet to the lid of the planer. Why do I say this? Because that’s how we did it!

Erik

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[Jeff Roltgen]

Eric: I love that idea, but I'll share a little secret I discovered: Dog grooming table with electric lift. Found a used one for about $350. Sounds weak, but honestly, the stack of parts gets cycled off for more incoming so fast that no more than the weight of a large dog ever accumulates on it. Been using it at outfeed of wide belt, and the foot-actuated lift/lower switch makes it quite a pleasure to keep things well aligned as thicknesses change. As for longevity: wish me luck!

Phillip: Yes, I do also have 2 much heavier duty hydraulic carts with tops sized as you describe, but due to their low pedigree, quite plainly, stink. I have to use clevis pins bored into series of holes in the frame for a few common heights or they just bleed down within minutes.
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