Old Powermatic Planer - replace rollers with rubber? Boards getting stuck.

[Patrick Irish]

I finally upgraded the cutterhead on this 16” 5hp powermatic. I’ve had the cutterhead for over a year and worried about the complexity of the install. Wasn’t that hard actually with the right tools.

After following the manual and YouTube’s, I set all the rollers and pressure bar to specs. Boards are going in and getting stuck with about 3-4” left.

Any ideas?

what would it cost to have the serrated front roller and rear roller covered in rubber or replaced with rubber? Thinking that may prevent the lines from serrated roller and aid in more grip on the outfeed.

I think I read the serrated infeed roller would have to have the serrations machined off before covering in rubber.

https://i.ibb.co/dghytCb/854-C3347-0568-4-CEA-B288-887-B0-F275-D7-B.jpg (https://ibb.co/k1dFJb3)

[Kevin Jenness]

How did it feed before you replaced the cutterhead? I found with my 160 that I had to make fine adjustments to the pressure bar while running pieces through to find the balance between sniping and getting hung up. Waxing the pressure bar and chipbreaker periodically as well as the table helped. Definitely not as trouble free as the SCMI S52 we ran at work, which I believe has a spring loaded pressure bar. I don't know if other old Powermatic users have the same issues.

Rubber rollers might help but I don't think recovering the front roller will have any effect on the problem you are having with stock exiting the machine. I would look to the pressure bar first. Make sure it is straight and smooth with no burrs.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, spiral carbide cutter heads, depending upon the design, can require more feed force than sharp straight knife heads.

I would lubricate the planer bed surface with paste wax, or even better Felder Super Gleit. It works better than wax.

You indicated that you set up the rollers and pressure bars, so I would start with the above, as well as cleaning the rollers.

Regards, Rod

[Bradley Gray]

Check the bed rollers. Oil the bushings. Wax the table. Follow Kevin's advice about adjusting the pressure bar with the planer running.

[Bill Dufour]

getting stuck with a kit 3-4” left.

explain please.
Sounds like infeed is fine, boards pass between infeed rollers before getting stuck. Out feed is not pulling enough.
A wooden shop made DI holder jig is plenty good enough for this. A Horrible Fright DI is also plenty good enough. A mushroom tip on the Di makes it easier.
Bill D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hCqyYsNcxM

[Bill Dufour]

Where does the end of board sit when stopped. Run board until stuck shut down and observe end position. I would guess it is just under center of cutter head or maybe chip breaker, pressure bar, what is location relative to bed rollers.

First and easiest step is wax bed. Run bed rollers by hand to verify good bearings. You used a dial indicator for all those adjustments?
Bill D
Model number?

[Bill Dufour]

My older Parks planer the chip breaker is not spring loaded but it is heavy cast iron and free to float up and down a bit. So it is kinda like spring loaded just no adjustment on the force of gravity.
Bill D

[Mel Fulks]

I like Powermatic planers . Used them in several employments, some of the shop owners had trouble with them . I convinced them to
buy M-2 or T-1 knives and the planers worked much smoother, and the planed surfaces were much better. Carbide is grabby and does
not cut as well as steel . The bad knives were the problem. In those days the fine planers all came with low grade knives. One boss
told me he didn’t want to buy more knives since he had just bought a couple of new sets. I told him to buy what I suggested, and if he
didn’t find them much better I would buy them from him. He bought them and conceded they were much better. Some letters need to be sent to companies that sell new planers with low grade steel , and ask that you buy more knives ….from them.

[Patrick Irish]

Fed fine with the original blades and even the replacement straight blades. I’ll give the bed a better polish and wax and see if that helps too. I think it’s the read roller that needs adjusting.

[Patrick Irish]

getting stuck with a kit 3-4” left.

explain please.
Sounds like infeed is fine, boards pass between infeed rollers before getting stuck. Out feed is not pulling enough.
A wooden shop made DI holder jig is plenty good enough for this. A Horrible Fright DI is also plenty good enough. A mushroom tip on the Di makes it easier.
Bill D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hCqyYsNcxM

With about 3-4” left of the board it seems to get stuck and needs a good nudge. I’ll run some test pieces and shut it off at that moment and see maybe what the issue is; pressure bar or rear roller. I made a dial indicator jig but out of wood and too wide. Gonna try a pair of 3 2 1 blocks and feeler gauges to verify head is parallel to table again.

[Mel Fulks]

The grooved roller can be adjusted to give more pressure. Some just lift the other end of the board a little to give a little more pressure,
If you are good at facing on the jointer , and if the material allows , you can plane a whole board , then saw it.

[Kevin Jenness]

Getting the head parallel to the table is important for consistent thickness side to side but doesn't really have any direct effect on feed as long as the other elements are parallel to the cutterhead. You can check parallelism easily enough by measuring the thickness of stock coming off each side of the bed at the same thickness setting.

The work seems to be feeding properly with both rollers engaged but binding after it passes the infeed roller. The problem may be related to the chipbreaker, the pressure bar or the outfeed roller height or spring pressure. If the machine fed properly prior to the cutterhead replacement you should be able to dial it in now. It may be that any increased resistance from the new cutterhead can be overcome with increased pressure on the outfeed roller. If the new cutting circle is the not the same as the old setup it may be a bit more involved.

Have you tried lifting the chipbreaker manually when the stock hangs up?

There are (at least) two relevant threads on the owwm site; check out "Powermatic 160 chipbreaker settings" and "Powermatic 160 feed not working".