Jet 16" planer

[Jay Jolliffe]

It has been suggested in various threads that with different woods & wood grains that it's best to take very light cuts with sharp knives. When I try to the metal rollers imprint little grooves on the wood & they are removing wood . Is it possible to adjust the hold down tension on the rollers. When I take a cut to remove a fair amount of wood there is no roller marks. Is there any way to fix this.

[James MacNaughton]

I believe that what you are experiencing is normal.

[Lance Norris]

Jay... I lightened up the roller pressure on my Grizzly 1021X for just that same reason, and it helped, but didnt fix the problem. This is just a quirk that larger planers suffer from and unless the rollers were rubber like a small planer, I dont think there is much that can be done. There is a solution though. Many people buy the Wixey Digital Planer Gauge and this allows much more precise operation as far as thickness of cut. Instead of sneaking up on a dimension, now you can dial in the correct thickness, and take a heavier last cut for your final thickness and this eliminates the roller marks. It works.

[Charlie Plesums]

My 16 inch planer (not Jet) leaves marks from the metal feed roller, that are removed if I take at least .015 inches off in a pass. That is still considered a thin cut.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Thanks for the answers. I have the digital gauge but haven't figured out how to install it yet....Haven't had the time to work on it.