Uhmw

[Steve Nouis]

I need a 20" x60" x 3/8 or 1/2" sheet of uhmw plastic for my planer bed. Any good places to buy that's resonable? My new PM209 feeds real bad, the boards needed to be pushed and pulled a lot on the first couple of passes so I put the uhmw sheet off my RBI planer on the bed and it feeds great with it on there. RBI wants $160 for a new sheet and it's 8" too short. Thanks Steve

[Todd Ferrante]

You can get a 2'x8'x3/8" piece from Mcmaster Carr for $145.57 and still have some left over for other jigs.
Todd F.

[Michael Donahue]

What about waxing the bed? I've got a 13" Ridgid planer that gives me trouble by not feeding every so often so I usually lube it up with Boeshield to solve the problem.

[Rick Fisher]

The feed wheels are adjustable on that machine. And they are easy to adjust.

I have the General equivalent and planed a half lift of rough cedar. I have the feed wheels set high. I was planing 4 at a time and rarely had one board stall..

Before you spend the money, I would fiddle with the feed rollers.

[Raj Narayan]

Make a bed from scrap wood and use Slicktape (thin UHMW tape with a peel off stick on one side) Comes as wide as 3 inches. You could use multiple rows of parallel tape they will last a while. You can get good deals from ebay
--raj

[Steve Nouis]

Thanks everyone, I already tried adjusting the top in and out feed rollers for a little more pressure, no help. I wont adjust the bottom rollers higher as that results in more snipe and it transmits every rough sawn bump right to the cutterhead. If any of you tried a uhmw sheet you'ld know why I'm getting one, it's night and day difference in how it feeds. I could use slick tape but would rather get a sheet that will forever. Thanks Steve

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Check out hpmanufacturing (dot) com.
You can call them or email them to see if they can hook you up.

[Heather Thompson]

Steve,

I have a lunch box planer (Delta 22-580) mounted on a Rousseau mobile stand, wanted a slick smooth continous bed. Went to the local Borg and bought one of those white laminated shelves and ripped it to fit, put a cleat on one end to hold it in place, put rare earth magnets in the cleat that allow me to hang it behind my dust collector when not in use, works great and alot cheaper than a sheet of UHMW.

Heather

[Randal Stevenson]

Seen several sleds made out of those white Melamine shelves. All appeared happy.

But, if you must have UHMW, then one of two places. Eurekazone sells UHMW, as does McMaster Carr.

[john bateman]

USPLastics.com carries UHMW at very high prices for full sheets. But they also have something called HDPE which might work, too. A 24" x 60" piece of 1/2" thick is $68.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=72&product%5Fid=25020&variant%5Fid=60079

[steve reeves]

Most any local plastics supplier either carries it or can get it.

I live in an industrial area and apparently many businesses here use it because the local suppliers (there are several) have it on hand at 20-30% less than I've seen it online... and no shipping charges.

The melamine would work and is cheap... so would a piece of 1/2 mdf with a sheet of formica laminated to it...

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Steve, it sounds like your planer is out of adjustment.

The manual will tell you what height to set the following items, typical settings are in parenthesis;

1) Infeed roller (.004")

2) Chip Breaker (.004")

3) Pressure bar (.008")

4) outfeed roller (.020")

All of the above are measurements below the knife, and can be made with a block of wood and feeler gauges, or with a dial indicator.

I've found planers from the factory that were out of adjustment, and of course many planers where the knives had been changed, or ground in the machine, and the above adjustments not checked.

Regards, Rod.

[Frank Drew]

Steve,

I have a lunch box planer (Delta 22-580) mounted on a Rousseau mobile stand, wanted a slick smooth continous bed. Went to the local Borg and bought one of those white laminated shelves and ripped it to fit, put a cleat on one end to hold it in place.... works great and alot cheaper than a sheet of UHMW.

This is what I'd do; very little $$ and just as effective as Heather says, and eliminates most snipe, in my experience.

I agree, though, with the general proposition that a planer shouldn't fight you to feed the work through; something's out of adjustment.

[Steve Nouis]

I could adjust the bottom rollers higher but I wouldn't like the snipe and uneven results when rough sawn lumber roll over them, I'm sure that would make it feed better. I've used laminated sheets on my old Delta planer a few years back, it worked pretty good but not near as slippery as uhmw that came with my RBI planer that I put on my PM209 just to try, that completely took care of the feed trouble with no adjustment. I just ordered a 24 x 48 sheet which should just about cover the whole bed $80 with shipping and I won't have to worry about it for 20 years or so. I live out in the boondocks so there aren't any plastic seller within 100 miles. Thanks Steve