I think I have read that dull blades can goof up the feed. I just got
up from the basement. I resawed some 3/4" oak into about 1/4". I fed
it through my Makita planer which I waxed Sunday. My planer has
rollers opposite the feed rollers. The wood gets squezed between the
rollers while the actual planing is done on the flat plate that I just
waxed. In any event the bottom idler rollers are supposed to be about
..003" above the bottom table. Pretty smooth job for this experiment. I
have not paid attention to other planers as the Makita is the only
planer I have touched since about 1990 except for a little toy Delta
planer that works pretty well with sharp blades. That Delta certain
will not feed with dull blades or misadjusted blades.

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:44:33 -0500, "J.M."
wrote:

I yanked the "home made" bed off and tried the factory metal bed but it
didn't make a difference. A thin cut works a little better but not really.
I've even taken a piece that was just planed and fired it back in the
machine and it still ahs problems. I've also checked the belt tension and
anything else the manual suggested. I'll try running it on the factory bed
again tonight and see if that helps but don't have much hope.

P.S. I have a call into Powermatics and will try them again on my lunch
break.



"dpb" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 12, 8:57 am, "J.M." wrote:
...
stumped. ... the chip
breaker is adjusted well out of the way, and the bed of the machine is
actually a custom molding bed made out of melamine and waxed several
times.
...

Does it work ok w/ the factory bed? That would be step one.
Mentioned it wouldn't handle an 1/8" cut -- does it handle a thinner
cut ok?

If it's a brand new machine, is there any possibility there's some
overlooked packing or somesuch still in the feed path?

Also, as dumb as it sounds, not knowing the newer PM machines, any
chance the knives are backwards or not above the head diameter? And,
of course, as someone else mentioned, the knives need to be at least
sharp enough to not be an obstruction. If it's new, that _shouldn't_
be a problem.

If a new machine and none of the suggestions help, if from local
distributor, I'd call them, otherwise try PM. _Used_ to be their
service/support was topnotch -- I've no idea how it is since the Jet
takeover; my last new equipment was so long ago I drove down to
McMinville and picked it up and was taken to lunch by one of the shop/
foundry foremen after the "cook's tour"...