The infeed rollers on my Makita Planer Jointer have turned to mush.
They are soft and sticky and must be replaced. To buy new replacements
costs about $400 which is just too much so I am looking from
alternatives. I have a couple of ideas:
1) True up the existing rollers and glue some kind of rubber material
around rollers. This will isolate the planed wood from the sticky
residue on the old rollers and provide a friction surface for advancing
the material. Any ideas on what material to use or if this will even
work.
2) Many years ago I built a thickness sander and built my own feed
rollers by slipping rubber tubing over the roller shaft. I continued
to slip larger pieces of hose over the previous hose until it was the
diameter I wanted (If I remember it only took two sizes). Any comments
on this idea, it seemed to work fine before.
Anybody else with an idea?

Dangerous Dave wrote:

Anybody else with an idea?

Take it to the bloke who fixes rubber rollers. Round here there's a
guy who knows what sort of rubber composition to pour onto them, and
who has a lathe with a toolpost belt sander to tru them afterwards.

If you're in the outback, then Bentley Chemicals (UK at least) sell the
Smooth-on silicones that will fix most things. You can lash up the belt
sander jig yourself.

Dangerous Dave wrote:
The infeed rollers on my Makita Planer Jointer have turned to mush.
They are soft and sticky and must be replaced. To buy new replacements
costs about $400 which is just too much so I am looking from
alternatives. I have a couple of ideas:
1) True up the existing rollers and glue some kind of rubber material
around rollers. This will isolate the planed wood from the sticky
residue on the old rollers and provide a friction surface for advancing
the material. Any ideas on what material to use or if this will even
work.
2) Many years ago I built a thickness sander and built my own feed
rollers by slipping rubber tubing over the roller shaft. I continued
to slip larger pieces of hose over the previous hose until it was the
diameter I wanted (If I remember it only took two sizes). Any comments
on this idea, it seemed to work fine before.
Anybody else with an idea?

Dave,
It seems these Makita rollers just die after a while. I replaced my
rollers with new Makita replacements about 10 years ago for about $400.
Then, just a few years ago, someone posted this information here. I
went back and found it. Hope it helps.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.w...76f073d2e2af2e

DonkeyHody
"If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a
nail." - Abraham Maslow