Hello,
I have a Delwalt 735 13″ thickness planer that has worked well for me. However, I’m making a simple cutting board end grain purple heart and maple. I’ve make a smaller version of the one I am currently working on and all went well. Tonight I was starting to plan my larger one and the planer grabbed the material and wouldnt feed any further leaving a large chunk out of the cutting board. The pass before this happened the board went through and no material was removed. I made a half turn so 1/32 would hopefully come off when this happened.
Has anyone encountered this before?
Cheers
Replies
End Grain Issue
Without more info its hard to know for sure, but I'm bettin' that tough maple and purpleheart end grain is too much for the operation you're trying. A thickness sander is much more suited to flattening end grain, especially on hardwoods.
Will the planer still feed regular face-grain stock or have the feed rollers stopped? If they've stopped, you probably broke the feed roller drive sproket. They are made of die-cast metal so they'll break before the machine self-destructs in this type of situation. Don't ask me how I know this :-p
A possible work-around would be to wrap the butcher block section with sacrificial borders of a hard wood. Glue runners about 12" longer than the butcher block piece on each side protruding 6" past both ends. Put a few 6" long pieces on either end and perpendicular to the feed direction fixing the whole works to a plywood "sled" and take 1/64" passes with sharp blades (they won't stay sharp long with the purpleheart). The sacrificial runners will level out the cutterhead and feed rollers before the knives engage that hard wood. You still run the risk of end grain blocks popping out and jamming up the machine if they are too thin, fragile or not glued together adequately, so proceed with caution. Or take the block to a shop or friend who has a thickness sander and live to work another day.
Best of luck...
DeWalt Planer and End Grain
I have the same planer, (I think!). This sounds like an EXTREMELY dangerous activity. I'm just sayin. If he is trying to plane off end grain, I think he's luck it didn't throw it back at him. That sounds like something that should be done with a router if the bit is long enuf for the thickness of the wood being planed; or an aggressive sander, or circular saw. It's hard to know without the size. There was a cover on Fine Woodworking a couple of issues ago where I guy had developed a jig for flattening a large surface. I might even use a router table with some sacrificial lengths around the side. Anyway, be VERY careful....