Rebuild Infeed Rollers for Makita Model 2030 Planer Jointer

[Dangerous Dave]

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?

[Andy Dingley]

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.

[DonkeyHody]

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.

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