I want to reduce the thickness of a plastic (unknown composition) cutting board from Walmart. Tried the DW735 with the straight blades and the board shattered. I was only taking a 32nd off. 

Maybe a router planing jig would work??? 

Or, may wait till the Shelix head is installed in the planer???

Any ideas?

For the cost of the Shelix head, do you wanna risk it on plastic?

35 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Tried the DW735 with the straight blades and the board shattered. I was only taking a 32nd off. 

must be in the acrylic family...

UHMW planes...

polycarbonate does too (LA)...

go buy what ya need...

I would not use a planer for that purpose, but I would use a drum sander for that purpose. I had been asked by the operator of my local Chick-fil-a run some plastic-type cutting boards to get them cleaned up from all the cutting. NOTE: these were not used for cutting chicken but for other items. They were about 3/4 to 7/8" thick and ran them through the Jet 16/32 drum sander. Once I got them all sanded and gave them back to the operator he was very happy. I did this twice for him before they got too thin.

37 minutes ago, Allen Worsham said:

I would not use a planer for that purpose, but I would use a drum sander for that purpose. I had been asked by the operator of my local Chick-fil-a run some plastic-type cutting boards to get them cleaned up from all the cutting. NOTE: these were not used for cutting chicken but for other items. They were about 3/4 to 7/8" thick and ran them through the Jet 16/32 drum sander. Once I got them all sanded and gave them back to the operator he was very happy. I did this twice for him before they got too thin.

Answer (Solved)

Good one Allen

Unfortunately, I don't have a drum sander/thicknesser. I do have a Flat Sander, though. I'll give it a try. 

I'm trying to make ZCIs for my Smithys. 

how thick do you need...

acrylics aren't the way to go.. too brittle...

would a rabbet or or a counter bore give you the thickness you need???

Gene I use the Walmart cutting boards on all my extra long clamp pads I adapted to use on my Vise Grip c clamps but I just use the thickness the boards are.. Whats a VCI and I do know what Smithy's are for I use to have a set on my chevy. So why need an exact thickness?

it's ZCI and it stand for Zero Clearance Insert.

those that have table saws know this...

2 hours ago, Stick486 said:

would a rabbet or or a counter bore give you the thickness you need???

Yes! In fact, that's how I make them from wood. May need to do it that way. 

39 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Yes! In fact, that's how I make them from wood. May need to do it that way. 

That is how I do it too, a rebate around the edges.

But beware,with the thicker ZCI you may have to relieve the center for the saw washer. I have to and I use a dado which is a smaller diam. on the arbor ,set the ZCI and slowly raise it to cut the underneath of the ZCI a tad for the arbor washer to clear.

Herb

Make a small router planer.