HDPE -- kickback with planer

[paulrussell]

I have a large half inch thick HDPE cutting board that I thought I'd repurpose. It had some deep cuts on both sides and I thought I'd resurface by running through my Pro Planer motor mounted (aluminum bed) SS planer.

It was about 20" wide, so I cut it in half and ran the first half through the planer without a problem.

Took the other half, started it through, and it kicked back and flew across the room. There was a nasty deep cut across the end, like the cutters had dug in and lifted the HDPE up off the bed. I regained composure, changed the cut depth to 1/2 of before and tried again (starting at the opposite end). Same results.

I have the old style rubber rollers. Is it likely a tension setting problem, time to replace the roller with the new style, or is planing HDPE a bad idea?