Flattening planer tables

[imageel]

I recently bought a Startrite PT260 off of ebay which needed some attention - motor start start capacitor and a few stripped threads now fixed but have discovered that the tables are not flat
The outfeed table rises by ~.18mm toward the end (well actually over 12 inches - the longest straight edge I have..) - am guessing someone may have in the past lifted the machine by the tables.
Does anyone know if it would be possible to get it flattened with a surface grinder - the tables are ~3mm mild steel so not terribly hard and the tables come off and look like they could easily be jigged since the bottoms are flat. The infeed is much flatter but it does have a small bump near the cutter on the rebate edge so I may get both done and do the job properly.

Does anyone have any idea how much a workshop would charge for this - I guess I can phone around and get some estimates but if it's too pricey I guess I'll have a go myself with a file :?
Ed

 

[siggy_7]

As they are fabricated out of thin material you will struggle to get them flattened by removal I think, though you might be able to get them surface ground or surfaced in a milling machine with a fly cutter (how they do cylinder heads). Usually fabricated stuff is flattened by heat and force though - I would imagine there are engineering firms local to you who could do this, although whether it will end up much better than what you have at the moment is open to question. 0.18mm over 300mm is better than 0.1% accuracy, which doesn't sound terrible for a fabricated table.

 

[Andy RV]

As a toolroom grinder I'd be reluctant to try to flatten it by removal of material, thin sections of steel tend to have a habit of moving once you start to machine them, you find yourself back at square one.

 

[imageel]

Thanks for your replies. Although the actual surface is 3mm or so the tables themselves are strengthened by a splayed U section of similar thickness material welded in the underside so the whole structure is quite rigid, but appreciate your comments as to movement whilst working.
Apart from hand filing/sanding which would be rather laborious can you offer any other possibilities?
Ed