CHEAP AND EASY TO MAKE PLANER

[MNbassist]

Yesterday I was fooling around with ideas of how to plane wood without a planer, I discovered how. Get a piece of plywood (however big depending on how large the raw wood is. Then take two-3/4x2 pieces of wood, any kind as long as they are jointed at right angles and nail them down to the flat plywood long ways on the outside edge. Then take four more 3/4x2 pieces of wood and create a thin rectangle. Sizes differe in comparison to how big of a piece of plywood you use. Make this rectangle so it fits inside the two walls on the outside edges. You want it to have a gap in the middle of the two long woods approxamately 2 inches wide. Sorry if im not explaining this well, its tough. Then take a router with a 1/4 shank mounted flush trimming bit and place the bit in the gap of this "rectangle" This is now your jig, set the depth of the router so that the entire piece of wood will get a small cut (VERY SMALL) and you can glide the router across the entire piece of wood cutting down a perfectly level surface. Feel free to ask any questions cuz i know my description sucks

 

[klocwerk]

took me a few reads to figure out what you're doing there, but I've got it now. Makes a lot of sense!
Some slippery tape on those plywood rails will make it work even smoother.

 

[iamlowsound]

A picture maybe?

lowsound

 

[wilser]

formica laminate is very slippery and will resist abrasion more.

There are many alternatives to planers, I've used router on a sled and now I'm using a safe-t-planer on my drill press, since a thickness planer is too loud and big for my small shop.

 

[eleonn]

took me a few reads to figure out what you're doing there, but I've got it now. Makes a lot of sense!
Some slippery tape on those plywood rails will make it work even smoother.

Must be me then because I still don't get it

...maybe with a spanish version would be easier!!!

I'll try to read it again!!

 

[eleonn]

MN Bassist ...I read again your post and I finally got it but there's something I don't fully understand yet. You put the raw wood inside the gap of the rectangle and then the router will move over the wooded rectangle right?... so what are the external woods for?

 

[wilser]

the other woods are to provide steady support for the router and a flat table for the wood to slide on.

I think an improvement would be to include some kind of hold down rollers for the work piece while you slide it through.

eleonn,
no creo que una version en espanol sea una mejora sobre su explicacion ...de verdad que esta diabolicamente compleja! me recuerda a mi profesor de calculo de la univ.

 

[PaleMelanesian]

This is the image I'm getting. Sorry about the bad ascii-art.

          [ ] router
------------------------ sled for router
[]                     [] support rails
[]    wood to plane    []
------------------------ plywood base

 

[MNbassist]

Ok, the two outside "walls" are meant to provide elevation over the raw wood that you are to plane, then the rectangular piece sits on top of that, the router blade drops through the rectangle down to the raw wood. Right now im working on putting drawer glides on the rail sideways so the piece moves much smoother....still in progress though.

 

[PaleMelanesian]

Something similar to this idea?

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=router%20sled%20planer&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[MNbassist]

Yea, thats what it looks like. Except i keep plywood underneath it and screwed down the outside piececs of wood. That is so disappointing. I thought I had something good going on there

 

[PaleMelanesian]

I'd look at it as confirmation that yours was a good idea. In this day and age, it's really hard to have an idea nobody else has thought of. Actually, I think I may be using this myself soon, thanks to you.

 

[erikbojerik]

a.k.a. router thicknessing jig

 

[wilser]

you may want to use the largest diameter dish carving bit your router can handle. This will minimize the number of passes and the marks left by the bit.

 

[Wolak]

I actually did something similar a couple of months ago. I wanted my headstock to match the body of my bass, so I rigged up a similar contraption and kept shaving off layers of the wood piece until I had a veneer. I then took that veneer and glued it to the headstock. It worked well.

 

[klocwerk]

you may want to use the largest diameter dish carving bit your router can handle. This will minimize the number of passes and the marks left by the bit.

That makes sense. How big a bit do you think is wise with your average 2.5hp router? (Mine's a Bosch 1617, but just generally speaking?)

 

[wilser]

That makes sense. How big a bit do you think is wise with your average 2.5hp router? (Mine's a Bosch 1617, but just generally speaking?)

my router is a 2.5hp hitachi with variable speed. I use a 1.25" diam bit and set the speed to 5 (out of 6, whatever RPM that means). I use this bit to remove the bulk of wood when carving heels, and also to route the control cavity and leave a bit of a round edge where the wall meets the bottom of the cavity. Quite nice finish this thing leaves.

 

[Musiclogic]

my router is a 2.5hp hitachi with variable speed. I use a 1.25" diam bit and set the speed to 5 (out of 6, whatever RPM that means). I use this bit to remove the bulk of wood when carving heels, and also to route the control cavity and leave a bit of a round edge where the wall meets the bottom of the cavity. Quite nice finish this thing leaves.

On your Hitachi....M12V I am guessing.....it would be about 18,000 rpm.....Just a note