Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Router Planing Fixtures
- Thread starter Bruce Johnson
- Start date
Home Depot usually sells 2' x 4' pieces (1/2") - I think they call it Medium density fiberboard), for about $12.
Yes but I would then need means to cut it down to thinner strips for shimming that are relatively straight on both sides...
I may go that route down the road, but I'd have to come up with a means to make those cuts w/o a table saw... I am short on space...
I may go that route down the road, but I'd have to come up with a means to make those cuts w/o a table saw... I am short on space...
You could always rip them with a jigsaw, bandsaw, or circular saw and then... WAIT FOR IT... plane them true in your router planing jig. 
You could always rip them with a jigsaw, bandsaw, or circular saw and then... WAIT FOR IT... plane them true in your router planing jig.
...or... I could buy molding @ $.67/ft and save some time
One day, yes, I hope to be able to make everything myself. For right now, my time is finite, my space is finite (no garage or workroom, I have to lug all my equipment into the back yard and then lug it back in) so when I get into a recursive scenario (have to solve a problem in order to solve a problem to solve yet another problem), I am going to take a shortcut where I can, so long as it doesn't compromise the project.
Granted, I might end up having to do what you say in the end, but I'm learning (and love doing it if for no other reason than therapy) and if I go that route, I will have internalized why and won't second guess myself.
Yes in the end you have to be practical. For me, in an ideal world though, I would spend my days making tools and jigs more than making actual finished goods. There's something satisfying in the indirect aspect of jig making - it's a craft that's just for the craftsman, something private and personal. The "audience" for the final product never sees or even knows about it.
I wanted to share something here that got referenced several pages ago. I had mentioned then that I was having trouble planing very thin panels to accurate thicknesses. Bruce suggested a vacuum table. I ended up building one (a small one) recently and I wanted to share it.
I made mine with 3/4" mdf top and bottom plates, and 1/2" mdf "spacers." The idea is to build a thin airtight box. Mine is about 2' long and 9' wide, probably as big as I'd ever need. Here it is before gluing the top on, to show the internals:
There's a frame around the edge and a handful of baffles/stiffeners (more went in after this photo) to keep the top plate rigid.
After gluing the top on and screwing it down, I drilled a series of 1/2" holes. I just drew a grid as big as the piece of wood I wanted to plane and went to town.
Then I used a hole saw to cut a big hole near the far end to put a vacuum hose in. Speaking of the vacuum, I was a little concerned that I would have something strong enough to pull a good vacuum and hold the piece tight. I have a tiny 5 gallon "bucket" shop vac, a bigger shop vac, and an actual vacuum pump. I figured the bucket vac would be the weakest, but it was right next to my bench so I tried it first.
That was easily waaaay more than enough vacuum, I was really surprised. I tried to push the piece of wood wile the vacuum was running and all I could manage to do was dig my fingernails into the edge of the wood. I stopped because I was afraid I would break it.
Then I got out my planing jig and put it to work. I ended up putting two tiny dabs of hot glue along the edge of the wood panel just to be sure it wouldn't move (after all, the vacuum is really as much to keep it from fluttering under the router as it is to actually hold it still.
I planed 4 of these wood panels down to .1" and they're consistently that thickness to the level of accuracy that I care to measure. Earlier in the thread I had tried to plane some other panels down thicker than that and couldn't get a consistent result. This worked MUCH better.
If you have a router planing jig already, and you want a good way to accurately thickness very thin panels, this is a great solution. Also I could see this being useful if you needed to hold odd shaped panels and for all kinds of other uses. I was on the verge of building a drum sander to thickness panels like this, but honestly this works so well and I can really appreciate not having another machine taking up space.
I made mine with 3/4" mdf top and bottom plates, and 1/2" mdf "spacers." The idea is to build a thin airtight box. Mine is about 2' long and 9' wide, probably as big as I'd ever need. Here it is before gluing the top on, to show the internals:
There's a frame around the edge and a handful of baffles/stiffeners (more went in after this photo) to keep the top plate rigid.
After gluing the top on and screwing it down, I drilled a series of 1/2" holes. I just drew a grid as big as the piece of wood I wanted to plane and went to town.
Then I used a hole saw to cut a big hole near the far end to put a vacuum hose in. Speaking of the vacuum, I was a little concerned that I would have something strong enough to pull a good vacuum and hold the piece tight. I have a tiny 5 gallon "bucket" shop vac, a bigger shop vac, and an actual vacuum pump. I figured the bucket vac would be the weakest, but it was right next to my bench so I tried it first.
That was easily waaaay more than enough vacuum, I was really surprised. I tried to push the piece of wood wile the vacuum was running and all I could manage to do was dig my fingernails into the edge of the wood. I stopped because I was afraid I would break it.
Then I got out my planing jig and put it to work. I ended up putting two tiny dabs of hot glue along the edge of the wood panel just to be sure it wouldn't move (after all, the vacuum is really as much to keep it from fluttering under the router as it is to actually hold it still.
I planed 4 of these wood panels down to .1" and they're consistently that thickness to the level of accuracy that I care to measure. Earlier in the thread I had tried to plane some other panels down thicker than that and couldn't get a consistent result. This worked MUCH better.
If you have a router planing jig already, and you want a good way to accurately thickness very thin panels, this is a great solution. Also I could see this being useful if you needed to hold odd shaped panels and for all kinds of other uses. I was on the verge of building a drum sander to thickness panels like this, but honestly this works so well and I can really appreciate not having another machine taking up space.
It literally took like 20 minutes to make, and maybe $10 of mdf. It's at least worth a try!
For thicker pieces, I've found that shimming any un-evenness to make the piece really stable before clamping or hot gluing it in the fixture really helped. For thinner pieces I was getting un-eveness even when the piece was dead flat, this definitely solved it.
For thicker pieces, I've found that shimming any un-evenness to make the piece really stable before clamping or hot gluing it in the fixture really helped. For thinner pieces I was getting un-eveness even when the piece was dead flat, this definitely solved it.
I was trying to plane fret board thickness so ~.3" and it had to be carefully and painstakingly sanded as I couldn't get it to hold still.
I’d guess that another plus is it helps clear the dust out as well. Just have some of the holes in the table exposed.
Yeah that would work well I'm sure, especially if you had a more powerful vacuum. I was really surprised that this weak little vacuum worked so well.
You could cut lots of holes and then just tape off the ones that were exposed if you were working on a smaller board, or leave some open for dust collection. Router planing is definitely messy, so it would be pretty nice to have some built in dust collection.
Weakened at least. It would be worth trying. With a normal-sized shop vac I bet you'd still get plenty of suction. I can't over-emphasize how strongly this tiny weak vacuum held the board down, it was pretty incredible.
Nice work! I definitely need to build one of those. Little shop-vacs have a surprising amount of suction (inches of vacuum), plus they have enough volume of air that they can hold the vacuum even when a lot of holes are open.
A few accessories I can think of:
Have some various rectangles of posterboard handy that you can stick down over extra open holes that aren't helping with extracting sawdust.
Make up a thin (like 1/16") rubber mat with holes that match the table. Put that down when you have a sawn veneer that's rough cut on both sides. The mat will seal up the irregularities on one side while you flatten the other side.
This thread keeps on delivering. @MovinTarget doesn't have to be a big investment, that one I'm using in that photo was like $25 at home depot. It comes as just the powerhead, you use it on a normal 5 gallon bucket. It's great because it's small and doesn't take up much space, and it's light enough to carry around as you need it.
For those of you playing at home:
Bucket Head 5 Gal. 1.75-Peak HP Wet/Dry Shop Vacuum Powerhead with Filter Bag and Hose (compatible with 5 Gal. Homer Bucket)-BH0100 - The Home Depot
Has fairly decent reviews for an inexpensive shop vac. I can use this for lots of stuff so might just be a winner.
Latest posts
-
Adding J pup to P bass, should I go 60’s or 70’s spacing?- Latest: Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati
-
-
-
