Thicknessing wood

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9 June 2010 at 10:13 #6650
Ian Gardner
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@iangardner62867
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9 June 2010 at 10:13 #27191
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
I like to build to fairly large scales and enjoy using wood. I tend to cut my wood on a bandsaw and finish with a block plane and sander but have been looking for a better way to finish sheet and strip to a uniform thickness. I have tried a drum sander against a fence in my pillar drill but it’s not very satisfactory and creates huge amounts of dust. I have attempted to make a thicknesser but cant find a cylindrical sanding drum I can support at both ends. I’m now considering experimenting with a router system. Has anyone come up with a good system? I might even consider buying a small thicknesser if I thought it would do the job. I note Proxxon do one but I don’t really want to start another mortgage!

Any suggestions?

Ian Gardner
9 June 2010 at 10:28 #27192
David Meier
Participant
@davidmeier28154
Could you lash something up using an electric hand plane?

What thickness and width strips are you wanting?

David.
9 June 2010 at 10:31 #27193
Bob Abell 2
Participant
@bobabell2
Hello there, Ian

I always use a bandsaw……………..leaving the surface……….as sawn!

My Great Eastern had 70 off x 8`-0″ planks of 10mm x 3mm……..Imagine planing those?

The planks are glued to the formers and THEN planed down…ie Thickness plane not required

Having said all that……I`d love a little planing machine!

There!……..I`ve saved you a small fortune?

Bob
9 June 2010 at 10:46 #27195
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Thanks both.

Bob I cut planks on a bandsaw and plane each new edge before cutting and use the sawn edge inside the hull. I find I can cut 1/8” sheet say 3” wide on my bandsaw but wanted a way of finishing the surface uniformly. I already use a plane as I described to take out saw marks. I’m thinking more of mahogany sheet for superstructures. I’m just not sure if a small thicknesser could cut down to that size- I’ve never been reassured about that enough to make the expenditure.

David, it might be worth looking at the electric planer idea – it occurs to me that one might arrange it between two thicknessing strips with the sheet fixed down temporarily with hot glue- food for thought, thanks.

Ian
9 June 2010 at 12:39 #27197
Peter Morris 5
Participant
@petermorris5
Ian

I noticed that B&Q are selling MacAllister planer/thicknessers for £190 – still expensive but a lot less than the Proxxon machine!

Peter
9 June 2010 at 16:41 #27199
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Hi Peter,

It’s the sort of machine I have often considered buying but I don’t know if it would do what I want it to. They always give maximum thickness of section it will take but not the minimum.

certainly is a good price- might pop along to B&Q and see if I can find someone who knows about these machines.

Ian
9 June 2010 at 22:37 #27204
Kevin Bellman
Participant
@kevinbellman86047
I have a friend who has a full size planer/thicknesser. I found that by putting a sheet of 10mm MDF on the bed of the planer and sliding my stock wood over it was able to go down to 1mm thick.

Put a lip on the front/underside of the MDF to stop it going through.
10 June 2010 at 15:14 #27211
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Thank you Kevin,

That’s an excellent suggestion and I can see how that would work.

Ian
10 June 2010 at 18:28 #27218
neil hp
Participant
@neilhp
Sorry ian, but an incredibly dangerous practice.

When you feed a piece of timber through a planer/thicknesser you have the safety of anti kickback grabs on the timber to stop it from being thrown out of the planer at about 400 miles an hour…..the blade speed at the tips on a planer can reach anything upto 2400 mph.

Once you put that timber onto another piece, you loose either the top or the bottom grabs, and you have little control of what the planer can do………

I speak from traning and the certificates I hold as a retired teacher trained on these machines……..AND THEY ARE NOT TO BE ABUSED………. SERIOUS INJURY CAN AND WILL FOLLOW by abusing what can be very dangerous and unforgiving machines
10 June 2010 at 18:35 #27219
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Neil,

Warning duly noted.

Ian
10 June 2010 at 19:03 #27221
Bob Wilson
Participant
@bobwilson59101
Being a bit of a Phillistine, I don’t bother with a thicknesser because I have a band saw. If I want to make wood thinner, or even thicker, I just cut up a plank into slices of the required thickness, then turn them on their sides and glue them together again using white wood glue. I can imagine the screams of anguish that this method will bring about, but it is safe, easy and successful!

Bob
10 June 2010 at 20:05 #27226
neil hp
Participant
@neilhp
unless you are doing very intricate work with a nice hard wood i agree totally with bob on this one.

most planers won’t cut down to any less that 3 – 4 mill safely and with any form of uniform accuracy anyway.

the thinner you go the more likely you are to get vibration with the timber which results in an uneven planed surface anyway, which leaves miriads of undulations on the plank which need sanding away.

a good tungsten tipped blade on a circular saw will give just as good a uniform surface.
10 June 2010 at 20:29 #27227
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Use a bench saw with a good veneer blade and you can slice down to 2mm thickness and keep a good finish
11 June 2010 at 06:43 #27229
Rick Devonshire
Participant
@rickdevonshire
Some time ago I converted my hand held electric planer to do the job.

The planer fixes on a saddle which runs along a 6″plank and is kept in place by side fences fitted to the saddle.. On the undeside of the saddle I fit spacers each side accordind to the thickness of the finished wood I require. the only limiting factor is the width of the planer cutting blade.

I used to make wooden longbows for archery and found the above apparatus worked quite well.

Rick.
11 June 2010 at 10:18 #27235
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Sounds to me as though the thicknesser is probably unsuitable for this scale of work. I have an electric planer and would be interested to know more of your system Rick.

I’m not sure what is meant by a veneer blade on a bench saw-are they sold by that name?

Thanks for all the input on this by the way.

Ian
12 June 2010 at 10:16 #27257
David Meier
Participant
@davidmeier28154
Hi Ian. Thanks for making your original post. You got me thinking and I have now made up a thicknesser using my electric hand plane.

It works better than I dared to expect and I am rapt to now have such a useful tool. The trial pieces that I thicknessed were 3,5mm rough sawn strips cut from a piece of 18mm thick dressed rimu. They came out to 2mm +0.06 – 0.00

Cheers.

David.

The pictures below show how I made it.

I used a 150mm x 50mm piece of dressed pine cut to 100mm longer than the
electric plane. I then fitted a 25mm high wooden fence on one side. (
it must be lower than the protruding planer motor cowl) next I placed
two screws with a piece of 10mm dia aluminium tube around them to the
front and back of the protruding planer belt drive cover. The posts
constrain the plain and stop it being pushed back when you feed the
wood through.

The two white strips are 2mm thick cardboard. These are what determine the final thickness that the wood will come out to.

This is the timber input end. The planer has been set to take a 0.5mm
cut. I later moved the posts back 50mm to give a platform to rest the
wood to be thicknessed on. It is necessary to momentarily lift the
front of the plane to feed the wood in.

A 3.5mm thick rough sawn strip and a similar strip after one pass through the thicknesser.

Showing the depth of cut

The rimu strips were consistantly thicknessed to between 2.00mm to 2.06mm over 10 strips thicknessed.

You can just see the timber coming out the back of the plane.

The timber is nearly through.

The thicknesser must be constrained loosley because it is gravity that holds the plane down on the timber.

The end product. Each strip took three passes through the thicknesser.

Edited By David Meier on 12/06/2010 10:18:16

Edited By David Meier on 12/06/2010 10:21:37
12 June 2010 at 16:35 #27263
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Wow David,

I have just come in and spotted this and worked throught the pictures- initially it looked more complicated than it is, but a picture is worth a thousand words! Presumably you dont have any problems with kick back and the weight of the planer is enough to keep it down on the wood. I wonder how it would work with a wider strip of wood. I shall have an experiment along these lines I think and let you know how things go- in the fullness of time. I think I could live with a variation of 0.06mm! Thanks for the comprehensive explanation.

Ian

Edited By Ian Gardner on 12/06/2010 16:36:45
12 June 2010 at 23:09 #27270
David Meier
Participant
@davidmeier28154
Hi Ian.

If the weight of the planer proved not enough when planing wider strips of wood you could try putting an elastic tie down over the planer and attached to the wooden block to give more down force. Also having fresh sharp blades would help.

I am interested to hear how you get on.

Cheers.

David.
18 June 2010 at 17:34 #27348
Ian Jopson
Participant
@ianjopson21383
or – you could use a ‘floating sled’ type tray to go through the machine completely, with a back stop to prevent the plank sliding backwards. I’ve seen this described, for yhicnessing very thin planks but never used it myself. Still needs the blade marks sanding off and if you use a too thin original plank it can wrinkle up. Perhaps a local woodwork college instructor can show you some tips?.
20 June 2010 at 16:42 #27375
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Not sure what you mean by ‘floating sled’. Are we still talking about using a thicknesser? I had a look at my electric planer and the blade goes right to the edge of the sole so not sure how I could adapt your method David- I’m looking at ways of supporting the planer blades up and having an adjustable fence on top. I must say I’m still tempted by the idea of a table saw with a really good blade.
25 June 2010 at 18:26 #27428
Ian Jopson
Participant
@ianjopson21383
I’m not sure if a ‘floating sled’ is the correct term, but basically – a thicker piece of timber used as a base to put your thin piece on – a block at the rear to stop the pieces seperating (remembering not to nail or screw it from the top because of the blade hitting any metal – both pieces fed through the thicknesser allowing for the extra thickness of the base plate. Sorry it’s not a very good explanation, but I have seen it in practice and it works.
26 June 2010 at 11:07 #27440
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Thanks for the clarification Ian. As I said before I’m very grateful for all the suggestions on this topic and it has certainly helped me refine my thinking on the matter. It seems to have helped David as well, which is good.

I am now seriously leaning towards the purchase of a small bench saw with a fine finish blade. I know it’s not the cheapest option but I never need much excuse to flash out on tools! I just need to decide on the model now so if anyone has experience of a well priced machine I would be interested to hear about it..

Ian
27 June 2010 at 16:08 #27450
Tankerman
Participant
@tankerman
Ian,

If you are thinking of a small bench saw I can recommend the Proxxon Micromot KS 230. Since purchasing this tool three years ago it has paid for itself many times over and is a joy to use.

There are several suppliers so an internet search should provide you with some data as to whether it is the machine for which you would have a use.

Chris
27 June 2010 at 20:27 #27452
Ian Gardner
Participant
@iangardner62867
Thanks Chris,

I was pleasantly suprised by the price at least – the other Proxxon machine I was looking at was about £400. I note this has maximum depth of cut of 8mm which is a bit small for me- I want to be able to slice off sheets a couple of inches deep so I think one of the small bench saws with a fine blade will be the answer- just have to decide how much I’m prepared to pay. Axminster do a Makita but it is a bit pricey- must let the spirit grow a bit more I think!

You do make fine models by the way.

Ian
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