Thread: Should I buy a planer?

Sounds like a good excuse to get a drum sander to me

why not try your method on one or two pieces first, see if it works, before you outlay for the new machinery. If it doesn't work, not much lost.
TM

You dont need an over head planer(although I suspect whoever you were talking to might have called a thicknesser an overhead planer). Your method will suffice.

Only thing I would do is to thickness your timber to 20mm thick and then cut 9mm-10mm strips using a table saw and then dress the sawn edges down to 7mm.

are we talking squaring sound timber as in logs.

if so

1. you can make a v block to sit it in to and srecure it from twistin with a screw in one end. and run it threw the thinnesser (overhead planer).

2. you can make a v block of ripping jig for use on the bandsaw and cut it with that.

3. you can make a flat side with a hand plane electric or otherwise and then sit this on the the bandsaw table to resaw.

Originally Posted by Ashore

Sounds like a good excuse to get a drum sander to me

Remember this is the young bloke who has to fix up some dust extractor gear first!
Jim

When he said an overhand planer I think he mean something like this. Also most of the wood come from offcuts from other woodworkers, so they usually start of with atleast 2 sides ready planed. I was just worried that if I don't plane after bandsawing it will result it unstraight cuts.

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Originally Posted by charlieart66

When he said an overhand planer I think he mean something like this. Also most of the wood come from offcuts from other woodworkers, so they usually start of with atleast 2 sides ready planed. I was just worried that if I don't plane after bandsawing it will result it unstraight cuts.

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Ah a joiner, I had a feeling thats what you were talking about.Joiners are typically used to put a square edge on a piece of timber without any square edges, or an edge that can't go through a thicknesser. I think you can get away with using what you have in your current setup, especially in a shed thats not quite 10'x6'. Your basically trying to rip straight pieces on a saw designed to do curves, so its never going to be perfect. I would thickness up a 20mm block then using a 1/2" blade on the bandsaw cut off your thin strips quite oversize, maybe 9mm and thickness them down to size.
Joiners aren't anymore dangerous than other tools and used correctly they are very useful, have you got a tablesaw by any chance?

Originally Posted by Pra33

Ah a joiner, I had a feeling thats what you were talking about.Joiners are typically used to put a square edge on a piece of timber without any square edges, or an edge that can't go through a thicknesser. I think you can get away with using what you have in your current setup, especially in a shed thats not quite 10'x6'. Your basically trying to rip straight pieces on a saw designed to do curves, so its never going to be perfect. I would thickness up a 20mm block then using a 1/2" blade on the bandsaw cut off your thin strips quite oversize, maybe 9mm and thickness them down to size.
Joiners aren't anymore dangerous than other tools and used correctly they are very useful, have you got a tablesaw by any chance?

I steered away from a table saw because of the amount of wood lost with each cut, and again there was the fact that I am not confident with them.
I do have a mitre saw with a circular blade however.

Originally Posted by charlieart66

I steered away from a table saw because of the amount of wood lost with each cut, and again there was the fact that I am not confident with them.
I do have a mitre saw with a circular blade however.

Actually you'd be surprised how much material you'll lose once you cut all the bits oversize and then thickness them down...an average table saw blade has a kerf of 3mm...so giving yourself 1.5mm either side to thickness is going to have the same result.
Maybe you could find a friendly cabinetmaker to rip all the pieces up for you, maybe in exchange for a bottle of Draught and 5 mates

Ahh a planer, also known as a jointer and a buzzer. You only need one if you need to straighten and square up timber. but I wouldnt use it on such thin timber, especially 7mm.

If using your bandsaw, set it the fence to allow for drift. That way you will have more evenly cut strips.

If the original stock that you get is 20mm or thicker, then I would run it through the thicknesser to get it to 20mm thick. After that, using a 3/8" or even 1/2 blade with 6tpi or higher, run it through the bandsaw slicing off 8mm or 8.5mm thick strips. If you have trouble with drift: adjust your fence to be parallel with the blade, temporarily tension the blade a wee bit higher, make the guides hug the blade a bit more and it shouldn't go anywhere, especially at 20mm. Don't forget to let the tension back to normal for other cuts though or you will reduce it's life a bit.

After that, a few very light passes through the thickenesser will remove any bandsaw marks, which are pretty small at 6tpi, and viola.

My 2c.

Thanks, unfortunately my saw doesn't have a guide, so I'm going to have to make one

See here

Also will 14" bs with a 6tpi blade 2850rpm 2hp (1500w) be man enough?

Thanks

If youre talking about slicing the boards that are 20mm thick (meaning the depth of the cut you make is 20mm) then it would do it with ease, bring the blade guides as close to the wood as you can, say 5mm away from the piece just to be nice clamp a sturdy piece of timber to the table as a fence, and viola. I doubt there would be much drift in cutting a 20mm board anyhow.

Good luck.