Thread: Planer bed vs timber length

My planer is a combo type .... jointer is 1.5M and planer has a bed of some 750mm .... I do boards of 2.7M regularlly ... but I do use an outfeed table ... they are a pain to use as the planer bed rises and falls with the thickness size.

I dont use the outfeed table for stock under 20mm ... but for heavy stock I employ it.

Regards

Rob

Hey rob
By planer I mean the 'jointer'. Whats it like planing/jointing (not thicknessing) 2.7m on a 1.5m bed?

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Hey rob
By planer I mean the 'jointer'. Whats it like planing/jointing (not thicknessing) 2.7m on a 1.5m bed?

The simple answer is ... It all depends. Whilst on my machine there is some 1.5m of jointer table top ... around 700 is infeed and 700 is outfeed.

When feeding stock through it is important to keep the stock flat on both the in and out tables at all times.

With a 700mm outfeed table after the cutter head a stock piece over 1400mm will want to overbalance when the rear end passed over the cutter ... not a problem as long as you can keep a little downward pressure on the piece. For a 19X135X2400 board this is generally not much of a problem.

But for a piece of walnut, maple or bulegum 50X250X2400 it is a difficult task to do safely.

That is where the outfeed trestle comes in.

The outfeed roller trestle is very handy for large or heavy pieces ... you can line it up the trestle precisely with the outfeed table on the jointer using a dial indicator and 1M straight edge and leave the trestle at that setting for ever.

The infeed trestle is another issue all together .. for heavy pierces I often set the infeed table at the height and then dial in the infeed trestle using a dial indicator and a straight edge. Depending on the skimming needed to flatten a board the infeed table height can vary by a few 10ths of a mm.

I am extremely careful never to let a large (say 5kg or more) stock piece rest on the machine unsupported.

SO WHY THE FIXATION WITH TRESTLE TABLES, STRAIGHT EDGES AND DIAL INDICATOR YOU MAY ASK.

The jointer is all about getting true and flat surfaces .. I can attest to the fact that the slightest deviation in coplanar settings between the infeed and outfeed table will result in bowed (dip in the middle) or convex outcomes. By slightest deviations I mean 100ths of mm's.

Setting up a jointer is a complex and tedious process and can take hours to achieve .... but if you want straight boards them the machine needs to be perfectly coplanar and not knocked out of registration by large and unsupported pieces.

So ... here is my tip to avoid tears ...when jointing then precut first to the rough lengths and widths you need... there is no point in jointing a 4M length of 250X50 blue gum if you are after 110x50X1800 finished pieces.

Regards

Rob

Makes no real difference except for ease of use, so long as you are able to keep the timber riding flat on the in feed and out feed table, you can plane any length on any length machine

Originally Posted by Tahlee

The jointer is all about getting true and flat surfaces .. I can attest to the fact that the slightest deviation in coplanar settings between the infeed and outfeed table will result in bowed (dip in the middle) or convex outcomes. By slightest deviations I mean 100ths of mm's.

The size of the machine will also make a difference to allowable deviations from perfect.

The head on the buzzer at work is twisted 0.1mm relative to the tables and it makes bugger all difference unless you're working right on the ends of the head, but it's 410mm wide, so 0.1 over that distance isn't so bad.

Originally Posted by China

Makes no real difference except for ease of use, so long as you are able to keep the timber riding flat on the in feed and out feed table, you can plane any length on any length machine

Essentially, this