Thread: Plane Design

Couldn't you hold it in matching cauls and bring the problem back to square again?

Originally Posted by IanW

Yeah, but notice the lucky b.. had straight sides to work from - imagine setting up from the rounded sides of a coffin shape, & you have the gist of my problem!

But thanks - it is (sort of) comforting to know it is the part of a plane build that scares even an old pro like Konrad...

I have to admit Ian, it is a tricky thing to do right on a drill press even if you do have a flat face to work off. This is just my methodology and it is based around a mill but it could to be extended to the drill press, but you would want to be very patient with the set-up. The benifit is it does not rely on your mill/drill or angle plate being square and would work with any shape plane you care to make

You will need
a dial test indicator,
a parallel ( to make the surface of the bed suitable for a test indicator)
an angle plate
For a badger plane I would also add a compound sine table into the mix.

The two reference surfaces to use will be the sole and the bed (not the side). both must be in their finished condition ie. flat and lapped square as you can make them.


Mount the angle plate to the machine bed. with the face of the plate co planer with the twist axis of the machine table more accurate you do this the less error there is. put the test indicator in the chuck and run the indicator down along the face of the angle plate and adjust the tilt of the bed until the face of the plate is square to the spindle. You now have one surface square in one axis to the spindle.

Now mount the plane sideways on the angle plate so that the face of the sole is on the face of the angle plate lose enough that it can move if you tap it with a soft faced hammer but not so that it would fall. Placing a V block underneath helps to take the weight while you rough in the position by eye/square. Take the parallel and clamp them down to the bed so that you can get the test indicator to run down the face of the parallel adjust the rotation of the plane with gentle taps of a hammer until it is aligned with the spindle. lock the plane down, recheck and remove the parallel. position, spot drill and then drill.

-J

Josh, how about you just make a drill jig with a bush close to or on the curved surface. For a one off you could even slap something together with some timber scraps (but with a steel bush).

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

Josh, how about you just make a drill jig with a bush close to or on the curved surface. For a one off you could even slap something together with some timber scraps (but with a steel bush).

Michael

I'm a bit confused what would the bush be doing, and how would it be helping to align the pin to the bed? maybe I should do a drawing to illustrate the surfaces.

Here is a quick model to illustrate the the problem.

The blue surface of the angle plate is square with the yellow drill bit and the green holes are where we want the the holes how can we align the holes so that they are parallel to the bed of the plane(red surface).

oh and here is what i mean about the parallel.

if you have the DTI in the chuck and run it down the pink surface of the parallel it will align the axis of the spindle to be parallel and square to the bed of the plane (red). the parallel is just there as a suitable surface for the DTI if it was an infill the wood would not be as accurate it could just as easily be the blade you intend to use in fact it would be sightly better as the blade might have a slight side to side taper.
-J

PS.
I'm loving the 3d pdf's BTW, is any one having trouble opening them?

Originally Posted by Brobdingnagian

PS.
I'm loving the 3d pdf's BTW, is any one having trouble opening them?

Josh

No trouble opening them. Lots of issues understanding them . My brain hurts. I need a drink .

I think I might stick to wood for my planes and just admire yours from a distance .

Regards
Paul

Hi Josh,
It somehow reminds me of the boat "Renovatio" from the movie The Island. Although looking at some pics its way off.....

I made a suggestion about drilling in the 416 stainless thread, although i may have misunderstood....

I hope the sketch is clear enough. What I was trying to suggest was making up a jig, such as pictured in Fig 1 that will hold the plane body and enable it to be clamped down for drilling. Once you have done that (easy with CNC) then it is relatively easy to attach some form of bracket that holds a drill bush. If this is right next to the surface to be drilled it should not matter that the surface is curved as the bush should prevent the drill deflecting or wandering on the curved surface (much anyway). I've tried to illustrate this in figure 2.
Depending on how many planes you are going to make the jig can be really sophisticated or just something thrown together. I've drawn the locating part of the jig as flat but there is nothing that says that it can't have an angle to it. You can also incorporate locating features on it too.

Michael

Scan (Medium).jpg

Originally Posted by Michael G

I hope the sketch is clear enough. What I was trying to suggest was making up a jig, such as pictured in Fig 1 that will hold the plane body and enable it to be clamped down for drilling. Once you have done that (easy with CNC) then it is relatively easy to attach some form of bracket that holds a drill bush. If this is right next to the surface to be drilled it should not matter that the surface is curved as the bush should prevent the drill deflecting or wandering on the curved surface (much anyway). I've tried to illustrate this in figure 2.
Depending on how many planes you are going to make the jig can be really sophisticated or just something thrown together. I've drawn the locating part of the jig as flat but there is nothing that says that it can't have an angle to it. You can also incorporate locating features on it too.

Michael

Scan (Medium).jpg

Thanks Michael, your sketch is perfectly clear and I see what you mean now. I use the same technique for creating "datum pockets" for multiple coordinate geometry on the 3020 CNC. I will mill one face then take it off the table, mount a piece of scrap materiel on the table and machine a matching pocket for the part to sit in. I have only had to do that on complicated geometries like ellipses which are a pain to clamp and align say like a coffin smoother. :P

The reason I suggested the above is that it uses the bed of the tool as the final alignment plane as the bed might at a skew. Making the bed flat, true and in the right spot to give you a nice fine perpendicular mouth is not an easy thing to get right(In fact it is the thing I fret about getting right the most in these kind of designs where I have only one flat surface the sole and it is orthogonal to nothing)) If the bed is off on a by a 10-20 tho skew I doubt you would ever notice it in service unless the lever cap was perfectly square across which would leave a gap between the blade and the lever cap.

Originally Posted by Brobdingnagian

If the bed is off on a by a 10-20 tho skew I doubt you would ever notice it in service unless the lever cap was perfectly square across which would leave a gap between the blade and the lever cap.

Then you could go with a lick of cigarette paper under one side ... like a japanese wooden plane

This one looks kind of "tugboat"ish

Originally Posted by Pac man

This one looks kind of "tugboat"ish

Bloody IPhone App for woodworking!!!



Other possible vague (and a bit dull as-is) front tote idea? http://www.supertool.com/forsale/jan/x3.jpg

Paul

I have played around with the mock up I made a while back and put a bunch of modelling clay on it to try and get the ergonomics right. which I have done, it feels absolutely great im my hands pitty it is sooo soo ugly.