Surfacer/Thicknesser

**newflavour** · 5th December 2010, 05:01 PM

This morning I was up early with my new son and was thinking of the best way to clean up some planks I recently ripped in half with the old circular saw. What followed was about 45 mins of piecing together this sled from scraps I had in the workshop.

In the coming days I'll add bearings to the X and Y carriages to help make it easier to move about. I'll also be making various curved Y carriages to dish out the tops of seats, bowls, lazy suzan's etc. The best thing about the design is that it's very scalable, quickly, easily and cheaply.

There's not much to say, I think the pictures will explain it all. Oh, the router lifts straight out of my table and drops straight into the Y carriage. No mucking about with different base plates or different routers etc.

The sled and rails

The stock before surfacing

The stock mid surfacing. There are some tool marks that will sand out easy enough, but I'll get a larger bit for future efforts. Something around 1-1.5 inch should make light work of it.

The finished stock

The setup (with finished stock). I envisage clamping this to the top of my work bench to make it easier and more comfortable to use.

Comparison stock. Before (on top) and after (below)

**benupton** · 5th December 2010, 06:20 PM

For some reason I was thinking of making one of these. It looks good

.

**Felvo** · 7th December 2010, 02:45 PM

not only looks good, looks very professional

**Wongo** · 7th December 2010, 03:52 PM

Good work. You might want to get the right router bit for the job. It will improve the performance significantly. My one gives me a perfect finish.

801 Mortising & Planer Bits : CARBA-TEC

**newflavour** · 7th December 2010, 04:19 PM

thanks for the comments folks. Tonight I'm adding the bearings to the X and Y carriages for smoother and easier movement. will post pics once completed. it'll be a busy night as I've got to make a few jigs including a circle cutting jig to do as small as 3mm Diameter discs and another one to surface some larger lazy suzan style bowls I'm working on.

@wongo: thanks for the tip. I'd ordered some planer bits from ebay last night hoping that I'd get a nicer result. Its nice to see you've already done that and that I've made the right decision.

**Wongo** · 7th December 2010, 04:31 PM

Another important point is to do small cuts rather than big cuts. Pic 5 suggests that you were cutting too much.

**newflavour** · 7th December 2010, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Wongo

Another important point is to do small cuts rather than big cuts. Pic 5 suggests that you were cutting too much.

I can certainly see how pic5 might suggest that and whilst it does suggest that, the material being removed was marginal with each pass. The DOC was fixed for the duration of the process however the router was taking approximately 1-2mm on the Y with each pass along the X.

**Tankstand** · 7th December 2010, 04:53 PM

Another great bit to add to your collection is the Dish Cutter

With the radiused corners you get very blended overlapping.

**Wongo** · 7th December 2010, 05:33 PM

I have to disagree with you Tankstand. Sorry.

I had the dish cutter, also a CMT bit so no problem with quaility, first but the result was very poor. It is why I changed to the planer Bits.

The dish cutter seems to lift the router and glides over the wood rather than cut into the wood. It does not give a clean cut at all. Sorry if it does not make sense to you.

It could be my lack of technique, but I find it less effective.

**benupton** · 7th December 2010, 05:53 PM

How about this bit. bowl trimmer (surface planer)

**benupton** · 7th December 2010, 06:03 PM

How well does this go on figured timber.

**newflavour** · 7th December 2010, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by Bupton

How well does this go on figured timber.

how figured? so long as the work piece is secured and the material being removed is minimal in each pass it shouldn't be a problem. it'll just take some time to do it.

**benupton** · 7th December 2010, 08:47 PM

Just thought that it would be better then a thicknesser on figured timber as it takes small cuts from the side and a thicknesser takes long cuts from the top.

**Wongo** · 7th December 2010, 09:17 PM

Originally Posted by Bupton

How about this bit. bowl trimmer (surface planer)

I think 6 flutes are far too many. Unless you do the smallest cut or you are likely to burn the wood. Similar to ripping wood with crosscut blade. I would definitely stick with 2 flutes.

**Wongo** · 7th December 2010, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by newflavour

how figured? so long as the work piece is secured and the material being removed is minimal in each pass it shouldn't be a problem. it'll just take some time to do it.

I agree. The cutting action is perpendicular wood grain. There should be 0 chance for a tear out.

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