Thread: Making very thin strips on a thicknesser

Arron,

First of all I have to say that I have never done this. However, I have read articles where they talk about doing just what you described.

In the one I remember, the author used low tack double sided tape.

I can't see why it wouldn't work.

Craig

I would be a bit scared at 3mm let alone less!

It may work if the blades are sharp and the timber VERY dense and solid and split free... I have had a few experiences of stuff breaking up in the thicknesser, and it isn't particularly pleasant! In fact it's pretty dangerous.

The board is the go if you must try, but I wouldn't (do it again!).

That's why I bought a drum sander, and it works very well for that purpose.

Cheers,

P

I would ask if the thicknesser is the best tool for producing strips that thin.

One method I have read but not used myself is to dress a larger board then saw veneer of it with a well tuned band saw (or table saw if narrower), then re dress the board & go again.
If the saw is well tuned you may not need to dress the cut side.

strips that thin thru a thicknesser sounds like a problem waiting to happen.

I have recently done exactly what you are trying to do and suggest you use a piece of melamine slightly longer than you planer bed and lower your bed rollers (if adjustable). Fixing 2 parralel runners at a slight angle to the feed roller can also assist by forcing the workpiece to be machined at a slight skew.
Sharp blades and a quick rub down of the workpiece with a wet cloth will also help.
I managed to get down to about 2mm with not too much trouble but do remember to take very small cuts .

Arron,

Is it really necessary to make the strips as thin as 2 mm? I use 4 mm thick strips to laminate the back-slats of my rockers, and 6 mm thick ones for the rocker laminations. As Bitingmidge says, running very thin strips through a thicknesser is a bit hazardous, but I have had few problems with strips 3 mm thick or greater. I just clamped an offcut of MDF to the thicknesser's table, and ran the strips through, but, as Different suggests, melamine would probably be better. You don't need to use double-sided tape.

Rocker

Why not use veneer instead, it is 1.5mm or even super thin ply in 1.5mm available from Amerind. The method we use is thickness to 5mm then run through the drum sander to 3mm any smaller we use super thin or veneer.

Arron,

I seem to recall that I saw a jig where somebody did just what you suggested. that is the jig allowed them to machine very thin stock. I'll try and find it, but in the mean time (working from memory here) the stock was placed on a backing board which had stops at each end for the stock to be placed against. The stops were positiond just a bit shorter than the stock making it bow up, aparently this was to give it some resistance against the feed rollers.

As I said I'll see if I can find it, it gives a better description then I ever could.

Himzo.

Originally Posted by Arron

Hi. I have a need to make some strips of European oak, about 1000mm x 100mm and about 2mm or less thick. I want to use these for laminating.

Yes you can do this - I have done similar many times though 1) with varying degrees of success, and 2) never with boards 100mm wide (though the wider the better methinks). My laminates are usually only 40mm or so wide.

Firstly: what radius of bend requires 2mm thick laminates? I read somewhere (source now lost, unfortunately) that the thickness of laminate should be no more than one 50th of the radius. In my experience this is certainly the maximum for Australian hardwoods. If I can I try for 1/60 of the radius or thinner, because when you are thicknessing to this thin-ness the finished piece can have quite a variation in thickness. I've never laminated European Oak.

I endorse the suggestions of Dewfurn about purchasing pre-cut veneers if you can get them. Like Different I use a melamine-coated piece of MDF (mine = 32mm thick) under my laminates, longer than the length of the required strips, and I don't use any double-sided tape or anything.

On the face of it, as Rocker says, you should take thin passes, but I have found the reverse to be the case. The reason is that very thin pieces (less than 3mm thick, say, being reduced to 2mm) tend to lift after they pass under the in-feed roller and before reaching the cutter blades then the blades just tear them apart. (plenty noise!) If I was thicknessing to 2mm I'd make the next-to-last pass to leave at least 3.5mm thickness, then take off the last 1.5mm in the last pass, making sure any bow in the timber was (concave-side) down. 100mm wide boards might not be a susceptible to this problem as narrower boards however.

Another suggestion that has also worked once for me: Start with laminate pieces longer than you need and maybe 3.5 mm thick. Start thicknessing at (say) 3.3mm and as soon as the piece has passed under the outfeed roller, screw the thicknesser down to your required 2mm. This guarantees that the outfeed side is being pulled through as well as being pushed from the in-feed side, and thin pieces of timber are of course much stronger in tension than in compression. Using this technique I have thicknessed to less than 1mm. Though the minute the thicknesser encounters knot in the board all hell will break loose! BUT, you shouldn't be laminating anything by straight-grained boards anyway.

Qw

BTW: I also have a thicknessing sander but I still rather use the thicknesser for this job.

Thanks for all the responses, guys. It looks like the consensus is that planing below 3mm is possible but expect to have a few pieces break up and dont stand behind the thicknesser.

However I am most interested in the suggestion that I may not need to go below 3mm. The oak that I am using is incredibly strong at 3mm. I can bend it but it is still quite stiff. Is that OK for laminating. Will its strong tendancy to spring back cause a problem? I guess what I am asking is 'if you use laminations under considerable tension will the resulting workpiece tend to be unstable or twist or delaminate or something'?

The reason why I am choosing not to use veneer is that the timber they choose for veneer usually doesnt seem to match well with the stuff I pull out of my wood pile. I want to use the same timber for the table top as for the apron - or maybe that is being too fussy.

thanks
Arron

you could always use a handcut veneer on the outside only.

Arron,

So long as you can bend the strip to the shape you require without its breaking, you should have no problems. Glued laminations, unlike steam-bent wood, have very little spring-back. I can recommend the urea-formaldehyde glue that Timbecon sells, but some people recommend epoxy, of which I have no experience as far as bent laminations are concerned. I think you should be able to cut oak to 3 mm thickness and bend it to form your table aprons without any problems.

Rocker

Thanks. Thinking about this. Because I am running out of oak I would rather use oak for only the front strip. Therefore it would be a 3mm strip of oak and about 5 strips of 4mm maple or something similar. This would allow me to make a very thick apron and make joining it to the legs much easier (as in my post below about what joint to use). Do you forsee any problems with doing this?

The apron is only seen from the front, so the edge will not be visible.

Arron

Use a piece of 19mm melamine with a stop board underneath as the bed for your thicknesser.

I can thickness down to 1.3mm on a generic 15" thicknesser.
Mind you it's well set-up with only 0.03mm difference from one side to the other on a full width board. You also MUST have SHARP blades to be able to get down to this thickness.
I can post a pix of the melamine board if you want