Thread: Planer Attachment

I find it satisfactory using pices upto 3" and using the jigs suggested with the instructions provided

It is probably the hardest bit of Triton kit to set up properly.

I am pretty happy with my setup now, but it took a bit of work to transform a tool which, by its very nature, is pretty rough into something that can produce a good result.

Don't get me wrong- the thicknessers etc that are set up specifically to do this job are in a different league from a hand-held power planer. I'd use a power planer to roughly buzz something down, but to finish the job, I will always switch to the hand plane.

However, using Triton's planer attachment jig, it is possible to get closer to the sort of accuracy expected. Be prepared to do some finetuning of your planer to get it accurate as well, and in fact, using the same techniques that are used to tune a hand plane works the best.

Having only recently bought one and therefore having gone thru the experience of setting it up - recently - I would echo the above comments.
Follow the directions you will find elsewhere on here - not the directions in the instructions.
I found that the important bit was to keep the heel of the plane just a little high - otherwise just a bit of chip/dust etc. will cause your planed timber to jam between the jig and the plane bed, thus forcing the top edge of the plane to move away from the jig, thus producing a wedge shape. Probably still better than I am with a hand plane!!
Actually I produce quite a good finish with sharp blades and a bit of care. Certainly down to using fine sandpaper for anything better.
A bit of a fiddle but I have managed to convert a twisted board into a flat board - quite a bit thinner of course!
Having no great expectations of the attachment - it is a bit flimsy -it is better and more useful than I expected

I have a Mk3 table with a planer attachment and an old Ryobi plane. It works - maybe not well, and certainly not as well as my Delta - but, when I need to clean up rough edges, it's all I have. Horses for courses!

I was very disappointed when I set mine up first time. I got good results from:
1. Re-adjusting the planer blades first to get it properly set up before putting it in the planer attachment.
2. setting up the planer in the jig.
3. re-adjusting the planer in the attachment once installed into the workcentre, to get the cut at right angles to the table top.
4. mucking around endlessly with the adjustments again to stop timber binding between planer shoe and jig, and to stop timber jamming when it hit the feed out pressure foot. (The second of the plastic guides which press the timber against the jig.)

After a LOT of mucking around I am pleased with how it works.
It would have been better if it was designed to accurately fit ONE brand of planer, but as it was designed to be universal its ease of setting up and its robustness is severely compromised.

chris.

I Should have mentioned that I went thru all the things ChisH mentions above - just that the raised heel seemed to be the important one for curing the jamming Chris mentions at (4).

A thought - Chris mentions about the outfeed finger causing jamming - that should be around the other way. Currently it is fitted so that it acts to jam the workpiece. As though you were pulling the workpiece out past a finger board. To turn it needs the holes repositioned. A thought that should be passed to Triton if somebody hasn't already.

Any chance of a diagram explaining finger positions to avoid jamming. I feel my fingers are set OK. Perhaps I have a later model?

Re the fingers
on mine both the fingers point in towards the centre. The infeed finger works OK just like a finger board. The outfeed finger though is caused to increase its pressure as it binds on the workpiece - just like trying to drag a workpiece backward past a finger board.
You can't turn the finger around the other way, the little pins and holes which stop it turning are not suitably located.
New holes could be drilled but it would need fairly precise work.

It would be better if that was all redesigned so that the outfeed finger could be placed as close as possible to the heel of the plane, otherwise you would be further limited in how short a piece you can plane.

That's my thoughts for what they are worth.

Sorry, no diagram but I havn't worked out to put drawings on this site yet. Must have a look at that.

Good idea- I hadn't thought of that one. I will look at adapting mine as soon as I can