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99K views 52 replies 20 participants last post by  chris_d 
#1 ·
First Version: 1.0

One of the things I found out very early on in my type of woodworking is that the slabs I use in my projects are often in dire need of planing. The problem with this is the thickness planer I had was not large enough to accommodate the width of most of these slabs. So, I began reviewing my old book and magazine libraries and surfing the Net to try and find something else that might meet the need for the type of work I planned to do.

The results of my search were mixed. The very first option I found, and the one I decided to use as my baseline, was a design for a router planer in one of my old WOOD magazines (April/May 2005):

While the design in this issue was excellent for thinner pieces, I needed something that would also be height adjustable because many of the pieces I was working with were a lot more than 2" thick. So, I designed a small router planer using pipes and plywood height adjustors based loosely on the Wood maganzine design.

VERSION 1.0

This first router sled I designed used aluminum tracks with a clear plexiglass bottom (see photos below). The movement of the router back and forth over the piece was controlled by using the router handles rather than separate handles as in the design in WOOD. Width adjustment was made by opening the table the router planer was mounted on (width adjustment on this table was minimal, so I knew I'd need to come up with something bigger sooner or later).




The concept worked great! The sled needed some work, however. With this design, the router sled was too "wishy-washy" in its movement back and forth, and there was too much of a chance that it would slip off the plywood cross rails if I got careless and wasn't watching what I was doing close enough. As a result, I went to a "track" sled:




This version worked much better than the first one, but it was still too small to handle the larger slabs I wanted to plane to a flat surface. So, back to the drawing board. Next up - Version 1.1.
 
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#3 ·
May only be version 1 but it is still pretty cool. I see the pipes are holding up the guide rails on the sled, but I can't tell what is holding them up on the pipe. Is it just a threaded flange that you screw up and down?
 
#4 ·
Manirario, I'll be posting photos in upciming posts for this series of blogs. Yes, some of the pieces are very large. I actaully flattened an 8' fireplace mantel using the larger router planer that will be shown.

Swirt, I used stop collars on this version. I'll be using 1/2" pipe clamps from here on as they are so much easier to adjust. Photos and explanation to come.

TZH
 
#6 ·
How thick is the "plastic" base on your jig in photos 1&2 ?
I was thinking about using 1/4" x 8" x 12" Poly Carbonate as a "window" to mount my router on and to be able to see what I was doing.The PC would be able to be installed on any size "sled" that I needed to make.What are your thoughts ?
Thanks : )
 
#7 ·
Dusty56: the plastic base in the photos is 1/4" thick (just like what you were thinking of using). I used plexiglass (assume it's the same as PC), and it works great. So, basically, you're idea is exactly what I did. I've made several refinements since this first version (please see later installments of this blog), and I've found this jig is now the most used tool in my shop. I can plane just about any size or shape piece to make anything from pedestals for tables and benches or flat surfaces for bases and tops. I've even done fireplace mantels with it. Good luck with yours, and go create some sawdust!

TZH
 
#8 ·
Thank you for the feedback…your plexi appears to be quite a bit thicker than 1/4" in the photo , that's why I asked : )
I'm going to look into the plexi versus poly and see if there are any differences other than the spelling .LOL

edit : Looks like the polycarb is stronger than the plexi , but scratches easier and may discolor over time with exposure to UV rays , depending on which brand you purchase , and of course is more expensive.
Thanks and have a great day : )
 
#9 ·
Dusty56: I think the reason it looks thicker in the photo is because of the aluminum runners I was using at the time and also the overall length and width gives it that appearance. I started out with my "sled" concept using the router base in the runners, but found the base was wearing pretty badly, and my control was still an issue. So, I went with a smallish plexi plate like what you are thinking, and voila - I had me a planer. I'm still undecided which lubricant works best for sliding in the sled and on the rails, and I think I've decided on carwax. I was using beeswax, but the buildup was getting to be a bit much to stay ahead of. The carwax seems to last awhile longer and is more slippery than the beeswax. Thanks.

TZH
 
#11 ·
Version 1.1

The next design I came up with for my router planer was based loosely on some of the designs some fellow woodworkers had posted right here on Lumberjocks. The biggest design change was that I eliminated the sled pictured in the first photo in my last blog entry and used angle iron glides instead.



Now here was a design I really took a liking to right away. This one allowed me to plane much larger pieces without fear of slipping off the edges of the runners because the router moves within the confines of the angle iron glides.

The angle iron glides also allowed the router to slide back and forth (gotta use beeswax on a regular basis to grease the skids, so to speak) and the edges of the iron glides also keep it straighter and truer when planing. The sled was made just wide enough to accommodate the width of the router baseplate, so there is virtually no chance the router will slip out when planing.

However, this process is time consuming and hard on the back if the piece is very large or the angle makes for a long reach. To address this issue, I found working on half the piece at a time, and then switching to the other half when done with the first half, works very well (see photo below). I also found that a larger router works a lot better than the smaller ones (a 1/2" shank router straight bit that cuts a larger diameter is definitely a plus, too). Anyway, this improved design router planer was a lot closer to what I needed than anything I'd found so far.



The photo above shows just one example of a large slab being planed. This piece is almost 3' at its widest point. It started out over 5" thick and the "wings" on it were so warped, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to save it. The photo below shows this slab as a coffee table top that I've gotten a lot of drooling over, but so far I haven't had a buyer for it.



Next up - Version 1.2.
 
#20 ·
Version 1.2

Movin' right along, here's Version 1.2 of my router planer.

Because I'd made the router sled larger in order to accommodate larger pieces, I now needed to design something bigger for the sled to ride on. That's when I came up with the idea of using longer piping for the end poles and cross rails (instead of the 12" pipes and the plywood cross rails shown in my first design). The photo below shows my first attempt (my "beta" version) at this new design.




As you can see, this first "beta" version looked pretty wierd. I thought if I made it triangular in shape, I could manipulate the widths of the slabs I worked on while still allowing me to work on thicker pieces, as well. I didn't like this one at all because even with my newer sled design (not shown in these photos) that used angle iron as the runners, I couldn't keep the sled on the rails when I needed to. So, I came up with the following version, Version 1.2:



This one worked much better than the triangular configuration. The slab in the photo started out at about 8" thick and was planed down using this version to a thickness of about 5".






With this design, I found that having the extra height afforded by the 48" corner posts was a real plus, but adjusting the height was really hard to do to get it straight and level on all four sides because of the cross rails. The stop collars (see below) had to be in almost perfect alignment in order to get the most exact cut/plane with the router, and that was very hard to do with the cross rails in place. Plus, the flanges the corner poles went into weren't the best quality, so the poles went cattywampus in different directions which made it that much more difficult to get the height adjustment correct.



It's not that it couldn't be done. Rather, it was just more difficult, frustrating, and time consuming to get the height exact. So, once again it was back to the drawing board.

Next time - Version 1.2a.
 
#21 ·
Since you have some height adjustment in the router could you drill holes in the 4 posts for pins to go through to hold the cross pieces up? Of course you will need to drill all 4 verticals the same which will require another jig for your drill press to index the pipes with.

Also, what router bit are you using to route the slabs and how deep do you go with each pass?
 
#26 ·
Version 1.2a

Version 1.2a

At this point I decided to get more "radical" in my design approach. I removed two of the cross rails (found out through experience that I didn't need them anyway). Then I took the corner poles out of the flanges and put a "sleeve" on the side of my table for the corner poles to slide into (see photo below). Electrical conduit clamps work great for attaching the sleeves.



This design also allowed me to adjust the height of the router sled in two ways:

1. The corner poles were now adjustable up and down by sliding them up and down in the sleeve. The stop collar you see in the photos just at table level can then be used to hold the corner pole securely in place.

2. Because the stop collars in my earlier designs were so hard to get positioned and secured properly, I decided I had to try something different for the rails the router sled rode on. That's when it hit me that pipe clamps have a self locking base plate that would be perfect for this type of application. Voila! Why didn't I think of this earlier? I still need to buy two more pipe clamps to put on the back two poles.



The beauty of this design is that now I have a method that allows me to easily move the cross rails up and down, plus it serves a "dual purpose" that gives me 48" pipe clamps when I need them, as well.



As you can see by the height of the two stumps shown in the photos, this jig allows planing of sizable pieces. In fact, any piece up to a height of 40" can be done with relative ease. I've done sofa and coffee table bases/pedestals with this jig with close to perfectly parallel tops and bottoms. I can hardly wait to try it on a lamp base, too!

The square in the photo below is what I use to measure where to set the pipe clamps to get them the same height on all four corners. I set the sled as close to the top of the piece I'm working on as I can, and then I micro adjust each corner using measurements on the square to get it close to perfect.



The trick for getting the top and bottom of the piece(s) parallel is to shim them prior to the first planing effort in order to get everything as straight as possible and to minimize the amount needing to be planed off (see photo below). Cardboard pieces, thin plastic, or other suitable material works well as shims.



Once the piece is shimmed, the procedure is simple:

1. For these two stumps I had to fasten them to each other because they were intended to become the legs for a simple bench I was making and these legs had to be exactly the same height. As you can see in the photo below, I fastened them together by lag screwing a 2Ă—4 onto each stump to help prevent movement.



2. The next step is to secure the piece to the table (I use ratchet tie downs most of the time, but I've also used bungees which are not as secure). In the photo below, I used only one tie down, but I would advise using two most of the time for this type of work, if possible.



3. Once the top is planed down evenly, it is a simple matter to flip the piece over (it won't even need to be shimmed for this next step), remove the 2Ă—4 and refasten it at the bottom as before, secure the piece using the tie down(s) as before, and plane away. The result looks like this:

!

Here's a photo of the rough bench prior to finishing.



Next up - Version 2.0 (for the really BIG pieces!)
 
#31 ·
Version 1.2b

Awhile back, I began posting a series of blogs on the evolution of my router planer. Since that time I've actually made three more minor modifications that have had a huge impact on how well this thing works.

The first modification: I was always frustrated with how long it took to measure the height at which to set the cross members of the planer using my square in a slotted 2Ă—4. Well, I finally came up with a solution so simple even I was amazed (not the brightest bulb in the pack I guess). Anyway, here it is:

Plant Road surface Automotive tire Grass Gas

Musical instrument Wood Grass Road surface Writing implement


Basically, it consists of one 3/4" pipe over which a 1" diameter stop collar and a series of 1" diameter pipe connectors are piled up on top of each other to give a simple measurement. The router I use has a 3/4" depth of cut, so every time I reach that depth, I just remove a stop collar (about 3/4" thickness) and I'm back to cutting depth. When I get to a pipe connector, I just remove it and substitute two stop collars which leaves me with about 1/2" cutting depth before I can take out the first of the two stop collars. Hope this all makes sense. For anyone out there using this type system, flat washers or large enough nuts would also work.

Second modification: For width of planing, I was always struggling with the "wishy-washy" aspect of the sled my router rode in. It sometimes even caused the router to "run" if I wasn't quite vigilant enough (after a whole bunch of repeated passes, it gets to a point where the attention span isn't necessarily what it should be). So, I replaced the "fixed" stops on the sled with a couple of simple homegrown "clamps". Here they are:

Wood Creative arts Hardwood Gas Machine

Wood Hardwood Lumber Plank Plywood


The "clamps" consist of two pieces of trex stiles I had left over from a deck project cut to the width of my router base, drilled through the center of each with a half inch forstner bit and held together by one 6" bolt with a wing nut. Tightening down causes the center of the trex to flex together causing the ends to clamp down on the sled angle iron runners and holding them very solidly exactly where I want them. An added benefit of using this type of clamping system is that I can now adjust the width of a pass I can make based on the width of the piece I'm working on.

And that brings me to the third, and final, modification (probably the best one of all as far as I'm concerned). If you take a look at the two photos showing the clamping system, you should also see wheels on their sides. These wheels allow me to move the sled easily in small increments for each pass of the router. I had originally thought I'd use ball bearings of some kind for this purpose, but decided I needed to use what I had on hand (finances, you know), and decided wheels turned sideways should work just fine. Well, they exceeded my expectations. The fact the sled rides on the two runners gives it enough drag resistance so that the sled stays in place while I make the pass. But the wheels on both ends of the sled allow me to use my hands and my body to move the sled over just enough to make the next pass. Works for me. Hope it works for someone else, too.

Thanks for looking.
TZH
 

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#32 ·
Version 1.2b

Awhile back, I began posting a series of blogs on the evolution of my router planer. Since that time I've actually made three more minor modifications that have had a huge impact on how well this thing works.

The first modification: I was always frustrated with how long it took to measure the height at which to set the cross members of the planer using my square in a slotted 2Ă—4. Well, I finally came up with a solution so simple even I was amazed (not the brightest bulb in the pack I guess). Anyway, here it is:

Plant Road surface Automotive tire Grass Gas

Musical instrument Wood Grass Road surface Writing implement


Basically, it consists of one 3/4" pipe over which a 1" diameter stop collar and a series of 1" diameter pipe connectors are piled up on top of each other to give a simple measurement. The router I use has a 3/4" depth of cut, so every time I reach that depth, I just remove a stop collar (about 3/4" thickness) and I'm back to cutting depth. When I get to a pipe connector, I just remove it and substitute two stop collars which leaves me with about 1/2" cutting depth before I can take out the first of the two stop collars. Hope this all makes sense. For anyone out there using this type system, flat washers or large enough nuts would also work.

Second modification: For width of planing, I was always struggling with the "wishy-washy" aspect of the sled my router rode in. It sometimes even caused the router to "run" if I wasn't quite vigilant enough (after a whole bunch of repeated passes, it gets to a point where the attention span isn't necessarily what it should be). So, I replaced the "fixed" stops on the sled with a couple of simple homegrown "clamps". Here they are:

Wood Creative arts Hardwood Gas Machine

Wood Hardwood Lumber Plank Plywood


The "clamps" consist of two pieces of trex stiles I had left over from a deck project cut to the width of my router base, drilled through the center of each with a half inch forstner bit and held together by one 6" bolt with a wing nut. Tightening down causes the center of the trex to flex together causing the ends to clamp down on the sled angle iron runners and holding them very solidly exactly where I want them. An added benefit of using this type of clamping system is that I can now adjust the width of a pass I can make based on the width of the piece I'm working on.

And that brings me to the third, and final, modification (probably the best one of all as far as I'm concerned). If you take a look at the two photos showing the clamping system, you should also see wheels on their sides. These wheels allow me to move the sled easily in small increments for each pass of the router. I had originally thought I'd use ball bearings of some kind for this purpose, but decided I needed to use what I had on hand (finances, you know), and decided wheels turned sideways should work just fine. Well, they exceeded my expectations. The fact the sled rides on the two runners gives it enough drag resistance so that the sled stays in place while I make the pass. But the wheels on both ends of the sled allow me to use my hands and my body to move the sled over just enough to make the next pass. Works for me. Hope it works for someone else, too.

Thanks for looking.
TZH
This is a great idea! Another favorite and future project for me. Thanks for taking the time to post this.
 

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#33 ·
Version 2.0

A long time ago, I said I would post a blog entry showing how I plane really big pieces using my router planer. Well, here goes.

I started out with some really big cottonwood rounds (that's my son in the first photo):

Plant Sky Tree Automotive tire Wood

Plant Wood Grass Bedrock Chainsaw

Plant Sky Cloud Tree Land lot


I cut them into 5" to 6" thick slabs and had to figure out a way to plane them down to 3" to 4" thick to use as table tops for TV stands and coffee tables. That's when I came up with the Big Boy Router Planer below:

Tree Plant Wood Gas Automotive wheel system

Wood Plant Road surface Asphalt Window


I just happened to have two 4"x4" metal tubes that are each 14 1/2' long to use as my runners. I clamped them to my mobile table, and then had to figure out how I was going to raise and lower them to accommodate the router sled. It didn't take me too long to realize raising and lowering these two runners wasn't going to be practical (too heavy and cumbersome). So, I decided I would "raise" the piece 3/4" every time I used up the 3/4" depth of cut of my router by putting a 3/4" MDF shelf under the piece to raise it up to the needed height (max number of shelves I ever had to use was three, and the weight of the cottonwood slab kept it in place without clamping - even during routing).

That's about it. This system works great. I can plane a slab up to 14' long by 40" wide (I could do wider if I were to make a longer router sled - just don't see the need to go that route just yet. Besides, I'm getting too old to keep stretching that far over the table anyway).

Thanks for looking.
TZH
 

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#34 ·
Version 2.0

A long time ago, I said I would post a blog entry showing how I plane really big pieces using my router planer. Well, here goes.

I started out with some really big cottonwood rounds (that's my son in the first photo):

Plant Sky Tree Automotive tire Wood

Plant Wood Grass Bedrock Chainsaw

Plant Sky Cloud Tree Land lot


I cut them into 5" to 6" thick slabs and had to figure out a way to plane them down to 3" to 4" thick to use as table tops for TV stands and coffee tables. That's when I came up with the Big Boy Router Planer below:

Tree Plant Wood Gas Automotive wheel system

Wood Plant Road surface Asphalt Window


I just happened to have two 4"x4" metal tubes that are each 14 1/2' long to use as my runners. I clamped them to my mobile table, and then had to figure out how I was going to raise and lower them to accommodate the router sled. It didn't take me too long to realize raising and lowering these two runners wasn't going to be practical (too heavy and cumbersome). So, I decided I would "raise" the piece 3/4" every time I used up the 3/4" depth of cut of my router by putting a 3/4" MDF shelf under the piece to raise it up to the needed height (max number of shelves I ever had to use was three, and the weight of the cottonwood slab kept it in place without clamping - even during routing).

That's about it. This system works great. I can plane a slab up to 14' long by 40" wide (I could do wider if I were to make a longer router sled - just don't see the need to go that route just yet. Besides, I'm getting too old to keep stretching that far over the table anyway).

Thanks for looking.
TZH
Very innovative and looks to work a charm. Thanks for sharing.
 

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#36 ·
Version 1.2c (had to tweak it again)

Found out the trex clamps I talked about in my last version (http://lumberjocks.com/TZH/blog/24588) weren't strong enough to withstand the pressure exerted by the bolt going through, plus didn't hold the sled rigidly enough (too much diagonal movement). So, back to the drawing board. Figured a clamp should function like a clamp no matter what the design is, so I used 2Ă—4's for the stationary clamp (first photo) and 2Ă—2's (oak - second photo) for the moveable/adjustable clamp. Then I cut slots in one each of the clamps to hold onto the angle iron brackets the router moves back and forth in. Also, did away with the wing nuts (too cumbersome to hold while trying to tighten down the bolt) and went with a regular nut on the end of the bolt instead. Requires two wrenches, but the results are much better. Finally, decided to try this without the wheels to run along the guide rails. Haven't used it like this yet, but it sure does slide nice and smooth. If wheels are necessary, I'll add them later. Anyway, here are some photos explaining my revised design. Hope this helps, and thanks for looking.

TZH


 
#37 ·
You never know what you'll use a tool or jig for till you have one. Now that you've got a router sled, just change the router plate for a skill saw plate and you've got a panel saw, put in a straight bit and you've got a dado jig. It helps to build some fixed stops to hold the frame to make a cut or a dado. You can also search e-bay for some Thomson linear bearings. I have found them as cheep as $20 a set. They make your jig tight and free from slop.
 
#42 ·
Tweakin' it again. Version 2.1

Didn't know whether to post here in this blog or in the walnut tv stand blog. So here it is. Found I had to tweak my router planer a bit more in order for it to work as well as I wanted it to work. The slabs I'm doing right now were too long for the regular planer, so had to get out the really long rails once again.

Problem with the setup I had already used was the sled didn't ride the rails as nice or as easy as I'd hoped they would, even with using some wheels/casters as guides. Got some enclosed ball bearings for Christmas and decided to give those a try.

Wood Grass Composite material Cross Tints and shades


Had to add a spacer to accommodate the bearings so they'd ride on the inside of the rail. One obstacle out of the way, a couple more to go.

The next thing I decided to change was the fact nothing was really holding the rails in place except their own weight. Made for some pretty wishy washy planing. So decided to use the existing pipe stiles to get an even width on the rails.

Wood Door Grass Gas Water


Once all four of the pipe stiles were inserted and the rails were placed up alongside them, the width was even steven all the way along the 16' length of the rails. But the pipe stiles stood proud of the rails by about 4 or 5 inches which wouldn't allow the sled to pass beyond their location. Next step was to either go buy shorter pipe stiles or figure out something else. Chose the latter. Took some big eye bolts and opened the eye to accommodate a 1/2" pipe. Put it into the side of the table, and dropped the pipe stile down into the opening so the "stub" held the rail from moving in toward the other rail.

Wood Netbook Automotive exterior Asphalt Flooring


Sorry the image is way fuzzy. Gettin' so excited to use this thing, my hand musta moved as I snapped the picture. I'll try to get another one for the next blog post to give a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Anyway, this last tweak worked great! Kept the rails from moving any at all, and the width between rails remained very constant. Ball bearings helped immensely, but need to make one that runs on top of the rails, too.

Wood Automotive tire Asphalt Road surface Automotive exterior


Couple more minor modifications, and it should be where I need it to be.
 

Attachments

#43 ·
Tweakin' it again. Version 2.1

Didn't know whether to post here in this blog or in the walnut tv stand blog. So here it is. Found I had to tweak my router planer a bit more in order for it to work as well as I wanted it to work. The slabs I'm doing right now were too long for the regular planer, so had to get out the really long rails once again.

Problem with the setup I had already used was the sled didn't ride the rails as nice or as easy as I'd hoped they would, even with using some wheels/casters as guides. Got some enclosed ball bearings for Christmas and decided to give those a try.

Wood Grass Composite material Cross Tints and shades


Had to add a spacer to accommodate the bearings so they'd ride on the inside of the rail. One obstacle out of the way, a couple more to go.

The next thing I decided to change was the fact nothing was really holding the rails in place except their own weight. Made for some pretty wishy washy planing. So decided to use the existing pipe stiles to get an even width on the rails.

Wood Door Grass Gas Water


Once all four of the pipe stiles were inserted and the rails were placed up alongside them, the width was even steven all the way along the 16' length of the rails. But the pipe stiles stood proud of the rails by about 4 or 5 inches which wouldn't allow the sled to pass beyond their location. Next step was to either go buy shorter pipe stiles or figure out something else. Chose the latter. Took some big eye bolts and opened the eye to accommodate a 1/2" pipe. Put it into the side of the table, and dropped the pipe stile down into the opening so the "stub" held the rail from moving in toward the other rail.

Wood Netbook Automotive exterior Asphalt Flooring


Sorry the image is way fuzzy. Gettin' so excited to use this thing, my hand musta moved as I snapped the picture. I'll try to get another one for the next blog post to give a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Anyway, this last tweak worked great! Kept the rails from moving any at all, and the width between rails remained very constant. Ball bearings helped immensely, but need to make one that runs on top of the rails, too.

Wood Automotive tire Asphalt Road surface Automotive exterior


Couple more minor modifications, and it should be where I need it to be.
I need to get one of those built
 

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