Comments on: Flattening Wide Boards With A Planer Sled

By: Episode 13 – What I Learned This Week – 2008.07.23

Episode 13 – What I Learned This Week – 2008.07.23 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:50:00 +0000

[...] due and check out his description, it’s much better than I can describe. You can find it at: http://modernwoodshop.com/2008/06/18/flattening-wide-boards-with-a-planer-sled/ I explained what I was doing, to the instructor, and why just running the board through the planer [...]

By: wayne

wayne — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:02:45 +0000

Can the sled be used or short length pieces like six inches?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:49:06 +0000

@Bruce:

My sled is about 35″ long… but you can make it any length you want.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:34:18 +0000

Like the sled it is SIMPLE to duplicate and will allow the flattening of wider boards than my 6″ jointer will allow. One question, how long is your sled?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:50:15 +0000

@Chris:

You are correct; the fence goes in first. That is what I show in my pictures in the post, so I assumed that that was how Rino was using the sled. Reading his comment again, however, I see that he might indeed be running the sled the wrong way through the planer. Thanks for helping to clarify.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:30:22 +0000

Rino/Dave,

The issue is that the hardwood stop should be placed headfirst into the planer when using a sled.

Most people do this backwards thinking that one is trying to resist the force of the rotating knives of the planer.

What you want to resist is the rotating roller/feeder and that wants to PUSH the wood being planed through and therefore will bump up against the stop. This is the roller/feeder’s job: to push the wood through…same thing with the sled…it wants to push the sled through.

Regards….

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:03:10 +0000

Great tip. This is exactly what I was looking for….simple and effective. I’ve seen other planer boards and support methods, but this one by far is the easiest to produce and seems to effect the same result. I think some guys just enjoy building fancy jigs, and over designing them. Whereas, simple IS elegant in my book.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:51:39 +0000

@Rino:
I’m not certain that I totally understand the issue you are seeing, so please correct me if I am misinterpreting your question.

The rollers on the planer engage the workpiece which is riding against the fence on the sled. This causes both the workpiece and the sled to move through the planer. If workpiece has exited the planer, then the rollers are no longer in contact with anything, so you’ll need to pull the sled out manually. The planer rollers and knives should never contact your sled.

By: Rino

Rino — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:19:19 +0000

Dave: Great idea. I have one small problem. I have one question/problem. I found that as the sled/board combo was passing through the planer, as it neared the end, the board was pulled through the planer, but my sled did not follow. The sled was long enough so the board did not fall of the sled, but the sled needed to be pushed through. What could I be doing wrong?

Thanks

Rino

403-894-8482

By: SplinteredBoard

SplinteredBoard — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:59:41 +0000

That’s totally awesome! I thought that I was going to really be limited to ripping boards to 6″ once I got my jointer, but this sounds like a great idea and a simple jig to make!

Thanks Dave!