has any one had any luck with using one of these? I made one similar to the one Keith Rust build in hid article and it seems to be a real pain in the You know to use. Seems like the wood just slides around on it and its not very flat at all.
Any advice?
Replies
Wiskytango,
Great name by the way.
The best advise I can give you is to make sure when you do your setup, the sled is on a dead flat surface. I often use a planer sled, (although not as elaborate an the one in FFW) and always start with straight edges and winding sticks. It makes all the difference in the world in the quality of the surface.
Or you could buy a 12" jointer.
Regards,
Sean
Wisky,
I built one of those sleds also and have never used it. Instead I use a slab of melamine and cut offs from the tenon jig for shimming, held in place with double stick tape. I can put a cleat on the melamine if necessary to keep the stock from sliding but usually sliding is okay.
I use a piece of MDF with a plywood stop screwed to one end.
I put the board on the MDF and use shims to stick in the gaps at the edges. Then I shove it in the planer with the stop end going in first.
Works fine. Then I can use a hand plane to even it up if need be, but this is rare.
The shims, I just bandsaw some out of scraps, stay put and the stop keeps the board from sliding off the MDF.
I can post a picture if you like.
F.
I though that the sled needed to be rigid and flat so that you could correct the wood your planing. But seems that you all are using just a single sheet is this correct?
Wisky,I use a single 3/4" thick piece of the melamine. However, I have a 3' infeed and outfeed that helps support everything.
Yes,Just a single piece of 3/4"MDF with the stop screwed to the front, and some shims cut out of scraps of ash. You shim the board at the edges where the board does not make contact with the MDF.All you need is a surface that is flat to ride on the planer table.What is this sled you are talking about?F.
Floss
The sled is basically two sheets of half inch plywood with some ribbing in them to making a small torsion box, So its very rigid but heave as hell. It also has some weg things to keep the wood supported,
There is and article on it and also a video by Keith Rust
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Workshop/WorkshopArticle.aspx?id=5245
Ditto to the other responders... I made the fancy sled but didn't find it did a better job than simpler versions, and I found it inconvenient to set up each time.
I'm using melamine PB with thin strips of sandpaper glued on top (near the edges) and a stop (stop goes in last). Wedges in the gaps (along the sandpaper strips, if possible). For me, this works better and faster than the fancy sled.
Good luck,
Pete
Ditto to posts by Floss and Peter. Stop block on end, shims, and a quick check with winding sticks. I rarely face joint long or wide stock on the jointer: the sled is so much faster and easier.
I have used a simple sled made out of MDF also. Instead of a flat sheet of MDF, I added a piece of mdf along each side. These are glued flat to top of the main piece and acts as a stiffner and a . I have l shaped stops at each end that I butt against the piece I'm trying to flatten and attach to the base with sheet rock screws. These brackets fit in between the stiffners. I also run a couple of sheet rock screws through the end of the brackets into the end of the piece I'm trying to flatten. This keeps it from moving around. To maintain the flatness through the planer., I have a piece of 3/4" plywood that goes through the planer. It is supported so that it maintains its flatness and supports the sled.
I have used this for a number of years to flatten stock and have found it works quite well with a minimum of bother. The original idea came from a FFW article that preceded the Rust article.
I made two of these. One for long stock (5 feet) and a shorter one for stock up to 2 feet. If you are interested I can post some pictures. Let me know.
I get the idea but Yeah pictures would be great.
Against the tradition of planer sleds and in favour of KISS, I flattened a piece of small stock in less than 10 minutes, including time making the "jig". I found a scrap of flat plywood and drove screws through the plywood into the maple, making sure that they were short enough not to hit the planer knives. Then I threw it through the planer and removed the screws. Yes, this maple board was longer than I needed it to be and the screws ended up in the waste part. Quick, dirty, and effective.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris, it is not a question of "tradition". It is more a question of necessity. Folk who make decorative boxes using exotic/rare/expensive timbers that need to be finished thin , with as little waste as possible are an example .
You proposal works for a one off, sort of, but for repeatability a sled set up does well, especially in the absence of drum sanders, wide belt sanders or Performax type items. Some machines by construction lend themselves more than others. There are other reasons for making a sled set-up such as the fact that some planers are not able to thickness to less than say 1/4 inch, bed rollers not adjustable/difficult to adjust and the need to do the job quickly without effort. Anyway, bed rollers or not, a sled base helps by supporting thin stuff better.Philip Marcou
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled