I have a delta 13″ planer and want to plane some maple down to an 1/8 or thinner veneer. The specs say the Delta can go down to 1/8″. If I was going to go thinner, can I put a piece of 3/4 stock on the planner bed and run my maple on top of it. If so, what do I need to woryy about.
Thanks, gene
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Yes. A false bed is a common trick. Lock it at the infeed end with a wee piece on the underside that hooks the false bed to the thickness planer bed (or the rollers.)
You need to worry about thin pieces disintegrating as they pass under the cutter. Not so much worry about it, as be prepared for it. Select very straight grained stock to reduce the chance of this happening, and prepare about 20% more than you need prior to thicknessing.
The wee dinky toy bench top 'lunchbox' planers are especially handy for knocking out thin sections. They're not up to much else because they're too flimsy for continuous hard work (I wouldn't waste my time with one to hack off 3mm in one go on 400 or 1,000 linear ft. of 6" wide stuff in one go for an all day stint-- I'd kill the poor wee thing in about 15 minutes) but they're handy for this kind of job. Slainte.
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