Before we begin to consider making a surface planer with our own hands, let's find out what it is and what it is needed for.
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They call it a woodworking machine that, with minimal loss of material, planes timber to a given thickness.
It is important to distinguish a planer from a planer, since the workpiece must be planed before planing.
A planer removes uneven wood and makes the surface smooth, and a thickness planer is designed for finishing and is used to obtain exact dimensions timber or boards.
In this regard, you need to understand that through a thickness planer you will be running a pre-prepared timber to obtain the appropriate dimensions, and not a piece of wood without any preliminary processing.
Let's look at the device of a do-it-yourself surface planer.
- What components does this include?
- The most important thing is an electric planer, the choice of which must be approached with all seriousness, depending on the tasks at hand.
- Some regular plywood, the thickness of which depends on the design you choose.
- A handful of screws for attaching to the base assembled from a 60x200x1000 board
- And two slats as guides.
The simplest design that can be assembled in 30-40 minutes now.
An example of how you can make a surface planer from a plane and available materials is shown in the photo.
Fast, simple and affordable. If you are not looking for great accuracy, then this option is quite suitable for you.
This video explains in detail how to do this.
Since the number of parts for making a surface planer is not so large and they do not have any intricate shape, there is no point in making drawings. While you are drawing them, your neighbor, having watched this video, will already assemble a surface planer.
Another example of how you can assemble a surface planer from an electric planer with your own hands.
True, in this case you will have to spend much more time on production and will require you to have a jigsaw, 10 mm thick plywood, M10x1.5 pins for making the adjusting screw, self-tapping screws and patience.
But the output part will be more accurate, adjust the equipment to right size It’s easier, it’s more pleasant to work, it’s true, wide board can no longer be processed.
In any case, it's up to you, it all depends on what you need at the moment. And one more example that is not difficult to do. True, the maximum possible dimensions of the workpiece on this machine are limited to a height of 100 mm and a width of 110 mm.
And one more option. Which one to choose is a matter of taste and depends on availability suitable materials, time and desire.
If none of the options I suggested suit you, you need large volumes of wood processing, or you simply don’t want to do it yourself, think about purchasing a stationary thickness planer.
They sent me a link to a video with a homemade surface planer, I couldn’t resist, I posted it on the website. Enough simple design and very practical. There is a nuance in the precise manufacturing of frames, but if you try, you can do everything accurately and beautifully. This thicknesser can also be easily converted into milling machine, which is important in our time of crisis. Watch, try, do!
Few people in childhood were left indifferent by their first visit to a carpentry workshop. The indescribable smell of fresh wood shavings, the cleanliness and smoothness of a freshly planed board, the fluffiness of the sawdust - this is the place where the magical transformation several gnarled boards with a scratchy surface from protruding fibers into an elegant stool.
The result of the surface planer was perfectly smooth lumber, which was suitable for making many interesting and beautiful things.
Design and types of thicknessing machines
Of course, the thickness planer was not the only one in that workshop. And many of these workshops could not boast of such luxury at all. But a circular saw, often assembled on the same shaft with the drum of the jointing machine, was almost always available. And then a simple device, which made it possible to control the uniformity of pressing the workpiece to the surface of the work table, brought the jointing machine closer in functionality to a thickness planer, which in in capable hands provided almost the same result, although somewhat more expensive both in terms of work and time.
We talk about this in such detail here to make the main topic of the article clearer - making a thicknesser (thicknesser) machine with your own hands. After all, his main task is to plan the molded wood material with the same thickness. And several successive planing operations on a jointing machine with such a clamping device will ensure this result.
But what is a real surface planer equipped with?
Thicknesser It has:
- Desktop;
- working shaft (1 or 2), two - for simultaneous processing of two surfaces of the workpiece or one - for processing the workpiece on one side;
- rollers for pressing and pulling the workpiece (a pair on top or two - on top and bottom), with electric or manual drive;
- table height adjustment system;
- workpiece reverse protection system.
In the modification of the jointing machine, some of the listed systems are missing. But also, dual-purpose machines are produced industrially - planer-thicknessers.
In them, under the working table for jointing, there is a height-adjustable surface thicknessing table. Processing of the workpiece is carried out using the same drum with knives as jointing. In this case, only the upper part is processed. When the machine is operating as a surface planer, the upper part of the machine is covered with a protective cover to prevent injury.
Sometimes, instead of a drum with knives, a wide cutter is installed.
Schematic diagram of the operation of a thickness planer
Why make a thickness planer with your own hands?
The scheme of work should be clear to most home craftsmen even without visualization, but for ease of understanding the tasks of making a surface planer yourself, it will not be superfluous.
Motivations for self-made any equipment – two:
- desire for self-realization;
- desire for savings.
All the rest follow from those listed. And you can save a lot of things:
- first of all, money due to the abolition of auxiliary functions, which can be completely dispensed with in a home workshop;
- in the second - electricity by reducing the number of electric drives;
- thirdly, space in the workshop due to optimization and adjustment of dimensions.
If we talk about a full-fledged thickness planer, then, based on the three-dimensional drawing located below, its components can be reduced to the following list:
- electric drive from an electric motor with a power of 1.5 - 2.5 kW on a two-knife drum rotating at a speed of 5 - 10 thousand rpm;
- manual chain adjustment of the work table level;
- manual chain coupled feeding of the workpiece by two lingering pressure rollers.
But you yourself decide on the concept of your surface planer. Let's look at 3 approaches to implementing the idea of making your own thickness planer.
High-tech method for manufacturing a thickness planer
There are 3 independent electric drives, which:
- drive the cutting drum,
- are broaching pressure rollers,
- adjust the position of the desktop.
Torque is transmitted to the drum using V-belt transmission, and in the remaining two options - chain. Moreover, the uniformity of pressure on the rollers is regulated by interconnected spring-loaded intermediate sprockets, although in our opinion, such a system will still not allow us to avoid some temporary loosening of the chain at the moment the workpiece leaves the feed roller.
The tensioning of the drive chain for adjusting the height of the work table is carried out by two rigidly fixed sprockets.
Such an approach, obviously, can be justified if you have a flexible mini-production with a large number of equipment reconfiguration operations. Although here some schemes could be simplified. For example, like this:
Such a machine will not turn out to be cheap, but the abundance is sufficient complex nodes will require constant Maintenance. But, apparently, this is exactly the case when the desire for self-realization was in the foreground, because for similar money it would be quite possible to find a used thickness planer and, having slightly repaired it, provide a solution to the same problems.
Do-it-yourself thickness planer made from an electric planer
It is precisely this approach to solving most tasks for a surface planer that arise in a home workshop that we find most interesting.
First of all, this interest is based on minimal modifications already existing tool to get the job done expensive equipment with almost the same result.
By installing an electric planer on a platform with variable height, we get almost the same thickness planer. True, it is not the position of the work table that is regulated, but the position of the working tool in relation to the workpiece being processed, but this does not change the essence of the process. The role of the table here is played by a flat, powerful board with width limiters on the sides. They also serve as the mounting location for the main unit. But first, let's talk about him.
On the planer, we will replace the rear support plate with a homemade one made from OSB or plywood, with a thickness that ensures the same level as the front plate, which regulates the required gap (1 - 3 mm) for removing chips. Its width should correspond to the width of our improvised desktop.
On the sides of this plate, slats are screwed to attach the legs, the height of which is dictated solely by common sense. It is obvious that, based on standard width plane knives are 82 mm, the thickness of the workpieces being processed should not be more than 100 mm, so the distance between the axes of the leg fastenings can be taken equal to 110 - 120 mm. Accordingly, their total length will range from 140 to 160 mm with a width of 35 mm and a thickness of at least 10 mm. The legs are fastened strictly at the same distance from the edge of the bar.
Installation of the assembled movable upper unit with an electric planer on the desktop is carried out locally, so that the fastening is strictly at the same level. This is done to ensure that its movement is parallel with respect to the base surface, which will ensure accurate processing of the workpiece.
The easiest way to set the height during work is by selecting slats of appropriate thickness, screwed onto the work table width limiters, or using other stands.
And the clamping of the working tool is ensured with spring ties or a harness, but for small workpieces this is not required at all. Also, in a given position, this parallel platform can be fixed with self-tapping screws.
Video of using a surface planer assembled by yourself:
A budget option for a homemade surface planer
This is the simplest method of using an electric planer as a surface planer. Of course, it would hardly occur to anyone to call this design a thickness planer, but in terms of the function it performs, this is exactly what it is.
We deliberately selected an option for wide blanks. Indeed, in this form it performs work that most industrial thicknessing machines cannot do precisely because of the width of the material being processed, and in our case it is limited only by the length of your hands.
Of course, we cannot recommend such a barbaric attachment of an electric plane - a rather expensive tool - to a moving platform. Where more interesting option securing it, described in the previous section of the article, but using a wider platform and moving the slats along the width, and not along the axis of the tool. In this case, the danger of damaging anything important inside the plane body is reduced to zero.
In the example given, a glued set of wooden slats various sizes and even types of wood.
Height adjustment is made by installing calibrated bars on the sides of the work table, two sets of which will allow you to process an unlimited number of workpieces on both sides to a given thickness.
At home, you can make your own thicknesser or jointer from an electric planer. They will make it easier and faster to work with wooden blanks. Using homemade machines, it will be possible to plan and adjust the thickness of lumber, as well as perform surface finishing and some other operations. The simplest option is to use electric planer, which can be attached to the machine bed upside down. For such models, conversion to thicknesser or jointer machines is provided for by their design. In other cases, you will need to make special fastenings to securely fix the tool in the working position.
A thickness planer is a woodworking equipment that is used to plan smooth planes of lumber until reaching required thickness blanks In this case, only pre-prepared (coated) boards or beams are processed.
Preparation of materials and working tools
There are quite a lot of different options for creating structures that allow you to convert an electric planer into thicknessing equipment. Relatively simple to make at home homemade machine The following tools and materials will be required:
- screwdriver with a set of bits;
- carpenter's square or corner;
- tape measure or simple ruler;
- screwdrivers with different tips;
- spanners;
- electric plane;
- jigsaw or hand saw for wood;
- plywood with a sheet thickness of 1.5 cm;
- long screws with coarse threads (4 pieces);
- bicycle chain and four drive sprockets for it;
- wooden blocks (2.5 by 2.5 cm) and planks (1.5 × 1.5 cm);
- nuts with M14 thread;
- washers of suitable sizes;
- screws 25 by 100 mm.
The electric planer will serve as the main mechanism of the created machine. The screws can be replaced with wood screws of similar sizes.
Manufacturing algorithm
Drawings and diagrams will help to simplify the process of creating a thicknessing tool from an electric planer, but it is easier to do it from photographs. The equipment is manufactured in the following sequence.
The created structure is installed on a flat surface. To fix it to a workbench or table, you will need to use suitable fasteners.
The presence of a drive mechanism makes it possible to set the required thickness of the workpieces being processed.
When assembling the machine with your own hands, you should fix the cable supplying the power tool so that it does not interfere with operation, and the wire is not accidentally damaged. To securely fix the electric planer itself on the work site, it is recommended to use bolts and nuts.
Measuring ruler is a must structural element created homemade surface planer. With its help, the thickness of the lumber that is planned to be processed is determined. A piece of plastic, wooden or metal ruler 8 cm long is suitable as a bar. You can also make a pointer arrow from similar materials.
Assembling a jointing machine based on a jigsaw
A jointer is designed to remove existing irregularities from the surface of wood. The work process is one-sided planing of lumber on a plane. You can also shoot at different bevel angles. Thanks to processing on this equipment, beams or boards become smooth.
The design of the jointing unit is simpler than that of its thicknesser counterpart. This allows you to assemble the installation yourself using available materials.
The procedure for making a jointer
To make a planer for processing small-sized workpieces, you will need an electric plane that can be fixed in a stationary position. The basis of the created unit can be fragment of plywood, MDF or chipboard. A piece measuring 50 by 35 cm is sufficient. The thickness of the used sheet material should be more than 2 cm.
Assemble the jointing tool by performing the steps in the following sequence:
- cut out the base for the machine from the existing sheet material;
- a stop for the workpiece is attached to it using self-tapping screws or screws at an angle strictly of ninety degrees (a square is used to set it);
- install ribs that will ensure rigidity of the stop;
- An electric plane is attached to the base using M8 bolts and nuts.
Before fixing the stop, a hole is cut out in it for the pipe and for cooling the electric motor of the tool.
If it is necessary to plan large workpieces, then it is enough to increase the size of the created unit. This will result in a design as in the photographs below.
In addition to the considered option from an electric planer, jointing equipment can be assembled in another design. Practical implementation similar designs depends on the available home handyman materials at hand and creativity. How to make homemade jointing units of other designs is shown in the following videos:
Making a stand for an electric planer
When working with an electric planer constantly, it is recommended to have a special stand that is suitable for storing it and installing the tool on it immediately after turning it off.
The use of such a device is especially important when working with powerful, heavy electric planes.
The need for a special stand is due to the fact that the metal drum with blades does not stop immediately after disconnecting the supply voltage from the instrument’s electric motor, but after a while (about 6 seconds). Throughout this period he was still moves by inertia. The inertial duration of rotation itself depends on the massiveness of the drum and the power of the equipment used. At the same time, you cannot place a power tool with the sole on a table or workbench, because you can not only damage their surfaces, but also get injured.
To avoid holding the instrument in your hands the whole time the drum stops, you need to use a stand of a special design. The main element is a groove approximately 8 cm wide and 0.6 cm deep. It is necessary for the drum to rotate freely until it stops completely. The accuracy of the position of an electric plane placed on a stand (when the blades are above the cut groove) is ensured by the presence of a front stop made of a strip.
The width of the groove and the distance from its front edge to the stop are determined by the dimensions of the power tool model used in the work.
Required tools and materials
To make a stand yourself, you will need the following tools:
- an electric jigsaw equipped with a file for cutting out shapes;
- screwdriver with a set of bits;
- drill with metal drills 3 and 4 mm in diameter;
- awl;
- hand saw for wood with fine teeth;
- ruler or tape measure;
- square;
- pencil or marker;
- spherical wood cutter;
- sandpaper;
- chisel (enough with a 3-4 centimeter tip width).
To create the structure you will need the following materials:
- a piece of board up to 1 m long, 20 mm thick and 140 mm wide;
- wood screws – 2 pieces 4 by 45 mm;
- wooden plank 30 mm wide, 20 mm thick, and 140 mm long;
- 4 self-tapping screws with large heads 4 by 15 mm.
Creation sequence
When making a stand for an electric plane, the following algorithm is used:
- Cut a fragment 50 cm long from the board with a saw or jigsaw.
- According to the diagram given above, mark the plank with the board.
- Drill for screws (according to those marked in the right points marks) holes intended for fixing the stop.
- Try on the model of the electric plane being used to the prepared workpiece of the base of the stand, noting the future placement of the groove based on the location of the tool drum.
- According to the markings, cut a groove with a file, making it approximately 4 cm larger than this parameter at the slot for the drum. Notches are made along the edges and in the center.
- Use a chisel to remove wood from the groove and clean it.
- Use a jigsaw to saw off the excess from the workpiece.
- The front stop is secured with screws. 4 self-tapping screws are screwed along the edges, which will serve as the “legs” of the stand.
- The made stand is sanded with sandpaper to remove roughness.
The position of the stand is adjusted using self-tapping screws.
Having finished the work, you should make sure that the groove is made of the required width and depth: to do this, simply place the power tool on top of the stand and look from the side at the location of the drum. If necessary, you will need to deepen or widen the groove.
After turning off (while the drum is still rotating), the instrument is placed in the following way:
- First, the front edge of the plane sole is supported;
- Only then lower the power tool onto the stand.
No need to make a stand special costs time, labor and Money. But this device makes the job easier.
Thicknessers and jointers made independently from an electric planer are much cheaper than their factory counterparts, but they functionality inferior to branded equipment. However, they are quite sufficient to perform the basic operations for which these devices are intended. Practical use homemade machines noticeably speeds up wood processing, improves its accuracy and quality compared to manual application electric planer.
To make a surface planer from an electric planer with your own hands, you will need a small set of metalworking and electrical processing tools, as well as a certain amount of lumber.
In general, a professional thicknesser is a special carpentry tool for machining wood, in particular used for drawing design marking lines.
The product is also used to level the plane of specific lumber. A homemade surface planer has an electric planer as the main cutting mechanism.
Tools and materials for manufacturing
Materials for the product:
- Plywood 15 mm thick;
- Planks and bars made of wood – 15x15, 25x25;
- Drive gears – 4 pieces;
- Bicycle chain – 1 pc.;
- Set of nuts with M14 thread;
- Set of washers;
- Screws for 25 – 100 pcs.;
- Threaded screws – 4 pcs.;
- Stands for screws – 4 pcs.
Also, to make a surface planer at home, you need a set of certain tools, in particular an electric planer and a jigsaw.
Tools:
- Electric jigsaw;
- Construction electric planer;
- Set of keys and screwdrivers;
- Screwdriver;
- Ruler and corner.
A construction electric planer will be used as the main mechanism for the product.
How to make a thicknesser at home?
1. Plywood base
The base for the surface planer is made of plywood sheet with a thickness of at least 15 mm. The material is cut to the design size. The shape is a rectangle with an approximate size of 400x500 mm.
2. Fastening stands for a platform with an electric planer
The stands are also made of 15 mm thick plywood. In this case, the element is cut out from several parts and assembled on site. The unit is secured using screws with reverse side to the main base, to which an electric planer with a working platform will also be installed.
3. Making a platform for an electric planer
The construction electric planer is mounted on a special platform, which has a dimensional slot in the center. The technical hole must be cut with a jigsaw strictly according to the shape of the plane. The electrical appliance itself is installed using clamping strips and screws.
4. Installation of threaded screws with gears on the platform
A drive mechanism is mounted on the platform under the thicknesser, which will ensure the raising and lowering of the platform. Threaded screws are installed at the 4 corners of the base, where the electric planer is already mounted on screws.
5. Installing the platform on stands
The upper part of the surface planer with a platform and an installed plane is mounted on the main plywood stands, and fastening is carried out using screws. The electric planer cable is laid everywhere so that its braiding is not damaged during system operation.
6. Handle for controlling the platform with an electric planer
The handle on the thicknesser is mounted on one of the threaded screws. Fastening is carried out using a set of washers and nuts. To securely screw the fastening nut, you need to do through hole on one screw. It is important to ensure that the electric planer does not fall off its mounts.
7. Measuring bar and pointer
The measuring bar must be installed in mandatory for taking measurements of the material during its processing. As a bar, you can use part of a regular plastic ruler, which needs to be cut to 6-8 cm. The pointer for the thicknesser is used in the form of a regular arrow.
The finished thicknesser assembly is tested for rough material to further configure it. A working electric planer must be regularly maintained, in particular, it is necessary to periodically sharpen the blade and carry out cleaning.
Video: assembling a surface planer using an electric planer with your own hands.
Let's start with the basics, for those who don't know what a surface planer is, it is a tool for working with wood, namely planing a flat plane with a given thickness relative to a second, initially planed flat surface. They can be used to smooth uneven surfaces certain material for sawing. This surface planer, which you can make with your own hands, has an electric planer as its main component and serves as a mechanism for planing lumber.
How to make a surface planer with your own hands?
For this we will need the following materials and tools:
Materials:
- a sheet of plywood with a thickness of at least 15mm
-wood planks and beams with dimensions: 15×15 and 25×25;
- drive sprockets - 4 pcs.;
- a chain from a bicycle;
- washers of different sizes;
- screws for 25-100-105 pcs;
- nuts with M14 thread;
- long threaded screws;
- "spots" for screws 4 pcs. so that they are not pressed in during operation
Tools:
- jigsaw;
- electric planer, which is used in construction and carpentry;
- screwdrivers and wrenches of different sizes;
- a corner and a regular ruler;
- screwdriver.
We use an electric planer as the main mechanism for the planer.
Instructions for making a surface planer from an electric planer with your own hands in a home workshop
Carefully look at the diagrams, photos, drawings for creating a thickness planer from an electric planer in step by step instructions and you will succeed.
1 . Let's take plywood as a basis.
As I already wrote, we take a sheet of plywood at least 15mm thick, cut it in the form of a rectangle 500mm long and 400mm wide.
2 . Then we attach the stand for the electric planer.
The stands for the surface planer will be made from the same piece of plywood. These parts will be divided from several elements that we will assemble on the spot. We fasten everything from the back to the base with screws, and here we will install an electric planer with a working platform.
3 . Next stage: We’ll make platforms for the electric planer.
The electric planer is mounted on an individual platform, which has an opening in the center. We cut the hole with a jigsaw exactly in the shape of the electric plane. We secure the electrical appliance using clamps and screws.
4 . We assemble threaded screws with sprockets for the platform.
We assemble the drive mechanism onto the platform base; it will guarantee the lowering and raising of the platform itself for the surface planer. We install screws with large threads at all four corners of the base (where an electric planer is pre-installed on the screws) thanks to them we will set the thickness of the processed lumber
We make stands from plywood on which we will install the upper part of the planer with a platform and a fixed plane. We fasten all this with screws. We think in advance where and how to lay the cable from the electric planer; it is important that the coating of the wire is not damaged during work
6 . Then we install the handle, we will use it to control the surface planer.
The handle for adjusting the platform is installed on one of the long threaded screws. We fasten everything with a set of washers and nuts. To prevent the electric planer from falling off the mounts, we make a through hole on one of the screws, thanks to this we will securely tighten the fastening nut.
7 . The final stage work installation of the measuring bar and indicator (arrow-pointer)
The measuring bar must be present on the surface planer; it is irreplaceable; we use it to measure the thickness of the material we are working on. A piece (6-8 cm) of an ordinary plastic ruler will do just fine as a bar. The most common arrow made of tin is suitable as an indicator for a thickness planer.
That's all, the thicknesser made at home with your own hands is ready, now it needs to be tested on any the right material, while simultaneously tuning it. Like any electrical appliance, the thicknesser needs periodic maintenance (clean or sharpen the blade).
Let it be yours homemade thicknesser with an electric planer it will last a long time and will not break.