The process of sharpening a board requires responsibility, care and precision.
V this material we will talk about how to plan a wide board, and in general about the process of sharpening. Its main task is to obtain a perfectly flat plane without height differences. Also, this stage is preparatory to the aesthetic processing of wood. Only after sharpening can you polish the board and cover it with special decorating compounds or varnish. A similar procedure is performed in several ways, and the following table will give you an approximate description of these processes.
Guard method |
Peculiarities |
With the help of a planer |
Manual method, which requires a lot of labor. As a rule, it allows you to process not too wide surfaces and does not give an ideal result. Requires planer skills. |
With the help of an electric planer |
Also manual way, but less expensive than in the first case. At the same time, there are models of electric planers that allow you to work with impressive boards in width. |
With the help of a gauge |
Reismus is a compact planer, which can be used in living conditions. Allows you to achieve the highest quality result, but does not provide large amounts of work. |
With a planer |
The professional way to work with a wide range of material sizes. In addition, it provides an almost perfect result. |
How to plan a board with an electric planer
An electric planer is a tool that greatly simplifies the process of sharpening
Let's move on to how to plan a wide board with an electric planer. This task is not an easy one, although, of course, it is easier than working with an ordinary hand planer. The fact is that the uniformity of the sharpening depends on you, which is regulated by the force of pressure on the device. In this case, the effort should be with a constant identical effort. Otherwise, the surface that you plan will turn out to be inhomogeneous. This is especially true for wide boards, where you need to pass the planer in several lines. The first run is sighting, it will set the surface removal depth for all other runs. Now about how to properly plan the boards with an electric planer. As we have already said, the uniformity of pressure on the surface and the constancy of the applied efforts are very important. In addition, it is important to guide the planer in a straight path, without moving to the side. Preliminary markup can help with this or laser level. Well, it is also very important to properly position the board. It should lie on a perfectly flat surface, then the result will be maximum. By the way, there is a more advanced version of the electric planer - a thickness gauge, with its help the process of controlling the evenness of the guard becomes easier.
An electric planer facilitates manual labor, with the help of it the result is of high quality and is achieved quickly. An electric planer is useful to anyone involved in woodworking. It will certainly help in the repair and construction, if wood is used. High-speed tool blades will remove chips desired thickness from the workpiece, bring the workpiece to the right sizes, make the edges smooth and even, chamfer or make a large bevel, choose a fold.
The power tool must be led along the workpiece, without making significant efforts, which are necessary when working with a conventional planer. The surface is processed in accordance with the settings, the quality does not depend so much on the inaccurate actions of the operator.
What are
On sale you can find household and professional (semi-professional) electric planers. They differ from each other in color and markings. The first ones are cheap and light. The latter are more expensive, more powerful and weightier. Their motor resource is many times greater, they can do work every day for many hours.
As a rule, in domestic conditions there is no such need, an electric planer is used from time to time, so the purchase of a household model for a home, but from well-known manufacturer, is an common solution.
The processing width in one pass for household models is usually 82 mm, models with knife lengths (knives are arranged horizontally) of 100 mm and 110 mm are less common. At professional models maybe more.
The bed of the tool is divided into two parts - the front, adjustable, which rests on the workpiece in front of the knives, and the back, which rests on the already processed wood. 
On the front of the bed there is a longitudinal recess (several recesses of various sizes), into which you can hang the edge of the workpiece when chamfering, which will allow you to chamfer most accurately.
The front handle usually has a chip thickness adjuster (depth of cut).
Another important node– chip removal system. When planing, it forms significant amount shavings. The planer has a nozzle into which dust and chips are ejected during operation. 
Can be connected to the pipe industrial vacuum cleaner. But you can also connect a bag to collect chips so as not to clog the room with it.
Some models of electric planers are equipped with such a bag. But you can make it for any model yourself.
How to make a chip bag? You will need a spare tube from the vacuum cleaner, which is connected to the nozzle of the planer. As well as a piece of fabric, a zipper sewn into the fabric to extract chips, and a crimp collar to secure the neck of the bag to the tube.
Some models are equipped with side and top stops, which allow you to guide the planer along the edge of the workpiece at a certain distance from it and to a certain depth of planing. This allows you to make a selection of folds.
Some expensive powerful models are equipped with a planer-thickness tool or a simpler bed, with which the planer can be fixed with knives up, thus obtaining a small planer (thickness machine).
How to change knives
The electric planer is equipped with knives made of high-strength, abrasion-resistant alloys.
If the knives begin to leave a mark on the wood, this indicates that they are damaged and need to be replaced. 
The knife, as a rule, has two sharp edges, and if one becomes dull, then the knife just needs to be turned over.
To replace the knives, you must first disconnect the electric planer from the power supply. Then it is necessary to unscrew the screws securing the knife holders and remove the holders from the groove, and then remove the knives from them.
By inserting new knives into the holders (turning over the existing ones), you can assemble in the reverse order 
It is important to set the knives in height, which is not easy and requires effort.
The position of the knives is adjusted by the screws of the knife holders. The cutting edges must be set exactly at the level of the rear fixed sole of the electric planer along its entire length. Those. should be in the plane of this sole. 
The setting of the electric planer knives is carried out in the following order.
A ruler is placed on the edge on the fixed part of the sole. Then the knives are slowly turned. The edge of the knife should not lift the ruler, but only lightly touch it. This should occur along the entire length of the knife - when the ruler is moved along the width of the sole. 
The operation of setting the knives in height is performed several times with a ruler until the best result is achieved.
But it is possible to shift the knives due to centrifugal forces during rotation. Therefore, after setting the knives along the ruler, the planer is turned on and kept for Idling about 20 seconds, after which they again check the position of the knives and, if necessary, adjust them. Periodically, the position of the knives is checked during operation.
Features of working with an electric planer
The effort of moving (feeding) the planer along the workpiece must be such that the speed of rotation of the knives does not change
The quality of processing will be high if the movement of the planer over the workpiece is smooth, slow enough so that there is no significant slowdown in the rotation of the knives.
Processing is started after the engine and knives have developed the nominal idle speed.
The workpiece must be firmly fixed on the workbench or its stop must be strong.
Chips from the workpiece should be removed in a timely manner. It is important that the chips do not fall under the sole of the planer, this must be constantly monitored.
Planing usually starts from the end of the workpiece, the front of the sole of the planer is placed on the workpiece, then with a smooth movement of the planer it moves forward along the workpiece.
When the knives enter and leave the workpiece, the planer is pressed against the workpiece with increased force to prevent the occurrence of unplanned places along the edges of the workpiece.
For getting High Quality and uniformity of processing use longer workpieces than required. After planing, the ends of the workpiece are cut off.
Professional electric planers can be turned into a stationary planer for planing wood using a planer-thickness tool. The electric planer is installed on the frame up with knives, which are closed with a protective curtain. It is important that on this machine you can set the required dimensions of the part and use them to make several parts from different-sized blanks. At the same time, the accuracy of right angles and the cleanliness of processing remain quite high.
The work is carried out as follows. On all blanks, one face is processed. Then the machine is reconfigured and the next face is processed on all workpieces, etc. For exposure right angle, the workpiece is firmly pressed against side stop fixtures. When working, you should not approach the planer and follow the workpiece, you need to feed it, intercepting it in your hands. 
Handling difficult places
When choosing an electric planer, you need to pay attention to its complete set with stops or the possibility of their additional purchase and use with this model.
Planer - traditional instrument carpenter, a kind of symbol of this profession. The form of the tool and the methods of working with it, despite its technical improvement, have not essentially changed over the years.
To planing process wooden blank flowed “without a hitch, without a hitch” (as evidenced by the twisted chips freely emerging from the slot in the block of the planer), it is necessary to fine-tune the planer knife and correctly drive the planer along the planed surface.
Gouging is a real pleasure when from a planer a thin and long twisted chip flies out.
Fixing the knife in the vise of the workbench planer with exposed chipbreaker, slightly tighten the screw. After wedging chipbreaker fixed itself due to its springiness.
Insert the knife into the notch of the planer and at first only fix by hand wedge in its guides.
To determine, is it set correctly knife (its blade should be parallel sole plane planer and protrude slightly above it), you just need to flip the planer and evaluate mutual blade parallelism knife and soles on the eye. To readjust (if needed) position knife, free wedge, set the knife correctly and fix it again wedge.
When planing the layers of workpieces, the knife must remove chips of uniform thickness. To do this, you need to adjust the chipbreaker of a jointer, a double planer (with a double blade) or a grinder. The chipbreaker fulfills its name and should be mounted just above (about 1 mm) the knife blade and fit snugly against it.
First, a knife with a chipbreaker fixed on it is inserted into the slot (notch) of the block (body) and slightly wedged. Then the knife is exposed with light blows of the hammer so that its blade is parallel to the sole of the planer and protrudes slightly above it. After that, the knife is finally fixed in the block with a wedge, screw or cam clamp (depending on the planer design).
Since during planing the upper part of the body of the worker makes movements together with the planer, the carpenter must stand on the side parallel to the workpiece being processed, putting one foot forward. So that the planer does not tip over at the beginning and at the end of the workpiece (then the surface to be treated will be uneven in these areas), you should first lean harder on its front handle, and then at the exit - on the back.
PRECISION PLANE
V modern planes with a metal block, the knife is usually fixed with a screw. Another screw (setting) can be used to adjust the planer to the required thickness of the chip being removed with an accuracy of hundredths of a millimeter. In addition, such planers are equipped with a so-called knife tilt regulator, which allows you to quickly, just by pressing the thumb on the corresponding lever, correctly set the knife blade relative to the sole of the planer.
EDGE PLANTING
When planing the edges of flat workpieces, the planer should move along an even path along the entire length of the workpiece, leaning on it evenly. In this case, the knife must be securely fixed so that it does not vibrate in the block. In addition, chip breaking should be avoided by strict in the direction of the wood fibers. When processing wood blanks with a fine and irregular texture (for example, root), the knife must be sharpened very well. When planing, such a workpiece should be constantly rotated.
It is more convenient to cut a narrow edge using, for example, a piece of board, pressed against the workpiece, or planed simultaneously the edges of several thin boards assembled in a package. In this case increased bearing surface for the sole of the planer.
To prevent the edge from being rounded, the planer must be kept level, without tilting to any side.
Scherhebel can be removed in one pass thicker layer of material.
Planing the end of the workpiece will be much easier if you hold the planer at an angle to the workpiece layers.
Wide wooden slats clamped to both the edges of the workpiece, exclude chips when processing the end.
Plasti blanks of small length come out very smooth with a silky sheen after processing with only one grinder.
When planing layers, it is necessary constantly check with steel square their processed surface.
When processing long workpieces best proven jointer, which can even be planed towards the fibers.
PLANTING OF PLATES
To make a rough but even surface smooth, it is enough to process it with a grinder (a tool with a knife tilt increased to 60 ° for fine planing of hard-to-cut wood) and a jointer. To eliminate irregularities or remove a thicker layer, processing with a sherhebel will be required. The latter is equipped with a narrow (33 mm wide) convex knife with an oval blade, capable of removing chips up to 3 mm thick in one pass. After that, the face must be leveled with a grinder and “smoothed” with a jointer.
END CLEARING
When cleaning the ends of the workpieces, the planer is driven in the direction “away from you”, making short pushes to them. In this case, the wood fibers are cut across, which requires a little more effort and the use of a very sharp knife. To avoid chipping at the edge in the direction of which the end face of the workpiece is being machined, this edge can be chamfered beforehand. And it is better to first process one half of the butt to the middle, and then, turning the workpiece 180 °, its second half.
More than during operation, the blades deteriorate from contact with foreign objects when the planer is not in use. During breaks in work, the planer should be placed on the side or front of the sole on wooden stand. For long-term storage or when transporting the planer in the tool box, the knife should be removed inside the block.
Electric planer - essential tool for everyone who deals with wood processing, and during construction or repair, it can become indispensable assistant. At home home master, as a rule, is quite traditional hand planer, but in a private courtyard or suburban area there is plenty of woodwork. Baths, outbuildings, fences, benches and other furniture - the list goes on and on.
An electric planer will save the master a lot of time and effort and will allow you to achieve good results. Using an electric planer, workpieces are brought to the desired size, surfaces are leveled, notches, burrs and knots are removed, edges are cut, and grooves are selected. The planer, of course, cannot afford the “fine” surface treatment to perfect smoothness, for this you will need additional tools. But with its main task - roughing wood in large volumes - an electric planer, subject to the rules of operation, copes perfectly.
As with choosing any power tool, when choosing an electric planer, the master should start from the main tasks in which the tool will be most often involved. Important role plays the power of the tool, which is directly related to its performance. Plane more power cuts "deeper", that is, they can remove a thicker layer of wood in one pass. Manual electric planers are produced with a power in the range of 0.5 - 2.2 kW. Above one and a half kilowatts - already, in fact, professional tool for large scale work. If you plan to use the planer often and in large volumes, it makes sense to look at more powerful models. But, as always, the rule applies: the more powerful the tool, the more it weighs and the higher its price. With a small power planer it will be convenient to work on weight. Medium power models weigh between 2.5-4 kg.
Another indicator is the frequency of rotation of the drum, that is, the number of revolutions that it makes per unit of time. This value is very important to consider when choosing a planer, the user believes. wind1wind: The higher the number of revolutions, the better the quality of the cut. The best option, which should be guided by when choosing - 15000-16000 rpm.
wind1wind:
– Planer does not absolutely flat surface, but a "wave" with a very small step. To make this waviness invisible, they increase the number of revolutions of the shaft and the number of knives on the shaft. These two parameters are very important when choosing.
Width planing depends on the width cutting edge knives. The most "traveling" sizes of knives for household electric planes are 82, 102 and 110 mm. The higher the planing width, the fewer passes will be required to complete the surface.
To simply process the board to smooth surface, enough planer with knives, narrower than the board. But if the width of the knife does not overlap the width of the material being processed, a perfectly flat surface will not work - at least the minimum "step" will remain.
Depth cut is, in fact, the thickness of the layer of wood removed by the planer in one pass. In household planers, it usually does not exceed 2 mm, in more powerful ones - 4 mm. Most models have depth adjustment.
V electric planes Removable knives made of hard alloys and hardened steel are used. Most of them, even carbide ones, can be sharpened and straightened, but narrow knives cannot be sharpened: their design does not imply sharpening. Certain planer models come with a sharpening tool. You can make it with your own hands.
Olegych:
- To edit knives, you need thicker glass and a couple of sheets of good sandpaper. We soak the paper in water, sculpt it on glass - and go! But this is exclusively for dressing, knives “earned” on nails and bricks - only on the machine.
Sole the planer in contact with the surface to be treated must be even and smooth. At modern models planers, barely noticeable grooves are made on its surface - grooves that prevent the formation of “ air cushion» between the sole and the material, thus ensuring a uniform cut. The grooves on the front of the sole are designed for chamfering the corners of the parts. When choosing a planer, close attention should be paid to the quality of the surface of the sole, especially when it comes to inexpensive models.
– A defect found in non-brand planers is the so-called “drunken sole”. We check this way: we set the adjustment of the removal to zero, the knife is brought to the upper position. We apply a ruler along the length of the planer, alternately from two sides, so that it lies on both platforms at once. There should be no gaps between the ruler and the sole.
When choosing an electric planer, it is important to hold the tool in your hands, to understand whether the tool handles, start and adjustment buttons are conveniently located for you, whether its weight suits you. Modern electric planers have many additional options and parameters that facilitate and improve the work process. But all of them, of course, increase the cost of the instrument. Among the most popular options are directional chip ejection with the ability to connect a bag for collecting chips or a vacuum cleaner, a “soft start” system and speed control. It all depends on the requests of the master and his financial capabilities.
A useful accessory is a universal ruler that allows you to evenly process a surface wider than the planing width of the planer in one pass, as well as planing at an angle of 90 degrees to the supporting surface. Often such rulers come with a planer, but if not, it makes sense to purchase it separately.
The basic work performed by an electric planer is easy for a beginner to master, and if you follow simple rules, then the tool will serve for a long time and efficiently. Planing should be started only after the drum of the included planer has fully gained momentum. And you should not immediately set the maximum planing depth: it is better to remove a millimeter twice than to try to remove two millimeters at a time. It is not necessary to put pressure on the tool with effort: it should only be directed, and the plane should be planed by itself, “like clockwork”. And for this, the knives must be sharp.
It is not so easy for craftsmen starting to work with an electric planer to determine when sharpening or replacing a knife is necessary. forum member Nomad advises to use visual methods. If the knives are sharp, the surface is smooth. If they are blunt, rags of wood form on it, since the knives no longer cut, but tear it. Another sign of dull knives is brown high temperature wood, especially in the area of knots.
Aleksej2000:
- Even with blunt knives, the planer begins to vibrate on the knots, as if bouncing small: the knife does not cut and repels from dense material. The best thing is to put new knives in and try how they take. And then the feeling of sharp knives will be familiar. And these same sharp knives try to walk on a knot in order to see the difference.
A common problem faced by novice craftsmen is the displacement of the processed material under the planer. Although the planer is one of the most safe tools, the risk of injury by holding the wood with your hand still remains. The problem is solved by making a simple board retainer and a planer lateral displacement limiter - as advised by a forum user wind1wind:
- Fasten two blocks of length no less than the boards being processed along the width of the sole of the planer on the workbench. The sole of the planer should pass between them with a minimum gap, but without difficulty. A piece of rail is attached to one end, into which the board will rest. Additionally, the board between the blocks can be fixed with a wooden wedge.
For this design to work properly, the end stop of the rail and wedges should be slightly thinner than the planed board, the forum member advises. The blocks should, on the contrary, be thicker than the processed board by about 1/2-2/3 of the thickness of the planer sole. Then they will prevent the lateral displacement of the planer during operation. On the other hand, the planer will not touch the bars with protruding parts of its structure (belt guard, engine).
Members of the forum discuss the features of the choice of electric planers, the advantages and disadvantages of specific models in. you can read the recommendations and get advice about correct work electric planer. Members of the forum exchange experience in replacing, sharpening and straightening knives for planers at. On the repair of planers, milling cutters and circular saws look for information. This video tells about the basics of working with an electric planer.
Planing with an electric planer is a fairly easy process if there is at least some minimal knowledge. But things are different if you need to process a very wide board.
After all, not everyone can do it efficiently, but it is necessary that the layer be removed evenly from the surface of the board, and the processing boundaries were not visible.
Instructions for planing with an electric planer
Before using a wide board with an electric planer, first experiment on a piece that you do not need.
Note that the electric planer can operate in two modes: stationary and manual.
If you use the stationary mode, then the board is passed through the knives of the electric planer.
Manual mode requires a special setting of the electric planer. First you need to adjust the cutting depth of the knives. Usually they set 0.1-0.4 cm. The smaller the depth of planing, the better the processing of the material will be, and you will practically not notice the boundaries between the passes. If it is necessary to perform deep planing of the board, then first set the maximum cutting depth of the knives, make the first pass, and then reconfigure the knives for better planing.
When you work with an electric planer a couple of times, you will learn how to choose the right depth of cut, and the work process will noticeably speed up.
We process wood: what you need to know?
Before processing lumber, you need to determine the direction in which you will be planing. Usually planed in the direction of the wood fibers. If the lumber is made from several boards, then you need to plan diagonally.
So that the edge of the board does not turn out to be uneven, you need to use an angular stop, which is attached to the base of the electric planer on the side and is perpendicular to its axis.
When you have finished planing a wide board, you will need to align the boundaries between the passes. This stage is called cycling. For this, a special grinder is used, which will remove all roughness.