Official Luthiers Forum!

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing a few photos of my thicknessing rig. I got a lot of ideas for this from some of you a while back. Thanks!

I made a dust hood that bolts to the drill press head casting. Then I made a hold-down arm that utilizes the flex of a soundboard cutoff to keep good downward pressure on the plate I'm thicknessing regardless of how thick it is. It's got a little wheel on it from Home Depot, angled in toward the fence slightly. This arm, as you can see, attaches to the dust hood with a spring clamp. This way it a) stays in line with the planer (rather than moving with the fence - got this idea from one of you; sorry I don't remember now who), b) comes off in a flash if I need it out of the way, and c) can be quickly adjusted up and down if need be.

I know a lot of you have no trouble with your rigs as they are, but I wanted to ensure a good tight hold-down in line with the planer to help with consistent thicknessing of plates that have a bit of cupping.

The fence is straightforward. I made it to go on the drill press table I made a long time ago, with one end on a T-track and the other end held by a spring clamp. I cut out the underside in the middle to help with chip clearing - you can't see that in the photos.

It works well. Thanks again to those of you without whom I never would have even thought of thicknessing plates with a Safe-T-Planer!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Very nice. And not a shabby drill press either. I don't think my small dp is up to the task of something like that, but this is a nice looking rig.

So how well does the dust collector work?

Bill

PS: Your shop is waaaaaay to clean.    Bill Greene38882.8487384259

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Heh, same drill press as I have, and I have back, side and top sets I'd like to thickness this weekend. Looks like a plan.

I never have gotten around to hooking up a hold-down wheel, and hence live in fear of the wood rising up into the cutters. (I don't have as many sets of extra hands around as Robbie has in his videos either ). This looks like a great fear suppressor.

Thanks.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Oh, I became a senior member at some point? At the rate I'm going, I'll catch up with Serge in about -1 years. (Where's that time machine )

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Todd, that is really nice, I just love my Safe T Planner. Like the design, I still don't have a hold down roller either, like this idea. Thanks for sharing

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Jim,

I think Serge is on vacation with the family, so you can catch up some, but the Sergemeister is a posting fool and rest assured that he will have lot's of catching up to do when he returns.

Congratulations on reaching the Senior Membe status

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Todd, very nice, but I have made an observation that I hope won't spoil your day, one of your wrenches is missing from its appointed spot on the pegboard.

Seriously nice job, does it do a good job of catching the chips, what is the cfm of your dust collector? The slot in the fence, does it do anything to help the chip collecting, or just make it so the fence is adjustable?
I like using the wagner, but I hate the cleanup, and I don't have the hold down which I believe is very important for consistency in the thickness. I also have a radial drill press which I am not sure if accurate enough for the job. The 0 degree detent has slop in it.
Mike

Nice set up Todd. I like the idea of the hold down not connected to the fence, Like mine is. I'm going to cut out the center of the fence near the planer for much better chip clearance. How well does your dust collection work with this set up?

Oh I see you said in your post, you cut the center out of the fence.How does that work for you? DaveAndy38882.9811805556

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Thanks, guys.

The dust collection works pretty well. It certainly doesn't get all the chips, but it gets a lot of them. The cut out area on the underside of the fence, in the same place as the semicircular cutout, does allow a lot of the chips to go under the fence and into the dust collector when the fence is pulled right up behind the planer. A better dust collector would, of course, suck up more of what's flying around when this thing is in use. I haven't yet installed a stationary dust collector and duct work around the shop. I roll this small Jet dust collector (650 cfm) around from machine to machine - the biggest pain in the neck of my shop... will be replaced with a "real" dust collection system as soon as I can afford the time and money to install one.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd, nice rig, nice solution to the hold down. I'm a great fan of the Wagner and use it for most of my plate thicknessing followed by a homemade Gilbert style sanding disk.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Good job, Todd. I like the idea of attaching the hold down to the side and removable rather than the top like mine.

On the undercut on the fence, you'll find the bigger the gap, the better it works. I've cut mine down to where there is only about 1/4 inch of wood left on top and then reinforced it on top with a thicker piece of wood.

The thing I'm wanting to improve on now is to figure out a way to close the gap under the dust hood where the fence slides under. I think this would greatly improve suction towards the front of the hood.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

[quote]PS: Your shop is waaaaaay to clean. [/quote]

Agreed, That ain't right!

Billy Dean    

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Hey, it ain't really as clean as it looks! You can't see much of it in these photos. But it's true that I do like to keep things organized, and keep the dust well under control.

BTW, Mike V, you're very astute to notice that one of my wrenches is missing. It is indeed missing, and I can't for the life of me figure out where I put it! Maybe it's in the garage somewhere... I was probably using it on the tractor or something...

Thanks Colin and Scott for your comments. Scott - you're the guy from whom I got the idea of attaching the hold down to the dust hood, right? I'll be scratching my head on the issue of the gap under the hood, too. Hmmm...

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/