Thicknessing by hand

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:48 am

Woodrat, I have this set of plans. Lars just finished his over on the OLF. I was all set up to make mine when I was given a Performax for Xmas.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:34 am

I thought I would add this link to the discussion, Derek Cohen is a legend in woodworking circles. http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTe ... esser.html

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:43 am

Now youre talking!!! Look at that bldi 30" jointer....thats one thing I DONT have in my plane collection.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:06 pm

Bejayzuss, that's the first time I've seen a planer blade attached to an old wooden ski

Nice plane.

obmit · Post by **obmit** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:25 pm

sebastiaan56 wrote:I thought I would add this link to the discussion, Derek Cohen is a legend in woodworking circles. http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTe ... esser.html

Just had a look at this link.

For those that don't know this type of planning for the preparing of timber. Its commonly called Traversing (planning on the angle).

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:29 pm

So when you here someone talking about traversing the alps its nothing to do with mountain climbing...the bugger is talking about attacking the alps with a 30" jointing plane!

hilo_kawika · Post by **hilo_kawika** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:40 pm

I built my own drum sander as well and I've probably put a mile or two of wood through it. It's capable of very accurate thicknessing if you're just patient. Here's the link to pics on my website:

http://www.ukuleles.com/BuildingHowTo/sandthck.html

aloha,

Dave Hurd
http://www.ukuleles.com

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:55 pm

Notice that "the" plane is timber, could you imagine it made of iron?

Given the home made drum sanders posted its time to make some planes as well....

vandenboom · Post by **vandenboom** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:29 pm

Lillian wrote:Woodrat, I have this set of plans. Lars just finished his over on the OLF. I was all set up to make mine when I was given a Performax for Xmas.

Even though I already have my home made drum sander, I had a look at these plans - I was so impressed I bought them (US$10). I reckon I'll get my money's worth just reading them. I am particularly interested in the feed table mechanism in place of my current hand feed. So Version 2 might be a good project next xmas.
Thanks. Frank

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:26 pm

Lillian wrote:Woodrat, I have this set of plans. Lars just finished his over on the OLF. I was all set up to make mine when I was given a Performax for Xmas.

Thanks Lillian, I didn't see your post until today as I didn't see that there was a second page to the thread...
....It looks interesting. I would love a Performax sander but the shekles are allocated elseware for a while so I might buikd this one.

Regards

John AKA Woodrat

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:21 am

Also check out David Hurd's web site. He's got a home made drum sander that he's used for years. PM him for info on it.

Localele · Post by **Localele** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:17 am

If you are going to make a drum sander give a bit of thought to the diameter of the drum and the corresponding speed that the sandpaper has to operate at.My experience with machinery is that a larger diameter drum /cutter head gives a much better finish.On a sander it gives you a lot more sandpaper doing the work which also helps to keep it cool.Just remember to calculate the surface speed of the drum and equate that to what the sandpaper manufacturer recommends for their paper.A larger diameter drum spinning slowly is less likely to burn the timber and is less frightening to approach with the job.Some simple pressure bars on both the infeed and outfeed will also help with accuracy.Cheers.

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:56 am

When you're working out your drum diameter you need to have a look at your motor speed first (rpm). Most of the commercial sanders are running at about 3000 feet/minute of sand paper. What you then need to do is work out how big you need your pullies to be to get the sand paper moving at that speed with the motor you have.

My motor runs at around 1425rpm, so it was easy to find some off the shelf pullies that will turn the drum at around 3000'/min, with a 120mm diameter drum. So it's motor speed first, then pullies ('cause you've just got to go with what is easily available), then you can make corrections for speed by determining how big a diameter your drum needs to be to get you into that 3000'/min area.

Pity you're not down this way, I've got a spare motor gathering dust in the shed. You could have it for nothing, but the postage up to you would cost more than the thing is worth.

Rick Turner · Post by **Rick Turner** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:23 am

That "Shop Notes" design where the power comes from a pulley mounted in place of your table saw blade is really cool. You could easily mount a DC motor on the feed belt, too, and have infinitely variable feed speed rather than hand crank it. Put a couple of hold down rollers on there, and you'd be set.

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:03 am

Any self respecting Ozzie do it yourselfer would be looking at shoe horning a V8 into the machine.

Rick Turner · Post by **Rick Turner** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:30 am

Well, where I hang out in Tassie, the deal would be to put up a windmill to power it.

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:59 am

Children are a cheap source of power......3 or 4 of the little beggars running around inside a treadmill. A couple of bowls of oats would be enough fuel to get a few back and side sets down to final thickness.

Localele · Post by **Localele** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:23 pm

Get it done faster if you fuel them on red drink and dark chocalate.

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:51 pm

And those tasmanian kids have the extra toes too, better traction.

PHANTOM · Post by **PHANTOM** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:40 pm

A couple extra legs would mean less kids so the food bill wouldnt be so high.

Corky Long · Post by **Corky Long** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:05 am

I've also got a lower quality (Jet?) drumsander - which was about $200 USS. This thing is worth it's weight in gold. After (badly) planing the tops and backs of guitars #1 and #2, I found that the drum sander handled the same job much better, with zero risk for tearout (was working on some figured walnut at the time) and thicknessed the back and sides in about 20 minutes - which would have taken hours. I love working with chisels and planes - just not for thicknessing. My two cents.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:32 am

Corky, I'm right there with you. I trashed three practice tops trying to get a flat surface with a plane. When I finially did, they were too thin to be used. If I had not of stumbled onto the 10/20 (thank you Rod) and been given permission to raid the savings account I probably would have given up on building a guitar until I could have built my own. Don't get my wrong, the 10/20 is still very limited in what you can reasonably do with it, but it does the lion's share of thicknessing and I can work around its short comings. Well worth the price paid.

That said, I am still working on my planing skills and tuning up my planes. Being able to use a hand plane is not something you can ignore if you want to build a guitar that looks good close up and isn't in danger of destroying itself.

Tom West · Post by **Tom West** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:45 pm

Thicknessing plates by hand was one of the most hateful jobs in guitar building. Tops not too bad ,but backs and sides,especially in the harder woods was brutal. Afraid to use planes on expensive backs and sides resulted in hours spent sweating over cabinet scrapers and sanding blocks.Sanity returned after I built a 18 inch thickness sander.Guitar building a pleasure again. Spare your self the misery, especially if you plan to build on a regular basis. Good Luck,Tom.

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Thicknessing by hand

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