Planer sled fiasco

[Cory Hoehn]

I've got a Ridgid 13" planer and I use a similar sled, but it's much simpler. I just have a piece of 12" melamine shelving with a cleat on the rear (I but the workpiece up to the cleat). I use plain 'ol wood shims to get the rock out, then I use blue tape to hold them in place (tape from underneath and cut off any part that would get caught up in the blades). It's worked like a charm and elimates the risk of the blades or bed getting screw damage.

[Jim Kountz]

For my planer sled, I used 3/4" MDF with two 1/2" thick 2" wide MDF runners. Through out the surface of the sled I drilled and placed an array of threaded inserts. From the bottom, I thread 1/4-20x1" nylon bolts. These nylon bolts are instead of the wedges. With either method, the very back edge of the work piece needs to be supported. Right at 0" not 1 or 2" in, right at the back edge or you well get really bad snipe. If the bolt falls out the planer won't even (I hope) notice the nylon versus the wood (versus a metal screw). The runners are there to provide a space for the bolt heads and reduce drag on the planer bed.

Then I got an actual jointer...but it looks good sitting there in the corner.

Anthony, is there some sort of cleat at the end to keep the stock from slipping or do you have another method for that??

[Greg Sznajdruk]

I never liked the idea of finger tight drywall screws to hold the wedges in place. I used hard maple for the wedges and the cross supports. I drilled under size pilot holes and then ran the screws into the cross pieces. The screws on my sled require a screw driver to turn them, No problems to date.

Greg

[Rick Boyett]

I just took a 11.5" x 48" piece of 3/4" plywood and put a small board at the leading edge to keep the stock from being pulled off. Then I just tape shims under the board to keep if from moving around. Seems to work pretty well but the entire process is slow.

I really need to get off my arse and pull the trigger on a new jointer. Craigslist has been coming up dry for a couple of weeks....

[Malcolm Wheeler]

On my planer sled, I have successfully used these break away wedges from Lee Valley - I just tape them to the low spots on the sled side of the raw wood.

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...70&cat=3,43738