POLL: Do You Use An Extended Base With Your Lunchbox Planer?

[Joe Angrisani]

Just wondering how many people use a fixed lower platform with your lunchbox planer. I've seen quite a few plans over the years for a 6 or 7 foot platform that gets inserted through the planer. FWW had a plan I liked quite a few years back that was part of a permanent rolling cabinet base.

Do you:

Use one all the time?
Use one occasionally for thin stock?
Just use the flip-down "tables" that are part of your planer?

[glenn bradley]

I made one and have used it for very thin stock a few times. The results are not as good as sticking the material with a removable spray adhesive to a carrier board but, it works pretty well. For 99.9% of the stuff I ran through my DW734 I used the existing tables without issue. The extra base was to try to get good results with thinner stuff.

[Jon McElwain]

My lunch box planer is used for site work and the ugly stuff. I have a carbide tooth cutterhead that I do not want to chip teeth out of in my floor model planer, so questionable materials go through the lunch box planer first (or only). Even so, I get pretty decent results so long as the material is not too thin. I have used an extra person or roller stand etc. to help on occasion.

[Art Mulder]

Your poll is incomplete... I bought a Dewalt DW735, and it came without flip-down tables. It works just fine. I use it that way exclusively.

[Joe Angrisani]

Ooops. Sorry Art. I'm just trying to figure out how I want to set up my new-to-me Steel City lunchbox. I like the idea of the table and integrated cabinet form the old FWW article, but I've been called Overkill Boy more than once. Problem is I'm still on the house remodel projects, with FAR too much time for thoughts about how I'm going to want everything in the shop. First and foremost I'm a fan of "everything fixed" when it fits, with permanent dust collection hookups I don't have to change. But the idea of being able to roll it over to make a work triangle with the jointer and TS sounds good, too (except for that moving dust line).

[Gene Waara]

My DW735 is on a stand with a mobile base like everything in my small shop. I use the flip down tables in addition to a portable roller stand when necessary.

[Paul McGaha]

I used to have a Ridgid Benchtop Planer.

I used it on top of the side table of my table saw and it would outfeed towards the table saw outfeed table. I made a little portable outfeed table for the planer that would set on top of the outfeed table for the table saw for stock that had some length to it. In addition to the flip down tables on the planer I mean. Infeed wise I never did anything.

PHM

[Bruce Benjamin]

You left another option off of the poll. I have the DW735. I made a rolling cabinet for it that has flip up infeed and outfeed tables for it. I use them for anything but very short pieces. The cabinet and flip up tables work great. Lots of storage drawers and the tables are long enough to support the longest stock I'm ever likely to going to plane.

Bruce

[Heather Thompson]

I have a Delta 22-580 mounted on a Rousseau mobile planer stand, with the wings extended I place a piece of white shelving material that I ripped to fit the bed of the planner, on the infeed side there is a cleat to hold it in place while in use. This setup is dead flat and there is next to no resistance as the work piece is feed though the planer, when not in use the wings are down and the white shelving material (13" x 8') hangs on a cleat behind the filter of the cyclone.

Heather

[Matt Winterowd]

I only use the flip down tables on my DW735, but I have been fighting a little snipe, even with them canted up a bit. Nothing horrible, just a little annoying. I have therefore been contemplating adding a fixed continuous table with jack screws at the ends.

[Joe Angrisani]

For anyone who's curious, the table design I'm considering is in Fine Woodworking #119, pages 42-45.

Bruce.... Can you post a few pictures of your setup?

[Matt Kestenbaum]

My setup was inspired by the FWW design but its not quite as technical...it is a 13" wide (fits my DW735) x 4' Long piece of Phenolic Faced ply. I mounted front and back cleats to its underside that keep it registered to the table of the planer. The phenolic was highlighted for this use in a FWW special Jigs and fixtures issue a year or two ago. In addition to being extremely slick and resistant to any moisture (no risk of rust between it and the planer bed), the phenolic ply extremely heavy, flat and stable. It makes normal high quality 3/4"Baltic birch look cheap house sheathing.

I am very happy with the results I get...virtually no snipe. The only issue is when I am dimensioning long stock --because I have not supported the system at the outer ends -- I need to make sure it doesn't imbalance the phenolic table.

[Tom Ewell]

Mostly use just the extensions but I do use a "jig" table for long beveling of stock for sills and the like. Thin stuff goes to the sander.

[Lee Schierer]

I noted when I first used my Delta 12-1/2" planer that I would get significant snipe on longer pieces. While checking the adjustment of the tables, I noted they were aluminum and the would flex quite a bit with light finger pressure. Since I didn't have a work bench to set the planer on I decided to build a table to support it. I created a stand with a 30" in feed and out feed table that was exactly even with the planer table. The result was that I get very little if any snipe on boards I run through now. It also gives me storage under the table for my shop vac, pancake compressor and assorted jigs.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

This is a planer stand that I built around 20 years ago. It's for my Ryobi 10" and other than building the stand the planer is always used in it. It's based on a stand featured in FWW. I can completely eliminate any snipe by sending a chaser board behind the piece that I'm planing.