Auxiliary bed for DW735

[David Ragan]

Hi,

I would like to build an auxiliary bed/table for the DW 735. 30" long (of course, 13" wide ).

Snipe is not a problem, but I tire of those flop down table extensions.

Have already started with some BB 3/4 last wkd....just cut and waxed it.

Anyone have any pearls to share, or pictures? Especially, anything you would do differently?

As always, thanks

David

[glenn bradley]

Just include a method of adjusting them for level and coplaner.

[Charles Lent]

Waxed Melamine works better for me than waxed birch ply. I went with a 72" length of 12" wide Melamine shelving, put a cleat on the bottom side to keep it from being fed through the planer, and use it whenever it seems necessary. I use an adjustable height stand under each end to keep it level as the weight changes position, but haven't needed to do anything else.

Charley

[Scott Brihn]

I used a scrap piece of mdf, coated with some leftover poly for 10-years. It held up well while being subjected to thousands of passes. Once in a great while I would wax the mdf bed.

[Mike Ontko]

Ditto on using melamine--it's quick, simple, effective, and inexpensive. I already use the table extensions but needed a way of being able to get down to a 3/32 thickness for some veneers I'm making. This quick planer bed (pics below), made using a piece of ready made shelving from HD was the way to go.

planerSled.jpg planerSled_infeed.jpg planerSled_outfeed.jpg

[David Ragan]

Im fresh out of melamine.

Do you suppose it would make that big a difference? In drag on the planer?

My BB is from lumber yard, cabinet grade, and super flat.

One thing I see is it need not be a major production

[Mike Ontko]

The main point of the melamine is that it provides a slick surface. If you're going with the BB, then you do could like Scott suggests and coat it with a few layers of polyurethane, and then give it a good waxing for a similar effect.

[Charles Lent]

Or apply laminate to your Baltic Birch (but remove the wax first). Apply the laminate to the top and the bottom to keep it straight. Wax the top laminate after it's installed.

Charley

[Doug Hobkirk]

Ditto on using melamine--it's quick, simple, effective, and inexpensive. I already use the table extensions but needed a way of being able to get down to a 3/32 thickness for some veneers I'm making. This quick planer bed (pics below), made using a piece of ready made shelving from HD was the way to go.

planerSled.jpg planerSled_infeed.jpg planerSled_outfeed.jpg

Does the single piece sled improve performance by eliminating alignment and flex issues between the 3 surfaces (intake, cutterheads and rollers, outfeed)?
Or is just for the same of planing thin stock?
Thanks

[David Ragan]

[The reason why I'm doing it is to be able to 'zero' out my cutterhead with the Wixey gage (not looking for any challenge here), and of course to be rid of the folding extension wings.]

The reason why we wax things is to provide protection, and a smooth surface.

Perhaps one of the chemists/engineers on the forum can weigh in--but, if you sand a surface, then 'sand'/polish down to 6-8K grit (Micro Mesh), then wax, that will be plenty smooth enough, correct?

The 'smoothness' of any surface is dependent upon the micro-architecture of it.......bumps, nibs, dust, pits, etc, etc.

(I can be faulted for being stubborn at times-and am determined to make this premium BB work.)

[Mike Ontko]

Does the single piece sled improve performance by eliminating alignment and flex issues between the 3 surfaces (intake, cutterheads and rollers, outfeed)?
Or is just for the same of planing thin stock?
Thanks

I haven't run enough "normal sized" material through yet to know if there are any drastic improvements in using the aux bed versus just the attached wings. But I think the pinch rollers do enough already to help with any minor alignment or flex issues between those surfaces. But certainly the longer the bed, the less likely any large or heavy material would be to move or change its in and out feed angles as it's passing through. In an earlier project, I was passing 7 foot lengths of 8/4 ash through it using just the extension wings and a set of support rollers, and it worked just fine. But I think this auxiliary bed would definitely have made that process easier and the outcome more predictable.

So far, I've only used it as mentioned earlier for making thin veneers from 3/16" pieces coming off my bandsaw. What I've learned here is that this approach works just fine for thin pieces that are relatively straight after resawing (no big bends, or potato chip looking pieces). But if the leading or trailing ends of a piece tend to bend upwards, then it's likely to get clipped as feeds into and away from the pinch rollers to the blade, and you end up getting a pieces that's tapered in a gnarly way at the ends. Next time, to keep from losing the material at the ends like that, I may just build an actual sled that I can affix the piece to and tape or glue the ends down.

[Mike Ontko]

David, If BB is what you've got then BB is what you should use