Maybe overkill for your purpose, but here's one I built:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...led&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ed)&highlight=
Contributor
Maybe overkill for your purpose, but here's one I built:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...led&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ed)&highlight=
Moderator
Yea, that length was what immediately jumped to my mind for your particular project. John's version could be a starting point, but there will be a need for intermediate support for 10' length. This is actually timely, because I have at least two table projects coming up, one with slabs, that are going to required a longer setup to handle.Originally Posted by Dennis Peacock
Well, to build John's version of the sled? I'd have to have build a sled to mount the router to that would be 120" long in order to go across the 56" kitchen island top to cut down on the time and effort of sanding it all flat.
I'm just looking to do this for this island top I'm building.....56" wide by 10' long by 2.5" thick
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Moderator
Ted, that roller setup is AWESOME!! Thanks for floating that thread back up in response to Dennis's question!
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
I joint and thickness slabs by hand with hand planes (the type without motors) and it's a good workout. I find the popularity of the router sled slightly confusing, if your goal is to joint the slab would not a handheld electric router along with winding sticks and a straightedge work significantly easier than this approach?
There is a very famous place right near me and, to the best of my knowledge, the approach described above is how they do it....and I'm certain they have worked a slab of two.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Contributor
Not necessarily. You could make the sled just over 50% wider than your slab, and mount the router so that it is just hangs over one edge of the slab when the sled is tight against the rail on the other side of the slab. When you pull the sled the other way it will reach at least half way across the slab. level one side of the slab, then reverse the sled to do the other half.
John
Contributor
Somewhat, Prashun. I built a vacuum attachment on the sled, sorta like you see on a CNC router.
A brush, as used on CNC routers, would have worked better because it would seal better as the router transitions from the rough areas to those have been routed smooth. But I couldn't source any cheaply, so I just tolerated the blow-by I got with this. Overall, I think this captured maybe 2/3's of the chips and most of the dust, which is way better than nothing.
Adding the vacuum attachment was one reason I elected to build the sled twice as wide as the slab. But you are right, when the router is screwed to the sled it's much easier and less fatiguing to use.
John
Contributor
That's pretty slick setup John.
I built a router sled one time only for some Sassafras slabs that I could not tame with my handplanes.
It was a lot of fun.Looking forward to do it again!
Aj
Member
Do you folks have any trouble with the slab warping from the pressure released from routing off a layer? I was talking to some folks that make amazing slab furniture and asked if they use a router jig like this. They said they had the warping problem, so they just use hand planes and story sticks.
I like the router idea better!
Moderator
Lynn, I don't believe it's the method (hand vs power) but the speed and depth that is the culprit. Handplanes may encourage the flattener to go slow and perhaps be overall less aggressive with material removal.
Going slowly (meaning doing the flattening over a couple days) and removing material from both sides, helps.
I am doing an oak burl now that is a real bear and is moving a lot on me...
Contributor
Winding sticks
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Member
Right- winding sticks, not story sticks...
Member
To flatten a glued up slab of that size it will be far faster to do it with a belt sander than fooling around with a bridge. Building a bridge to surface something that big is a project of its own.
Take a pencil and scribble marks all over the top. That way you can see where the high and low spots are as you sand. Your size of table would take me about two hours with a sander. Yes, I have a router bridge and use it with natural edge slabs but nothing near that wide.
This bench top is 40” X 8' and took me about an hour to flatten with the belt sander.
DSCF7881.JPG
Larry
Contributor
I haven't had any problems with flatness afterwards. I do try to take about the same amount off both sides, but you can't always do that and end up with the thickness you want, so it is what it is sometimes. But as long as the slab is at EMC with my shop they seem to be fine.
As for using hand planes or a belt sander to flatten a slab, much less several of them as I recently did, to each their own. It takes less than an hour to build a bridge from scratch and it only takes an hour or so to flatten a pretty big sized slab. And when you use a bridge, you know the slab will be flat. No winding sticks required.
John
Contributor
I'm making no effort to convince anyone, since I chose to do this method rather than taking a faster approach. A 6' slab without crotch section would take me a few hours to flatten and thickness with hand planes.
It starts to take significantly longer when there is a crotch section, the crotch section dulls the planes very quickly and requires additional re-sharpenings.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Member
I'm with Brian on this one. The sleds are great and I made one for a "42" Oyster of hard maple". This was of course end grain and that's why I made the sled. For a slab I use a power hand plane and winding sticks and then get to a finished surface with hand planes. This is fast and effective. If the process is as important to you as the project then I understand the sled approach. If you simply want a flat slab then there are other methods that will get you to where you want to be.
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