Sander / Planer Sled for thin lamnations

[Alan Lightstone]

Been having issues getting consistent thin laminations for my outdoor chair build. My wide-belt sander will in theory only go down to 1/8", but in practice it won't go to that level.

Really thinking that 1/4" or 3/16" would work, but looking for a safe, repeatable way to make them. Might need to go down to 1/8". Something that a multiple of laminations will add up to 1.5".

I'm building a simple, typical planer sled to put them on. Will have to be 83-84" long, so a long sled.

My concern/question is how to best hold that thin wood/veneer flat on the board, and not tear it when removing it. I tried it on some 0.155" thick wood, and attached it with double-sized tape. When removing it, the wood ripped.

I've heard of sandpaper being attached to the bottom of the sled. Even hot-melt glue or a drop of CA glue. I am building a stop at the end of the sled, which should help somewhat.

What's the best approach for keeping the wood in place, and if attaching to the sled not having that really thin wood (veneer) rip?

[Jimmy Harris]

Best is subjective, of course. Someone will say that the superglue and two pieces of blue painters tape is best. Others will say that hot glue is. I'm thinking others would say the sandpaper thing works.

Personally, I use Spectape ST501, double sided tape. It's better about not marring wood than most brands. And it still holds pretty well. Just a couple of small pieces every so often, and it doesn't damage even the thin laminations on something like Baltic birch plywood. I use an old kitchen knife to wedge between the parts to separate them when done. And I've done it with wood thinner than 1/8th of an inch, and it's worked fine.

If need be, you could probably wedge a corner up and pour some naphtha down in there to loosen the glue, but I haven't had to do that with Spectape. Naphtha is good for removing tape residue (or price tag stickers), without being so strong as to melt plastic or damage most (but not all) finishes. And it evaporate very quickly and leaves no residue so you don't have to wait around for it to dry or follow it up with something to clean it off. It's just a really good chemical to have around.

[Warren Lake]

machined tons of 1/4" past that had to be reglued back onto solid where it came from and was barely over length so that meant no snipe possible.

Just a piece of wood with sandpaper and a stop at the end and machined usually one at a time though maybe I was able to get up to three on that cant remember but they came out perfect. Tape and all that other stuff is a waste of time. Hot glue probably would not even settle to flat but its still a waste of time. Always make extra pieces.

[Richard Verwoest]

My first thought was some sort of vacuum set up to hold the piece down?

[Kevin Jenness]

I'm surprised your widebelt won't do the job. Will the table not rise high enough to get the thickness you want? If so a sled with a stop at the back should do the trick. If it's because the stock is not flat going in you may need to tape it. You could rig up a vacuum sled I guess. Industrial widebelts with vacuum conveyor beds for veneer work exist but I have no idea how they are set up.

If it were me I would start by figuring out exactly what thickness I needed by doing some experiments with the form, steaming if used and glue and go from there.

If you start by sawing your veneers out accurately with a carbide blade aligned to a tall stiff fence with a powerfeed or effective featherboard device you might be able to eliminate the sanding step.

[David Zaret]

i tend to use the wide belt to get stuff that thin, but if you are going to use the planer, consider doing what michael fortune does. he makes a sled with stops on the front and back to "spring" the material in between the stops. that way, when the rollers push the strips down, they compress against the stops, and it almost eliminates chipping or lifting the ends, and allows the machine to get down quite thin. he demo'd this during a class in my shop a number of years ago, and it was quite eye opening, effective, and creative.

[John TenEyck]

When I get so thin sanding veneer on my double drum sander that I'm worried about the sanding belts hitting the conveyor, I put a sled under the veneer with a fence at the back. Nothing else. It works w/o issue.

Don't overthink it. Start simple.

John

[Alan Lightstone]

When I get so thin sanding veneer on my double drum sander that I'm worried about the sanding belts hitting the conveyor, I put a sled under the veneer with a fence at the back. No nothing else. It works w/o issue.

Don't overthink it. Start simple.


John

I built one. Trying it as soon as my back allows. These long boards are killing me.