# Planer sled on "rails"



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Planer sled* 
My version came from my "gluing frames" and thinking about a 2 rail system which simply screwed into the edges of the board to be planed.
Heck, I already had a gluing frame, why not try it? The following photos are the results. It worked like a charm! :yes:
The reason for a planer sled is your workpiece is too wide for your jointer: 
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The rails were a little short for this board as they should have extended 4 or 5 inches beyond the ends, but even so it worked fine. There was a little snipe as a result but it planed out afterwards.

More photos showing the board surfaced one side then removed from the sled and final surfaced. The pile of "chips" was collected by the single stage collector hooked directly to the planer hood. 
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## DerekG (Dec 28, 2009)

I like it, I may have to build one to get around my little 6" jointer for some wide stock I'm going to work with soon. Thanks for posting this!


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## jaros bros. (Feb 18, 2009)

Very nice idea. I have a 9' sled that I simply add shims to what areas I need to but I think this might be more accurate.


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

Does the sled have a tendency to rack when a board with a slight twist is installed? Do you just lay the board in the tracks rocking it side to side to find the best fit and then tighten the nuts? I do like the idea better then the sleds that use shims. Can the planer's rollers down-ward pressure cause the board to drop down or flex in places where it is unsupported? I don't mean to be bashing your sled, but I would consider making a 5' or longer one if I understood it better. It's probably clear to others, I'm just a little dense:laughing:.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Work in progress*

There is no racking since the board is not under stress if the edges are parallel. I just located the board on the rabbets as level as possible. 
Then tightened it up. You can flip it over and look for a gap, and put a small wedge in the gap and that's it. It does tighten very well without a wedge, however. Some sandpaper glued to the insides of the rabbet would hold it as well. This is a work in progress....I just threw it together to test the idea.. That board was out by at least 1/8"+ . The frames have a rabbet to rest the board edge on both sides. 
It just seemed to me that the other sleds I had seen were over engineered and more complicated than necessary. I guess I'm a just minimalist? :blink: bill
I'll try a longer one soon.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

Minimalism rules Bill, nice work.


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

I'd be interested in any further updates as your get to tinkering... thanks.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

*I really like this......*

Bill, 

I am very impressed by this. I like its simplicity, and seems like it should work well. 

I am curious, though.............What is the longest sled that you have worked with this setup? I wonder how it would work if I made a 4' sled..... do you ever plane a smaller piece in a longer sled (i.e. a 2' long piece in a 4' long sled)? I would think that might be dangerous if I were to try that.

Fabian


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Nope I haven't tried a longer sled*

RE a short piece in a long sled I would just make a similar width scrap to butt up against the "good" piece and prevent the sled from collapsing. Tighten up all the bolts real snug. :yes: Metal doesn't like to go through the planer. Bigger, wider rails won't hurt either for more surface to bear on.  bill


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*just had a thought on this*

A thickness planer is "auto feed" unlike a jointer where you have to control the feed rate and possibly have your hands where they shouldn't be...? That's a safety feature that I hadn't thought of. The controlled rate of feed may also have some advantages in tear out?
Small wedges in the gaps below will prevent any feed roller pressure from shifting the work. :yes:


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## cps (Jun 21, 2013)

woodnthings said:


> A thickness planer is "auto feed" unlike a jointer where you have to control the feed rate and possibly have your hands where they shouldn't be...? That's a safety feature that I hadn't thought of. *The controlled rate of feed may also have some advantages in tear out?*
> Small wedges in the gaps below will prevent any feed roller pressure from shifting the work. :yes:


I do get less tear out on my planer than my jointer. I always run it at the slower "finish" feed rate as well.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

I make my sleds to ride on parallel alum. angles clamped to table in line with drift angle. The trick is to provide an x-y adjustable plane for a piece of plywood x" X y". That's a semi-permanent part of the sled, in that you nibble off a layer of ply every time you separate your last veneer and the screw holes attaching it to the sled frame eventually wear out. I gorilla-glue my workpiece to the (disposable) 3/4" plywood "plane" . The "plane" pc is adjustable inside the sled frame. Four 1/4"-20 threaded rod screws push out while a central bracket (and a bitch to make BTW), drywall-screwed, pulls the disposable plywood "plane" back against the center of the frame (I used steel picture hanging wire to allow flexible alignment - 100% accurate plane parallelity to the blade is essential ) Set up thusly, everything in that size range of workpiece will cut planar(ly) parallel to the last and you only move the rail by .125" )(or whatever thickness) thereafter. Is that clear enough to follow? You only set planar parallelity one time for each sled. Make your sled long enough to accommodate what you do. Same for the rail. Think 6' sled on a 12' rail. Use patio door slide bearings to "capture" the rails. You may need to counter-balance the sled for thick, heavy motherboards. Remain calm.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

Sorry. That last post referred to sled-feeding a band saw, not a planer. I missed that part. I don't use planers; not needed with frictionless tensioning.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Lol*



falbergsawco said:


> Sorry. That last post referred to sled-feeding a band saw, not a planer. I missed that part. I don't use planers; not needed with frictionless tensioning.


Wouldn't you expect a thread entitled "Planer sled on rails" to be about planers? ....:wink2:

Start a thread about your bandsaw sled and post a photo of it. I made one from plywood and a bunch of roller stands when I was milling a short log into slabs.


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## Wil_Bloodworth (Apr 7, 2017)

I cannot tell from the photos but it looks like you're running the screws through the work piece. Is that correct or is the work piece simply sitting on top of the screws?

- Wil


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*threaded rods, not "screws" ...*

The top photo shows my "clamp" for gluing shorter board together to make wider ones. Its just 2 pieces with rabbets to support the boards exactly on top of the rods for leveling. You apply the glue, place the boards in the clamp on top of the rods and rabbets and tighten the nuts.

It would be used exactly the same way for a planer sled... no glue, of course. If necessary, shims would be added under the highest corner of a twisted board for support. The wood is held really tightly in the clamp, but a shim or two would be better.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

The next cut in succession is shown resting on the table and in the 1st pic, then resting on the frame post in the second. Once the plane is adjusted, the next plane/disposable plywood backing gets attached by four little (1.625" drywall screws) Every cut will follow that same alignment so be sure you get the first set-up perfect because everything thereafter will be exactly the same. I was getting near transluscent at one point. It's fun!!! I hand fed a 2 x4 rip to establish blade drift. The next step is to index the 1/16" advance sequence . Right now I have to carefully measure each advancement by 1/16 (or 3/32") with a plain old fashioned ruler and do it equally on each end of the rail parallel to awl-scratched driftline. You only scribe the driftline once. Everything thereafter is relative to that. Practice /preview by taking plywood apart one-at-a-time. Having fun yet?


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

The same basic idea could be applied to planers by turning the sled 90degrees and spanning the workpiece from above. Brain not as sharp after the stroke. Should move whole post to new thread.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I like it W&things.. I probably ought to get around to one myself..
I have a router sled I've used a few times, but I like the planer much better and really need to build a sled for it..

My seldom used router sled..








I made it to level off the bench top, but haven't gotten around to doing that yet..but hey, it's a nice spot for dust to settle at.


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## bargoon (Apr 20, 2016)

Good idea Woodnthings. Many of us with smaller shops appreciate tools and jigs that we can multi-task.


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## Bob Bengal (Jan 2, 2021)

falbergsawco said:


> Sorry. That last post referred to sled-feeding a band saw, not a planer. I missed that part. I don't use planers; not needed with frictionless tensioning.


I know falbergsawco hasn't been here in 2 years, but what is frictionless tensioning?


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## Bob Bengal (Jan 2, 2021)

Thanks @woodnthings for this how-to, have you modified the sled since you first posted? Are the threaded rods 1/2"? Looks like they could be even bigger. I wonder about using T-nuts on one side, for less width etc.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

No, I haven't done a thing with it because it was actually an "experiment" using an existing jig AND I haven't had the need to joint wide boards AND if I do, I have a 12" wide Min Max jointer/planer. So, I can procrastinate or ruminate for several months on why I didn't do anything. I do think it's a good idea and it did work as anticipated. 
I'm a believer in ripping wide boards and gluing them back together to relieve stresses, however. AND I just don't run into 12" wide boards as a rule from my home grown, rough bandsawn stash of mostly Oak. So, that's the "short" answer ...... 
Yes, 1/2" rods.
I don't have any 1/2" T nuts.
But, then the rods would need to be pretty much the same width as the workpieces......


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