Advice on conversion to infill

[Dave Gardner]

Hi,


I have gotten the bug to make an infill plane, but due to budgetary concerns, I'll try to do it on the cheap. I got a body of a mystery manufacturer's (only mark is DE 5/12) # 5 1/2, and found several approaches to making an infill out of it on the internet (Bob Smalser especially). The Smalser approach uses the original frog, which I don't have, so I plan to make the infill serve as the frog, as seems more traditional. The problem becomes: what to do for a lever cap? I'd hate to make one, but I hear St. James Bay will sell them. Then the issue is, can I just drill the sides of the 5 1/2 for the pivots for the lever cap? Is there enough metal there? (judging from the drawing of a traditional type infill that Jim Yehle put up, I'll have enough hight). I wonder if silver soldering on some brass or steel bosses on the outside would reinforce the sides enough to take the strain of the lever cap, if necessary.

Any and all suggestions are of course welcome.

Dave Gardner, lurker

[Brian Kent]

Hi Dave. You have a wonderful project ahead. Yes, there is enough metal on the sides for the pivot. You can make a cap from brass using woodworking tools. You can also get a thin piece of brass and epoxy and screw it onto a piece of the same wood you are using for the infill. Shape it, and then drill and tap a screw hole through both.
Brian

[wayne Jepson]

Here's the link to one I did.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?138099-Another-stanley-infill&p=1403078&highlight=#post1403078

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Dave

I've built a couple of infills using Stanley bodies. Here is a recent one: BU smoother from a #3 ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/My%20planes/GalootSmootherII_html_3ddb6b0a.jpg

There are articles here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/A_Galoots_infill_smoother.html and here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/GalootSmootherII.html

This will show you how to make lever caps and screws from common items: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Making%20Lever%20Caps%20and%20Lever%20Cap%20Screws %20in%20the%20Backyard.html

Show us what you come up with.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dave Gardner]

Wow! Great suggestions and resources. I like cobbling things from odd bits anyway. Any opinion on weighting the infills with lead a la Smalser? Is there a target weight I should shoot for for a 5 1/2? I'm also going to follow Mr. Smalser's idea of fitting the infills onto the existing lumps and bumps of the bed--I have no way of milling them out. Anyway, it seems that leaving the bed as is provides some contour to help lock the infills in place. I especially like Derek's suggestion of getting the blade/mouth geometry right before putting things together (and I wouldn't have thought of having the finished blade in hand).

Yay for the Creek! Many thanks. (pictures may be some time in coming...)