Mikah Barnett
02-24-2014, 3:45 PM
I have a fairly large CO2 laser that I use in my "normal" business that my wife is going to start using to make custom wooden coasters to sell. Just so happens we have had both a Hickory tree and a Hackberry tree - both large - fall on our property in the last year or so so we've got PLENTY of raw material laying around!
Anyway, we're band-sawing the coasters (4 to 4 1/2" diameter) right now and while the saw cuts them okay, the discs are rarely both flat and parallel, sometimes neither. I will probably build a custom clamp/slide assembly for the bandsaw at some point, but am wondering in the mean time if I could use a small planer to make them better.
But it seems the infeed/outfeed rollers on the two small planers I've looked at (Porter Cable and DeWalt) are roughly 6" center to center. So, feeding a 4" coaster through there would require some manual pushing. Will manually feeding discs through a planer work okay? With no roller pushing the part down into the bed, will there be a tendency for the part to lift and cause gouging or other marks in the part?
I've used a planer years ago but not recently and not on a workpiece so small. I considered a belt-sander instead, but I think it would be easy to get one flat side still no closer to parallel with the other side. They obviously don't have to be perfect, but a coaster only has one job to do and we want to make sure every one that leaves here does it well!
EDIT: Also I guess I'm unsure as to how well a planer will plan right on the endgrain. That may be another issue.
Anyway, we're band-sawing the coasters (4 to 4 1/2" diameter) right now and while the saw cuts them okay, the discs are rarely both flat and parallel, sometimes neither. I will probably build a custom clamp/slide assembly for the bandsaw at some point, but am wondering in the mean time if I could use a small planer to make them better.
But it seems the infeed/outfeed rollers on the two small planers I've looked at (Porter Cable and DeWalt) are roughly 6" center to center. So, feeding a 4" coaster through there would require some manual pushing. Will manually feeding discs through a planer work okay? With no roller pushing the part down into the bed, will there be a tendency for the part to lift and cause gouging or other marks in the part?
I've used a planer years ago but not recently and not on a workpiece so small. I considered a belt-sander instead, but I think it would be easy to get one flat side still no closer to parallel with the other side. They obviously don't have to be perfect, but a coaster only has one job to do and we want to make sure every one that leaves here does it well!
EDIT: Also I guess I'm unsure as to how well a planer will plan right on the endgrain. That may be another issue.