?'s when using a planer sled

[Brian Runau]

Made my first planer sled. End support is 1/2" high so should be no problem on 3/4" or thicker. Running some 8/4 this time. @ 32" long. I have it supported evenly from side to side 1/4" on both, and supported in the middle. Is this enough for 8/4 stock? Thought it should be. How much more support would it need for 4/4 stock? Plan to hot glue the shim in place before running through the planer on very slight passes until I get a flat I can work with. These are for blanks for leg glue up.

Thanks.

Brian

500054500055

[Bernie Kopfer]

Perhaps I have been lucky with my planer sled. Although I made it thick and very rigid I have concluded that as long as the surface You use to set up the workpiece on the sled board is flat and your feed tables are long enough the rigidity of the sled is not very important. Nor have I ever glued down the wedges. Simply placed sufficient numbers of them until the workpiece was not tipping or bending anywhere I pushed down on it. ( Since the planer is pushing straight down on the board how can the wedges slip?) However when carrying the loaded sled back around to the infeed side of the planer rigidity can be helpful and necessary.
All that said I am only speaking from my experience having used the sled and this technique for many years.