Planer Sled

[Michael Burnside]

If that were so, why would the stock move forward at all? (No dog in the fight, as I don't have and haven't used a planer sled)

Sum of forces is not net 0 most times. The sum of forces is net backwards, so the cleat at the back is usually the best spot. Like I said, some use skateboard tape to prevent any shifting regardless of how light the pass or slippery the sled itself. I've just never had a problem with the one I built with a simple cleat and the material I linked.

[Marc Rochkind]

Colin Knecht removes all the overdesigned overkill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK5CxqYmUSo

...

He puts in a single wedge, just enough to keep the board from rocking. This works because his board is about 2 inches thick, maybe more. For a thinner board, say, 1 inch, it would flex under the pressure of the planer's rollers. Wedges on the outside may not be enough. This is why some sleds are so much more complicated.

To say it another way, it's not enough to eliminate rocking. You also need to eliminate flexing, if it's possible for the board to flex.

[andrew whicker]

In confused. Once the cutter is cutting the outfeed roller has a hold on the piece.. like a normal planer operation.

The only time there is only one spinning thing acting on the wood is before the cut (infeed roller) and after the cut (outfeed roller)


I can see the infeed roller grabbing the piece and pulling thru regardless of what the sled was doing, but I can't see why the cutter would cause anything crazy to happen

Maybe I'm missing something

[Michael Burnside]

Andrew. It’s not the same thing as sending two pieces through that aren’t connected. I tried just a flat piece on my Powermatic and the piece moved back about 2” from when it went in to when it came out.

Cleat at the back. It came out exactly in the same spot

[andrew whicker]

Back means outfeed or infeed?

The cutter rotation is trying to spit the board towards the infeed

[Michael Burnside]

Yea back towards the infeed. It also canted a small amount so the cleat helps that too.

[John Kananis]

I've had the same results with similar experiment.

Regardless, I put a cleat both front and back on case the piece cuts cleaner going into the planer one way or the other. After setup, I'm not turning the piece and don't want to interrupt the flow of work so I take the extra 20 seconds and cleat both sides. Again, very rare to have to do this anyway.

I just don't understand the super complex sleds in magazines. These are simple things. Whether to flatten or taper, just keep it simple and spend the extra hours working on the project I feel.

Andrew. It’s not the same thing as sending two pieces through that aren’t connected. I tried just a flat piece on my Powermatic and the piece moved back about 2” from when it went in to when it came out.

Cleat at the back. It came out exactly in the same spot

[andrew whicker]

Cool. It's been so long since I've used one but I need to make one soon for my bigger planer so that I can do thin strips...

[Jonathan Jung]

it's too easy to overcomplicate a sled. I just use a piece of ply, a stop strip screwed to it, and business cards to shim the workpiece.

[andrew whicker]

Yeah, I was thinking a flat pc of mdf and some glued on sand paper for thin strips.

[Christian Hawkshaw]

I used melamine shelving with a stop strip.... I do use hot glue and wedges...wedges are cheap.