Planing & squaring 6"x6" pine with a bench planer, pics & video

[AMB30518]

I thought I would share pics of a project that I thought about for a couple of years and worked on for the last 4-5 weeks.
I bought a used 12" planer, did some modifications to it and put it on a track assembly to plane, straighten & square up some 6"x6" pine timbers I am working with.

I will add some pics & descriptions, bare with me while I learn to do pics.


1) This is the planer sitting on it's base after I turned the motor over upside down, side to side and bolted on the aluminum angle with roller wheel bearings.
 

 


2) Here it is with the base on top, motor right side up and sitting on the aluminum angle track guides.


 


3) Now it is sitting on the track assembly, on the wheel bearings with the alumunum angle to keep it on the track.
 

 

[AMB30518]

4) Here is a pic of it sitting over a timber on the track.
 

 


5) I drilled & tapped the opposite end of the handle shaft so the handle would be on top again. Yes, I did break off a 1/8" drill bit in the shaft  and was lucky enough to get it out without too much trouble 
 

 


6) I put a spacer sleeve between the shaft and handle, bolted it on and now it is on top again.
 

 

7) Back on the track and ready to cut again 
 

 

The next series of pics are of the track assembly and setup.

[WDH]

Very clever!

[beenthere]

Thanks for posting the pics of the project. Looks like it has turned out quite well.

Now, for a video....

[AMB30518]

The track assembly/system and descriptions.
15-16 pics total


1) An out of square cant, about 3/16".


 


2) A closeup of the track.
 

 


3) A full pic of the track. It is 13' 6" long, 12" ID and 15" OD. The yellow cross bars are adjustable along the length of the outer rails.
 

 

[AMB30518]

Thanks for posting the pics of the project. Looks like it has turned out quite well.

Now, for a video....

Your welcome. I wanted to share and contribute to the forum instead of just asking beginner questions all the time.
The mods did go a lot smoother than originally expected.
Vids are available. I'll try to post it after the series of pics.

And thanks WDH

[AMB30518]

4) The track on some fairly level hand planed timbers to support the alum track.
 

 


5) Leveling/squaring and adjustment hardware to go on the yellow cross bars.
 

 


6) Adjustment bolt installed, close up.
 

 


7) All adjusting bolts in place.
 

 

[AMB30518]

Timber in place.
 

 


9) Adjusting the end height to the other end.


 


10) Checking for square after the 2 sides are planed.


 


11) Square & level, wing nuts locked tight.


 


12) Down the track.....
 

 

[AMB30518]

13) Top surface after the 1st run.
 

 


14) Squared and straight, usually within 1/32", 1/64th and some dead on!
 

 

 

    

[AMB30518]

Now to see if I can attach a video.
This is my prototype video, 4 min., before better wheels and moving the handle, now I can raise the head and roll it back to the start without turning it around.
I have 2 of 3 others uploaded on youtube with talking and closeup shots through it all.

[LOGDOG]

Very ingenious set up. Pretty pine too. 

[pineywoods]

I have an identical planer, so I now know what I been thinking about will work. Thanks for the info. My idea is to attach the planer to the head of my woodmizer, using the attach point for the de-barker. Ready-made track.

[Rooster]

Let me know if I got this right...

You set the "thickness" from the bottom of the guide bearing minus the track depth, and then make passes back and forth until the bearing bottoms out and makes a complete run along the track.

Right?

Rooster

[Brad_bb]

I watched all 3 videos.  I applaud what you have done.  You've made a beam planer pretty cheaply.  I assume the track is from your Chainsaw mill.  You could do larger beams also by spacing up your planer feet. 

Here's my question.  You made the first pass on the beam flattening one side.  Then you flipped it over 180 degrees to the opposite face.  Assuming the planer is parallel to your bed, why would you have to raise or lower one end of the beam??  If you just planed that side after flipping it, both of those opposite faces should come out parallel, correct?  I thought the adjustment was going to be to initially align the beam best for the first face, or to square the adjacent face(90 degrees) to the first pass?

Additionally, One thing that would help you to square and adjacent face to the first face you did, would be to bolt some 90 degree blocks to your bed so that when you push the first planed face up against them, and clamped the beam to them, you could then easily plane the adjacent face without needing to measure.  This is how band mills like the woodmizer work.  Your planer is a smaller (and much lower cost) version of the woodmizer MP100 planer.

Rooster I'm not sure I'm following you.  On my bench planer, it has a rule that indicates the thickness as you move the planer up and down.  Honestly I hardly use this rule.  It's just a ball park to me.  You can only take about 1/16th off in a pass approximately.  I make passes and measure the stock itself till I'm satisfied with the thickness.  I would guess that's how you'd do these 6X6's, but let's see.

[AMB30518]

Thanks logdog, it does a pretty good job for a DIY project. And I'll have to say that that was some of the better looking pine. I had some not as pretty, worm holes, blue stain but did get more than I ordered from the mill to compensate.
And hope to have enough left to make a set Roosters "Colt & Mare" horses.

Piney woods, yes I bet that would work good too. But I'm sure you know all retro fit stuff takes some refining. The 1st vid (posted here) was my "It will work!" moment. Then I did some refining before the other vids on youtube. I share them with my coworker, my son and brother from there.
I don't have a mill yet, so no carriage and bed to work with....
There is a vid of a sawmill bed planer here on FF and on youtube by frwinks.
I would like to thank him for posting it, which gave me ideas and inspiration to go for my own setup.

[AMB30518]

Let me know if I got this right...

You set the "thickness" from the bottom of the guide bearing minus the track depth, and then make passes back and forth until the bearing bottoms out and makes a complete run along the track.

Right?

Rooster

Hi Rooster
Some of my timbers came 6 1/8"-6 1/4" at one end and 5 3/4"-5 7/8"-6" at the other.
My objective is to take out crown, belly and square the cant.
I mentioned in one of the vids that I know I'm getting some taper from one end to the other. Not an issue for me to be concerned about right now for a R-V carport.
If I were to make a perfect 6x6, I would need to have started with maybe 6 1/4x 6 1/4", enough to work with to cut it down to 6x6 throughout total length.
For my cabin I will order or cut my own 1/4" larger than I want to end up with.
So in other words, instead of making all my dimensions equal my smaller end I would rather have 6" at one end and 5 3/4" at the other end, with taper, than remove stock.
I hope this explains it somewhat.

[AMB30518]

I watched all 3 videos.  I applaud what you have done.  You've made a beam planer pretty cheaply.  I assume the track is from your Chainsaw mill.  You could do larger beams also by spacing up your planer feet. 

Hello Brad, glad you liked the vids and thanks for the pat on the back....
Yes, the track is a gift from a friend to use with my Alaskan mill, worked great.
Yes again, the alum angle is 1 1/2"x 1 1/2" and also figured higher angle could be used on bigger beams. Another thought in the back of my mind is the possibbility of a higher track setup. Kinda like the alum 2"x6" box beam(pics in my gallery) I use for the Mini Mill.

Here's my question.  You made the first pass on the beam flattening one side.  Then you flipped it over 180 degrees to the opposite face.  Assuming the planer is parallel to your bed, why would you have to raise or lower one end of the beam??  If you just planed that side after flipping it, both of those opposite faces should come out parallel, correct?  I thought the adjustment was going to be to initially align the beam best for the first face, or to square the adjacent face(90 degrees) to the first pass?

I may have touched on some of this above in the response to Rooster. Yes the adjustment bolts are to get a good stable 1st cut with a rough surface down on the track but instead of taking the cut down to the smallest measurement & parallel, I chose to have taper with straight and square surfaces. Sometimes we have to work with what we have, or bought, and make do. 1/4" - 3/8" taper down 8' or 9'..... no big deal. I'm after better fitting tight joints and hope this helps me get that.
I am very confident I can plane parallel, as you mentioned but decided to keep as much as possible in my timber.

Additionally, One thing that would help you to square and adjacent face to the first face you did, would be to bolt some 90 degree blocks to your bed so that when you push the first planed face up against them, and clamped the beam to them, you could then easily plane the adjacent face without needing to measure.  This is how band mills like the woodmizer work.  Your planer is a smaller (and much lower cost) version of the woodmizer MP100 planer.

I'm glad you mentioned this..... I like the feedback and idea.

Rooster I'm not sure I'm following you.  On my bench planer, it has a rule that indicates the thickness as you move the planer up and down.  Honestly I hardly use this rule.  It's just a ball park to me.  You can only take about 1/16th off in a pass approximately.  I make passes and measure the stock itself till I'm satisfied with the thickness.  I would guess that's how you'd do these 6X6's, but let's see.

Yes, like Brad said. Measure the stock and go from there. It will take a fairly deep cut and also a very shallow one also.
I'm trying to remember.....I think the book said 3/32 or 3/16" cut for one turn of the handle.
But when I tear out pages that say "Do not modify this unit" I don't remember much of the rest of it 

[frwinks]

LOVE IT AMB   Great job and much more portable than a mill mounted unit.  Glad my vid turned you onto building your set up, thanks
My dewalt finally gave out.  Planing frozen 200+ year old doug fir did it in over the winter   I'm actually looking at a used Delta like yours to replace it with
cheers