Electric planer bridge core profiler

[chrismp]

After not having access to a stationary planer any longer, we were forced to use a router bridge core profiler. But like many others we were never really happy with how much trouble it is compared to using a planer.

In our dilemma we tried to think of ways to improve our core profiler.
We came up with three (some not so new) main ideas that would help us make the router bridge a more efficient tool for us:

1. we want to add a vacuum hold down system for the cores.
already been done, but since we don't have a big shopvac and it seems like our cores need quite a lot of vacuum to stop from pulling up i looked for ways to get a good vacuum without spending a lot of money.
here's an interesting link i found: http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... index.html
the guy basically stripped the motor from a regular vacuum cleaner, mounted it in a box and attached the hose directly to the motor.
i already did that and the motors really do have a lot of power when connected directly...i'll have that part finished soon i think.

2. use an electric planer instead of a router.
here's a pic of what we plan on doing:



we already cut off the front part of our planer to free up more of the cutter spindle and drilled a hole into the rear part. this hole will act as a mounting hole around which the planer can rotate.
the angle of the planer will be set by a screw in the front part of the planer. this mechanism is used to adjust the depth of the cut.
using a planer instead of a router will give us an increased cutting width of about 8cm.

3. make the rails for the bridge adjustable.
here's a couple of screenshots from a video by Kingswood skis:





as you can see, they're using screws to adjust the height of their guide rails.
one thing that isn't quite clear to me though is how they adjust for different lengths of cores and different lengths of taper.

anyone who has a suggestion on how to achieve a fully adjustable guide rail?

feel free to comment, critique, etc!
i'm always open to suggestions on how to make this thing better
i'll keep you updated and take a couple of photos during the process.

[fa]

one thing that isn't quite clear to me though is how they adjust for different lengths of cores and different lengths of taper.

Kingswood jig looks very adjustable and there is also the option to profile half length of the core (ie tip to middle) and then move it back/forth to the jig, an do the rest half (mid to tail). so this jig may accommodate a variety of lengths and tapers especially when a mid flat section is designed

i used the hand planer to speed up profiling kiteboard wood and airex cores
i start with the hand planer and roughly hand shape the tip and tail area, then put the router bridge on. it save a lot of work and speeds up profiling time massively. at the first core i was conservative with the planer being scared to mess up, but soon i could get very close to the final profile by hand
it takes less than 2 min to roughly hand shape a kite board core
then the router bridge is fast and very accurate as it cuts very little wood

the other day i prepared the same way some skicores before i push them under the drum sander on a crib (it saves my sanding belt from wear and i like wood chips better than dust as i feed them to the stove)

take good care with the modified planer & the exposed blades!

[AKtransplant]

When you get the planer set up I'd love to see some pics. I've been trying to figure out a good way to use my hand planer to profile cores for a year now. I can't seem to get the adjustment right. what are you going ot mount the angle adjustment screw too?

[carlito]

My two cents here.

Kingswood jig looks like it can be easily adjusted. I had a similar setup. Had. I found it to be a pretty big pain in the a$$. The adjustability is nice, however it can be hard to replicate cores after you have changed the jig. Ah, its not hard so much as it takes a long time. you need to be organized about what the original thickness profiles were, and what all the index points were. You also need to get both sides of the jig the same. Takes lots of measurements and small adjustments. I ended up switching to making two profile sticks and screwing them down to the shaping jig. I simply ended up with a stack of matched and labelled thickness profile templates. They are small and setup is quick and repeatable.

I agree about the hand planing with the power planer. Get em close and the router-bridge is fine.

later, Carlito