Flattening jig for router my favorite project

There are cases when man realy need this jig (including myself – but my worshop garage is realy to small for it) – nice work.

-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted

I like this idea. I’ve done a planning of a slab before using the technique, but I like your thought process with the bearings and movement. Nicely done. really like the clamping porcess.

-- Scott, Irmo SC

Waiting for your improved plan although I don’t see a need for anything better than what you’ve shown here. Hope you give a detailed description of the blocks that hold the wheel bearings as they appear complicated but critical to the project…Jim

-- JimInNM........Space Case

That’s a really nice design. Looking forward to seeing the redesign :)

-- Bill, Yo!......in Brooklyn & Steel City :)

Excellent

What router bit do you use for big pieces?

That kind of looks like a integrated down draft table. Is It?

-- John from the Cherry Valley Studio in NY http://www.cvalleystudio.com

I do it a little differently, but same concept. Only a 6” jointer and 14” planer in the shop. Since I make smaller things I only needed the length to be 4’. The twisted, warped and curled boards aren’t that easy even on a wider jointer.

I just route a 1” slot on each side of the board on the edge until it is flat for the wood length and then put “flat” wood strips in the slots. Then I plane the untouched side until flat using the strips to give the planer a flat reference. Next is to flip it, remove the strips and plane that side. I use hot glue on the strip sides.

There was an article in FWW several years ago about just using shims to get the top of the rough board as flat as possible to an underneath flat sled and then run it through the planer.

Steve.

It looks like a good practical jig. It’s a great addition to your shop.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

I use a 1 1/2” freud router bit and man does it make short work of it. 1-1/2” (Dia.) Double Flute Straight Bit (Double Grind) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T7CY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_UZlSybFXZWGVZ The table top was originally made to be an out feed table for the table saw and an assembly table.

I used to have a similar setup for slabs but it was a casualty of a house move. I have never seen it done quite like that with the pipes and roller wheels. I like it! I think when it comes time to build a new one, I might just steal this design. Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Here’s the first design change, I made new linear bearings with 5/16” rods connecting the 2 halves so that I can loosen or tighten them to fit the rails better. The second change is the linear rails, I made the supports 2 1/2” tall which adds a lot more stiffness to them. I had to use a piece of wood with a hex cut out on the end to hold the nut so I cold get the bolts tightened from the supports to the rails.

I want to make one SOMEDAY ! I think a person would get a LOT of use from it.
Looks like a Ron Paulk table design underneath, another useful idea !

-- "My mission in life - make everyone smile !"