Project by jbuss8706 | posted 05-21-2017 07:24 PM | 5310 views | 10 times favorited | 26 comments | ![]() |
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Over the past month I’ve been building an adaption of Mathias Wandel’s jointer (check it out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it). He used a lot of cheap material, as the purpose of his build was an economical one. Doing a bunch of research I gathered ideas I liked from other builds and combined them all into my build. Realizing the sole purpose of a Jointer is to flatten stock, I wasn’t comfortable having the jointer beds being made of laminated baltic birch ply. So I purchased a set of SawStop Extension Wings, grinded a 45 degree bevel (to fit over the Cutter Head). There’s another guy that also used the SawStop Extension wings in a bit of a different way. Almost the entire machine is built from Baltic Birch ply and Cherry (used what I had and it’s a stable wood).
Since I ended up using the jointer beds and not building them, the plans I purchased from Mathias become more of a visual guide. So this was a build as I go project, so there were some hiccups and things I would do in a different order if I knew exactly where the cut would be. There was a lot of trial and error, taking the beds on and off after taking measurements as I wanted the beds as close to the cutterhead as possible.
I realize some people may question the stability of the machine or question why I spent the time building and they would have just bought one. In reality, a 12” jointer with these bed lengths (a little over 60” total length) would be way outside of my price range. The cutterhead cost me nothing (already had it) and I returned a bunch of stuff to Harbor Freight that basically paid for the motor (could have also used the universal motor that I pulled from the same planer I got the cutterhead from, but they are loud). So I’m in for the materials ($90) belt and pulleys $17 and the Extension Wings I used for the beds $180 for a total of $287 spent on this project. Not bad.
The frame is made of laminated plywood, 1 baltic birch and one A/B plywood, totalling around 19 ply Plenty strong enough and should provide for negligible movement in the shop.
Getting through the cast iron was interesting, but a grinder with fresh cut off wheels got the job done. Was a bit nervous cutting through $180 investment!
Probably overkill, but I doubled the parallelgram links, made from baltic birch and did three rows instead of 2 like in the plans.
This shows how the infeed and outfeed will be attached, laminated 3/4” cherry on each side, bolted down through 4 holes, again overkill but gave me piece of mind as these bolts will carry the weight of the force that I use to push the stock down and through the cutterhead, so I don’t want any movement.
I ended up getting an induction motor from HF, 1.5 HP at 3600 RPM, much much quieter than the motor in the planer. The pulley’s are right about 3:1 ratio given me around 10000 RPM at the cutterhead. Because of this, Mathias belt tensioning system wouldn’t work so I devised a half sliding dovetail system for mine. Seems to work well, minimal belt vibration. Overall, the extra weight on the frame and of course the infeed/outfeed tables being cast iron, the vibration is very minimal, something I was worried about.
26 comments so far
Redoak49
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5026 posts in 2963 days
#1 posted 05-21-2017 09:30 PM
Very nicely done. You should post a video to show us it running.
woodshaver Tony C
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7821 posts in 4328 days
#2 posted 05-21-2017 09:48 PM
Wow! Only $287 for this beauty! And now you have something to be very proud of. Thanks for sharing this Awesome build! And Welcome to Lumberjocks!
-- St Augustine FL, Experience is the sum of our mistakes!
sras
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5765 posts in 4104 days
#3 posted 05-22-2017 01:51 AM
1st class build! Impressive!
-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive
Woodknack
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#4 posted 05-22-2017 06:20 AM
Nicely done. I want to build one myself some day, lots of other projects to do first though.
-- Rick M, http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/
Grumpy
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26793 posts in 4826 days
#5 posted 05-22-2017 07:05 AM
Nice job jbuss8706 and congratulations on your ‘Daily Top 3’ award.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Mikesawdust
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330 posts in 4014 days
#6 posted 05-22-2017 08:06 AM
This looks great, I wish I had the skill and patience to build one. Hell, I would upgrade all my machines to this style.
-- You never cut a piece to short, you are just prepping that piece for a future project
helluvawreck
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32122 posts in 3841 days
#7 posted 05-22-2017 11:24 AM
This is a nice shop-built machine. Congratulations and welcome to Lumberjocks.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
steliart
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2895 posts in 3663 days
#8 posted 05-22-2017 05:26 PM
Wow !!! that’s a lot of effort and research … very nicely done… sure it will serve you for a long long time !!!
-- Stelios L.A. Stavrinides: - I am not so rich to buy cheap tools, but... necessity is the mother of inventions !!!
Ivan
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16529 posts in 3842 days
#9 posted 05-22-2017 06:27 PM
Outstanding engineering work,also with beautiful design.
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
CyberDyneSystems
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306 posts in 3163 days
#10 posted 05-22-2017 07:34 PM
This is brilliant!
-- Without the wood, it's just working
JRAP
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125 posts in 2925 days
#11 posted 05-23-2017 12:53 AM
Amazing build. Is there a fence?
-- -- Jim, Cumberland,RI -- Life is all the other stuff you do when you're not in the shop. - http://www.woodshopshed.com
bobasaurus
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3711 posts in 4159 days
#12 posted 05-23-2017 03:14 PM
Looks really well made and useful.
-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)
bobbg
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8 posts in 1343 days
#13 posted 05-24-2017 08:46 AM
I wanna know how you got the WD40 can to hang in the air?
And the tools on the wall to stay put. Magic? Trick photo?
I’m joking, but unless I found an old broken lunchbox type planer I’d be hesitant to take one apart for this.
Now you can find Grizzly tools have the cutting shafts on sale on clearance once and a wile you might even find other premade parts for a project like this but a 12” jointer, that would be nice. or you could keep the feed rollers and figure out how to bolt them on and make them drive the wood so its both machines in one.
The fence might be a trick too.
That’s it remove fence bolt on drive rollers no snipe to ever deal with.
a1Jim
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118153 posts in 4552 days
#14 posted 05-25-2017 11:05 PM
Welcome to Ljs
This is one of the most amazing builds I’ve seen on LJs, fantastic build and engineering this should stand as an inspiration for all the people who think the task before them is all but impossible. You not only told yourself “yes I can” but you kept going even when you had obstacles to overcome to make it all come together. This machine would be the most impressive piece of equipment in my shop if I had made it, over and above any high-end expensive tool I have in my shop. There should be a “top millennium award” on LJs and you should be the first recipient.
Congrats on a super build.
-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos
jbuss8706
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7 posts in 1359 days
#15 posted 05-26-2017 01:06 AM
Still working on a design, not a fan of typical Jointer fences, there is too much backspacing needed and I need mine right up against the wall in my shop.
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