Project Information
Hi everyone, long story short:
I was looking for a small bench jointer and the only available option to be found here in mexico city was this craftsman 4-1/8" jointer, at only… $US400!
Almost all of the not so big variety of power tools to be found over here cost almost the double compared to US prices
Of course this being just a hobby for me I was not about to spend that much so the next "best" thing was to try my luck with a power planer.
So I went for a craftsman 3-1/4" but after some tests I really doubt anyone can do a proper job with this tool hehee, at least not for fine works.
But I had the tool already and something had to be done so my solution: diy bench jointer!
It took me like 3 weekends between planning and building to finish the the project including the base, the fence, the infeed - outfeed extension tables, and the retractable blade guard, I had the aluminum and the plywood already so just bought the countersunk screws and the tap tool.
Result: a working jointer for small boards, if I need to go bigger I'll bug the wood shop guys
And, you can see here the plan spanish - english I did before actually building it, will help to figure out the steps to make a similar one yourself. (Sorry, the texts and measures are in spanish/cm only but should help).
Update: GetHandsDirty (Cris), did a great video showing her own version with extra mods. Here it is:
View on YouTube
And, the push block I made to use on the jointer:
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Update: I have made an english version of the plan, sorry for the delay but here it is now
Thanks for looking!
I was looking for a small bench jointer and the only available option to be found here in mexico city was this craftsman 4-1/8" jointer, at only… $US400!
Almost all of the not so big variety of power tools to be found over here cost almost the double compared to US prices
Of course this being just a hobby for me I was not about to spend that much so the next "best" thing was to try my luck with a power planer.
So I went for a craftsman 3-1/4" but after some tests I really doubt anyone can do a proper job with this tool hehee, at least not for fine works.
But I had the tool already and something had to be done so my solution: diy bench jointer!
It took me like 3 weekends between planning and building to finish the the project including the base, the fence, the infeed - outfeed extension tables, and the retractable blade guard, I had the aluminum and the plywood already so just bought the countersunk screws and the tap tool.
Result: a working jointer for small boards, if I need to go bigger I'll bug the wood shop guys
And, you can see here the plan spanish - english I did before actually building it, will help to figure out the steps to make a similar one yourself. (Sorry, the texts and measures are in spanish/cm only but should help).
Update: GetHandsDirty (Cris), did a great video showing her own version with extra mods. Here it is:
And, the push block I made to use on the jointer:
Update: I have made an english version of the plan, sorry for the delay but here it is now
Thanks for looking!
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