03 - Planing Operation

Complete the Setup SOP to

Set Fence Angle

Set Fence Position

Set Cut Depth

Inspect your material for any nails, screws or other metal. Use the metal detector located near the planer to be sure all metal has been removed. Wood from a big-box store will usually have staples in one or both ends. These must be removed.

Dirty or weathered lumber should be cleaned with a wire brush or sander prior to jointing/planing.

Metal and grit in material sent through the jointer is likely to chip or dull the blades. The blades will then need to be replaced leading to downtime and expense for the makerspace.

Check to see if your material is bowed or cupped along the dimension that you’ll be planing / jointing. When jointing bowed lumber, take care to place the concave side of the bow against the planer table and take very light repeated cuts. This will prevent the piece from rocking and result in a straighter final product.

Twisted boards present special challenges. If your board has a twist, ask for help if you’re unsure how to handle a particular twist.

Planing operations ALWAYS require the use of pushsticks or push pads. NEVER perform a planing operating without pushsticks or push pads.

Turn on the dust collector and open the blast gate connected to the jointer.

The jointer must be run with dust collection. The jointer generates a lot of chips that will quickly build up inside the machine if dust collection isn’t turned on.

Turn the jointer ON by pressing the green power button on the control box.

Be sure to wait until the motor comes up to speed before moving on.

Begin feeding the material from infeed to outfeed (right to left) across the jointer using push pads.

Use push pads with a hooked end to maintain proper control of the piece through the machine.

Feed the material over the cutter head, transfering your downward pressure to the outfeed table as soon as possible. Feed the material over the cutter head, transfering your downward pressure to the outfeed table as soon as possible.

Repeat the process of running your material of the cutter head until the face of your material is sufficiently surfaced.

Material that is cupped or grossly angled could take many passes before the face is completely cleaned up. Take your time!

Press the power off button on the power switch to shut off the machine.

The machine takes a fair amount of time to fully spin-down. Stay clear of the cutter heads until the machine has come to a complete stop.

Turn off the dust collector and close the blast gate connected to the jointer.

Friends don’t let friends leave blast gates open. Closed blast gates are happy blast gates.

Clean up after yourself, sweeping up any sawdust remnants and returning pushsticks to their storage locations. Don’t make the next user go looking for push sticks/pads!