Large Wood Slab Planer

Regular and cheap wood planer often have a width capacity of 13 in ... Some more expensive can go up to 25in...

But when you need to go up to 32 in width, the best deal for me was to build a custom tool !

This is what I have done ... A wood slab planer 36'' in. width capacity !

First of all, you'll need to have a router that will act as the planer ... (if you dont have one, it's quite cheap to rent one for a day or a weekend ...)

The idea was to build something cheap with accessible material.

95% of material used to build the planer come from a MDF sheet 3/4'' x 4' x 8' long.

Naturally, you can decide the width and the lenght according to your need.

I join the necessay dimensions in the drawing attached ...

Considering that each router has it's own shape and fit, forsee to have a custom router support. (see last picture)

When you're all set with the tool, place your slab on the support and adjust height with shims to have the best level possible. Dont forget to fix the slab to the support when done.

Verify the highest point on the slab and adjust router bit just below this set point.

Starting from one end of the slab . Use the rooter to cut all the width of the slab. (the cut width will depend of what kind of bits tou're using.) When you've cover the entire slab, move your router support according to the bit diameter and pull back the router to the other end.

Of course, you'll need patience ... but it work well I can tell you !

Has you can see in the photos, I have cutom made a little setup to vacum all the chips in the process ...

Hope that will help you understand the process !

Thank you !