Thickness planer

A thickness planer (also known in the UK and

Australia as a thicknesser or in North America as a
planer) is a woodworking machine to trim boards to a
consistent thickness throughout their length. This
machine transcribes the desired thickness using the
downside as a reference / index. So, to produce a
completely straight planed board requires that the
down surface is straight before planing. Obtaining
the first flat side requires either face planing with a
jointer or face planing using a planer and jointer
sled.

Thickness planer

Function
A thickness planer is a woodworking machine to trim
boards to a consistent thickness throughout their
length and flat on both surfaces.

It is different from a surface planer, or jointer,

where the cutter head is set into the bed surface. A
surface planer has slight advantages for producing
the first flat surface and may be able to do so in a
single pass. However the thicknesser has more
important advantages in that it can produce a board
with a consistent thickness, avoids producing a
tapered board, and by making passes on each side
and turning the board, may also be used for the
initial preparation of an unplaned board.

Design

A portable thickness planer

A thickness planer consists of three elements: a

cutter head which contains the cutting knives; a set
of rollers which draw the board through the machine;
and a table which is adjustable relative to the cutter
head to control the resultant thickness of the board.
Some portable thickness planers differ slightly in
that the table is fixed and the cutter head/feed
roller assembly is adjusted.[1]: 1

Industrial thickness planers are capable of

accepting very wide boards and removing large
amounts of material in a single pass. These machines
are driven by powerful motors and are of very heavy
construction. In recent times, a range of lightweight
portable thickness planers have become available
which use the cheaper, but noisy, universal motors
rather than induction motors and are much less
expensive than industrial versions.
In Europe, the functions of the jointer and thickness
planer are often combined into a single combination
machine, a jointer-planer. In the U.K. this is called a
planer–thicknesser or over–and–under.[2]

Operation
In operation, the table is set to the desired height
and then the machine is switched on. The board is fed
into the machine until it makes contact with the in-
feed roller which grips the board and draws it into
the machine and past the rotating cutter head. The
knives remove material on the way through and the
out-feed roller pulls the board through and ejects it
from the machine at the end of the pass.[1]: 1

To finish a board that is flat and of uniform

thickness along its length, it is necessary to start
with a board that has at least one perfectly flat
reference face. The board is fed with this reference
face flat on the table and the cutter head removes
an amount of material from the opposite face so that
it is made parallel to the reference face. The
reference face is often created by first passing the
board over a jointer. If the lower face is not flat, the
feed roller pressure pressing the board against the
table will deform the board, which will then spring
back as it leaves the machine, resulting in a non-flat
upper surface.

One problem often encountered when using a

thickness planer is snipe. This manifests as a deeper
cut on a short section of the board at either end and
is caused by incorrect feeding or misalignment of the
in-feed or out-feed tables, or an unnecessarily high
setting of the rollers recessed in the surface of the
in-feed table. It can be accommodated by keeping
the board overlong to allow later trimming.[3]
See also
Planing mill
A very general guide on Thickness Planer from
DECD [1]

References
1. "Guidelines for the safe use of machinery" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20151010133138/http://w
ww.decd.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/Guidelinesfor
theSafeUs-11.pdf) (PDF). Department for
Education and Child Development. Archived from the
original (http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/docs/document
s/1/GuidelinesfortheSafeUs-11.pdf) (PDF) on
2015-10-10.
2. Joyce, Ernest (1987) [1970]. Peters, Alan (ed.).
The Technique of Furniture Making (4th ed.).
 London: Batsford. ISBN 0 7134 4407 X.
3. "Snipe" (http://newtowoodworking.com/snipe/) .
New to woodworking. Retrieved 19 February
2018.

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