Router to plane

[Chewie219]

I have seen many threads of people using a router to plane down a body. How reliable is this? I have a piece of Douglas fir that is at 2" right now. Should I even drop it to 1 3/4"? Thanks for the help.

[fretman_2]

It's very reliable, but somewhat manpower intensive...at least in my experience. If you have your router sled set up properly it'll work very good. You may have to do some sanding afterwards, but for me it'll do until I get the $$ for a proper thickness planer.

Here's a shot of my router sled set up and the resulting thickness planned body.

Originally Posted by Chewie219

I have seen many threads of people using a router to plane down a body. How reliable is this? I have a piece of Douglas fir that is at 2" right now. Should I even drop it to 1 3/4"? Thanks for the help.

[Joe Sailor]

Do you have to clamp down the body?

[I_build_my_own]

Yes you definately need to clamp it down. It depends on what you place it on. I have a relative clean surface and use double sided tape to fix it to clamp it down.

[quaterstaff]

The sled works quite well, but like fretman- it is more labor than running it thru a planer.
Make sure you have smooth rails to run on and a solid surface to place your workpiece. I use bedrails for the rails and apply PAM cooking spray to keep the rails slick- others use pvc.
I dont clamp mine down, but use wedges to keep the workpiece in place.

[rapfohl09]

I think they work great. I actually just finished building one today.



Just take your time when you build it, if you build one up quick, it will probably only work well once or twice.

I attached a couple other pictures I have of my old one. I barely hand to sand that body at all.

[andrewdoeshair]

I use countersunk screws from the back side of the thick MDF board I've mounted my my rails onto. I make sure to stick them into the blank outside of the body's outline. Sometimes I'll do this after I bandsaw the outline, but I'll leave an extra sort of tab sticking off the heel and butt of the body, for the screws.

[fretman_2]

Yes...you must secure the body. I use double sided tape, or hot glue if necessary. Also, if you have a warped or twised piece, you'll need to put a shim under the end that sticks up, plane the top level, and turn it over and plane the other side level. That way you have two parallel surfaces.

You have to make sure the piece is very secure as you can put considerable lateral force on the piece as it's being leveled.

Originally Posted by Joe Sailor

Do you have to clamp down the body?

[andrewdoeshair]

I've found I get cleaner cuts if I move up and down the length of the blank. Side to side gives me tear out. Also, I do the last pass on each side VERY shallow, removing very little wood, for a cleaner finish. But then I go back with a block and 80, 120, 220 to smooth it out more. I REALLY want to get a drum sander.

[andrewdoeshair]

What kind of bit are you all using? I was just given a scary huge 1.25" diameter bit, made by whiteside, and am thinking it might be good for this- but do you think it might grab too much material at once? I figure it'd mean less passes, but if it just throws the router out of my hands, then I guess it's not worth it!

[Chewie219]

This is some great stuff. I have some old bed rails I am going to try to build one out of. I just want to make sure I get this as level as I can. How many passes do you usually do?

Also, what about the question about the guitar being 2" thick?

Last, thanks again for the help. This forum is one of the best.

[quaterstaff]

I cant take credit for the bed rails- I first saw it here at TDPRI, Scatter Lee has a thread I got alot of ideas from, as well as others. The first photo I posted was the first sled i made,
here it is now (just used it tonight as a matter of fact)



here is the bit i use,



I also added stops on the end of the sled so the bit wouldnt hit the rails



When planing bodies, I mount the rails to some hardwood i keep screwed to the MDF door I am now using as a base. when planing neck blanks I lower the rails and screw them directly to the doors mdf surface...because the thickness of the neck blank is too thin to keep the rails raised on the mounts, and the body blanks are too thick not to put the rails on the mounts.
All said and done, the sled is accurate to within .005- .007 - usually because I have not cleared all the saw dust when turning the blank over. I am now in the habit of using a shop vac to clean the table when I flip the blank.
It takes a while depending on the thickness of your uncut blank, dont go too deep too fast, it just doesn't work out well.

[Chewie219]

Well, I built a sled using old bed frame turned out real solid. However... I mounted the router to mdf. Bad move the board gave in the middle and then it seemed my router was not staying adjusted correctly. Now I am still within the 1 3/4", but I am going to take it to a local wood shop to have it planed. I am open to other ideas. Thanks again for the help.

[fretman_2]

It'll still work, but the part you attach your router to has to be both straight and rigid. If you notice on mine, I put some rails along the length of the board the router is attached to. That provided rigidity and kept everything straight. The only thing I needed to do was to make the thing longer. That's why the router is to one side.

Originally Posted by Chewie219

Well, I built a sled using old bed frame turned out real solid. However... I mounted the router to mdf. Bad move the board gave in the middle and then it seemed my router was not staying adjusted correctly. Now I am still within the 1 3/4", but I am going to take it to a local wood shop to have it planed. I am open to other ideas. Thanks again for the help.

[macaroonie]

Build a vacuum box for you hold down needs. Mega handy for everything.
Very simple to do , ply top with 2x2 frame on the back and then more ply to make the box. Draw a tele outline on the top and drill lots of 1/4 holes within the tele outline. Countersink the holes a little to increase the area. Attatch a tube to the side that will let you hook up a tub vacuum cleaner. Thats it.

Rails can be whatever you like , I have used multiple layers of 18 mm ply , sometimes you will want to get higher up so you add another layer.

The sled as mentioned above should be rigid , I use 1/2 steel rods that pass through the router base but a ply or hardwood base is good also.

Tip , don't grip the router when using the sled as you can tend to impart a downward force on it causing gouges. Grip the sled instead. You will most likely need to tape your switch in the on position and use an external switch to kill your power





In the pic below you can see the vacuum hook up at the side and the steel rods , I use much longer ones now. If you do build one of these , and you should as it is multi useful , make sure there is enough width and length to allow the router to travel OFF all of the edges of the body. The vac hold down is strong enough that you can lift the whole caboodle up by holding the body alone. If you want to machine something smaller , tape over the excess holes.
If you want to release the workpiece just switch off the vacuum or pull off the nozzle

[I_build_my_own]

I like the idea of a vacuum table. What kind of vacuum (the machine) do you use?

In the absence of a vacuum table, I used so far strong double sided tape (used to glue carpets) which has served me very well when routing bodies. But it does not work well with thin wood as the tape is so strong that you almost destroy the wood you just planned when peeling it off the table. For thin wood applications I switched to the less sticky 3M double sided tape that you can get at Staples.

[macaroonie]

Originally Posted by I_build_my_own

I like the idea of a vacuum table. What kind of vacuum (the machine) do you use?

http://www.alltoolsdirect.co.uk/henr...00a-3726-p.asp

[andrewdoeshair]

I hadn't thought of a vacuum table... That's a great idea. My down draft table sucks hard enough to almost do that now! I suppose I'd just have to make a different top for it...

[macaroonie]

Andrew you are 9/10 of the way there by the look of it. You might have to allow some air bleed to allow the cyclone to work properly but you can rig up a diverter to do that.

[andrewdoeshair]

That was my next question- should I put all the holes within the perimeter of the body, or should I put one or two outside? Maybe I can even just make body-shaped "frames" to use with this downdraft table, to lay around the body blank and cover the holes outside of the stock...