Spindle Moulder as Jointer?

[mbartlett99]

Hey Y'all

As pat of my combi machine I've a spindle moulder - don't use it much so far. I've also a rebate head, a combi head and straight knives. Ok so far.

The question - I need to joint so very heavy, very wide maple boards 40mm thick and its hard to keep them square on the fence of the planer. So, can I use gravity, lay them face down on the bed and use the spindle moulder to square them up? It seems like it should work but am I missing something?

 

[peter-harrison]

You definitely can. The fences of the spindle will have the same function as the tables of the surfacer. That's the possible drawback, as they are usually shorter, and may not be parallel. I make lots of worktops using a glue joint cutter, and if the boards are straight, I just put them though the spindle straight from the saw.
Pete

 

[mbartlett99]

Cheers Peter,
Thats exactly what I'm about to attempt - without the glue joint cutter. Probably stick in a couple of dominoes to keep alignment. Incidentally what your favourite glue for that - I need to buy some more anyway?

 

[Beau]

Edited

 

[Sgian Dubh]

The question - I need to joint so very heavy, very wide maple boards 40mm thick and its hard to keep them square on the fence of the planer. So, can I use gravity, lay them face down on the bed and use the spindle moulder to square them up? It seems like it should work ... but am I missing something?

Possibly, because if the boards are very heavy and you're having trouble controlling them on the planer to straighten an edge, how do you flatten the wide face to begin with? You generally need the wide face flat before you can straighten the edge, whichever machine you choose to use for the edging stage of the initial squaring process.

What I'm getting at is that it's usually just as difficult to control a heavy board to flatten the face as it is to square the edge to that face, isn't it, or am I misinterpreting your difficulty?

If working alone a common tactic is to set up freestanding adjustable rollers of one sort or another at the infeed and outfeed end of the surface planer. Once these are set up they generally work equally well for both flatting and edging.

I generally regard edging using the spindle moulder as you describe as my second, third, or possibly even fourth machine truing option with the surface planer for both flatting and edging being my preferred method (in the absence of kit like CNC controlled four or five siders for instance, ha, ha). Slainte.

 

[mbartlett99]

The faces are flat - thats the easy bit as gravity is working for me. The edges are pretty good too on the planer but I was having a bit of an occasional wobble squaring them up as I changed my grip. They weigh about 30 kg each.

As its part of a combination machine the spindle infeed table is well over a 1.5 m - thought it might be an easier option.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

So, basically it's your technique that needs a little more practice to eliminate the wobble using the surface planer function to square the edge. Presumably you're comfortable flatting the wide face on the same machine?

In practice you could set up the spindle moulder to straighten the edges - just set it up the same as a surface planer turned through 90º with the outfeed fence set tangent to the arc described by the planing block, and set the infeed fence for your desired depth of cut. As long as you have plenty of support on both the infeed and outfeed side it can work satisfactorily - you still might need an adjustable roller stand or two if the boards are very long. Slainte.

 

[Chip shop]

In practice you could set up the spindle moulder to straighten the edges - just set it up the same as a surface planer turned through 90º with the outfeed fence set tangent to the arc described by the planing block, and set the infeed fence for your desired depth of cut. As long as you have plenty of support on both the infeed and outfeed side it can work satisfactorily - you still might need an adjustable roller stand or two if the boards are very long. Slainte.

I tried it once but never really saw the point, as it creates more problems than it solves.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I tried it once but never really saw the point, as it creates more problems than it solves.

Well, as I said, it wouldn't be my preferred methodology. I'd use the surface planer for both flatting and edging as described earlier … but using the spindle moulder for edging is doable, if you really must or want to for some reason. Slainte.

 

[Beau]

Maybe a better fence would help? Even on my Felder if you start feeding gert big planks through on edge things get a bit wobbly as the fence is supported at the end of the planer bed instead of behind the cutter block due to being a universal. I fixed up a means to fix the fence just behind the block so it's far more stable in situations like described.

 

[mbartlett99]

I keep meaning to get around to it - like you say combis suffer from it. Generally its good enough but when I'm swinging big lumps around it so easy to give it a knock. The fences are a definitely the weak point if a combi.

 

[Beau]

I keep meaning to get around to it - like you say combis suffer from it. Generally its good enough but when I'm swinging big lumps around it so easy to give it a knock. The fences are a definitely the weak point if a combi.

Give it a go. Makes a world of difference not just because of the stability but having plenty of fence in beside the outfeed table means you hold it firmly further forwards in the cut. Hope that makes sense.

 

[mr rusty]

I find the easiest way to get a perfectly straight edge on boards I want to joint is to run my track saw down the edge.

 

[Jacob]

Feather boards are handy with big boards over the top of a planer.
NB you make your own - basically a piece of wood with band sawn slots, fixed with G clamps, shaped to suit.
Don't buy them from a gadget salesman it only encourages them.

PS and clamp on something to keep the end of the fence from wobbling about - e.g. a bit of 2x4 and another G clamp

 

[mbartlett99]

Cheers Jacob - you're right, I keep meaning to knock up some featherboards and never quite seem to get around to it somehow. Not often I'm dealing with things this heavy.