The Planer Cart - Getting Started

I know it's been a few weeks since my last post. This was mainly due to massive research and development of the planer cart. I had an idea of what I was going to build, then I started looking on the web and getting better ideas. This led to looking at magazine articles which led back to the web. Several trips to the home center to find the right materials and a few drawings later, I finally decided how I was going to build this thing....for the most part. At any rate, I did get started on the construction. Here's what I've done so far


To start with, this is the planer I will be housing. Several factors contributed to the design of the cart including (but not limited to) the physical size of the planer (large) and the weight (97 lbs.). The planer will also need to 'flip' upside-down to be stored inside the cart and then the whole thing needs to tuck nicely away under the over-hang I built into the shop table. It sounds like alot, but I think I covered all of it. At least I hope I did.

This is the stock I chose. It's quarter-sawn red oak I've had in the shop for about a year now. This particular stock is very wormy. That is to say, it has a lot of worm holes in it. This picture shows the rough cut pieces, however, it doesn't really reflect the worminess so much. Trust me. They're there.


Here's a shot of the prepped pieces. They've been thickness planed and ripped to width. The worminess is starting to show.





I cut all of the pieces to length and am now set up to cut the groove for my panel pieces. I thought I'd mix things up a bit this time and make the groove with my router. I have a tongue-and-groove bit and thought I'd show the steps for using that to make the panels. In this picture, the top cutter has been removed and the height set to cut the groove as close to the center as I can get. I then run the piece through, flip it over (end-for-end) and run it through again. This will center the groove.

When I was done grooving, this is what I got. The bit did an excellent job making the grooves - flat bottoms with consistant widths and depths.





This is the setup for cutting the tongues (or tenons) in the ends of the pieces to fit into the grooves. I recently made a coping sled for just this purpose. You can see in the picture that I've added the other cutter to the bit. This is now all set to cut.



Many things went wrong. First, the obvious whiskers that popped up. These aren't the normal whiskers that can be knocked off with a bit of sanding, these were more like a full-grown beard. I believe this was due to the fact that the bit was really designed to be used on long-grain tongue-and-groove joints (hence the name) and not the end-grain, as I tried here. Secondly, the tenon came out too narrow for the groove I cut. This occured because of the way I cut the groove (flipping the piece over and running again to center) which came out wider than the bit was designed for. So, the tenons will be cut on the table saw just like I did for the shop table (click here see).

So, after all of that, I now have the frames for the panels that will make-up the sides of the planer cart. Right now, they look kind of hollow in the middle. It's been raining the past few days and I haven't had a chance to get the 1/2" plywood that will fill the gap.


Well, we're off to a good start. Hopefully I can finish this cart soon. As with the shop table, I will post plans for the planer cart as soon as I can.