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Then, I'd go with your initial hunch and make the dowels at an angle to the fence, like this:

And when I wanted to move the fence back from the cutter head, I'd unclamp it and shift the whole thing at an angle back, so that the beams remained in the same spacing from the cutter, like this:

And of I were planing something wide like a back set, I'd start with the fence right at the cutter. I'd make one pass, then turn the back plate end for end and take another pass off the other edge. Then I'd adjust and reclamp the fence for a second pass which slightly overlapped the first. I'd swap the plate end for end and run it through again. I would keep doing this until I reached the center. See what I mean?

...and in reviewing my post, I see that I mislabled the arc of the beam angle. I'm correctly 100 degrees off the fence, but I should have labeled it 10 degrees off perpendicular to the fence. Oh well, I think most will get my intention.

How about you shop wizards out there? What would you do to this thing?

Thats the way that I've done it so far, Patrick, starting with the fence at the cutter, and taking about a 7/8" wide pass to start. Little bites makes for a pleasant meal!
I might resurface the melamine table with some HPL laminate that I have. The mel is OK, but there is less drag with a laminate, and even better if there is some texture to it.
A drum sander is on the wish list, but I really need to get a shaper, replace my jointer, and an after market cutter head for my planer first for my cabinetry work, so I think that the safet-t-planer will have to do most of my guitar thinning.
I'm looking forward to your version, Patrick. I'm sure its going to kick a$$!

Hey, I just noticed that I've reached 2,000 posts! I always thought that it would be commenting on a goat post!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Hey, this is good stuff, guys. I don't have a drum sander, as there is NO room for one in my shop, and so I've learned to use my Safe-T-Planer pretty well. When I first bought it, I did as you did and used a fence and feather boards. I've since found that it's easier (though it can be a bit tricky) to run wood free-hand. I take very small bites, and more of them, so there isn't much grabbing (maybe a little, if grain is funny).

Of course, we all know that the Wagner sends chips in EVERY direction. Actually, the main reason I went away from the fence and feather board method was because chips would fly in front of the board, get under the edge, and lift it causing uneven planing. I made this dust collection hood to take care of that. My shop vac pulls through an Oneida mini cyclone.


It's just a Thai food take-out container made to get-er-done. This thing really sucks! Hardly anything escapes.

The thing that really improved my drill press surfacing game, though, was a sanding disc. I got one of those triangular-shaped sanding feet with hook and loop that goes on the end of a multi-tool and put a bolt through it to chuck it up. The Safe-T-Planer leaves some swirlies that are challenging to get out, so I switch to the sanding disc as I approach my target thickness. If, say, I'm taking a 3/16" panel down toward back/side thickness, I'll start with the Safe-T and take off about half the thickness, then go to 80 grit, 100, 120 on the disc to clean it up. The dust hood works like a champ for this, too! I've even sanded down shell inlay on rosettes, and it really works well.

Jason, that dust hood looks pretty cool. Do you have a picture showing the top? I'm curious about how you designed it to go around the drill chuck and quill.

Sure thing. This was a quick-n-ugly project that I made up as I went along. After cutting out the hole in the bottom for the chuck and the hole in the side for the vac hose, I had to figure out a way to hold the cup onto the quill. Rubber bands would do the trick, but how to attach them to the cup? Little screw hooks, of course, but how to screw those into the cup? I looked around the bench and found a mostly-used roll of masking tape. It fit in the bottom of the cup, so I epoxied it in. Voila.


The "sweep" on the lip of the cup is a strip of neoprene cut off an old knee brace. It had to be sewn on, as glue didn't work.

The Safe-T-Planer and sanding triangle disc thingy have to be chucked up after the hood is strapped on. The chuck key reaches through the vac hose hole, I hold the business end of the tool just below the level of the sweep, and tighten the chuck. I run both tools at the max speed of my Jet drill press, which is about 3000-something rpm.

That's a pretty slick set-up, Jason!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Not pretty, but it works so well! I like to look down at the cyclone and see the chips/dust swirling away. The 80 grit on the sander would literally create clouds of dust and blanket the shop in seconds.