Thickness Planer
What is a Thickness Planer?
The thickness planer has a rotating cylindrical cutting head that contains from 2-3 dual sided removable blades. The blades rotate at a high RPM and shave off layers to flatten the sides and cut the lumber down to the desired thickness. Most bench top portable thickness planers plug into a standard wall outlet. The motor not only drives the blades but also the feed rollers. The in-feed roller usually has ribs to pull the lumber into the planer and the out-feed is often smooth in order to no leave imprints on the finished board. The blade head moves up and down to adjust to your desired thickness. But you should always consult your operating manual provided to you by the manufacturer because the machine varies from one another.
Uses for a Thickness Planer:
By using this tool you can create smooth shaped boards with constant thickness. A thickness planer can be an important tool because it allows you to take an irregular piece of wood and level it to a thickness needed for a project.
You can also use this tool for projects that need sides or parts to adjoin together.
This can be very useful towards levelling off sides to any square shape item to make the grooves fit perfectly. With a thickness planer you can easily plane the wood to create accurate sized boards for your project.
Having this tool also allows you to freely keep random pieces of wood like old lumber, pallets, and floorboards that helps you to save your time and effort of searching through the lumberyard for the exact size.
Another reason to have a thickness planer is that you can buy any kind of wood from a lumberyard at a cheaper price. So later on, you can use thickness planer to shape it to size.
What is the Difference Between a Thickness Planer and Jointer?