Anyone ever convert a planer into a thickness sander?

[eflanders]

I was at the Home Depot with my bride the other day and while she was looking at appliances, I found myself looking through the clearance center.  There I found a brand-new 13" Ryobi benchtop planer for only $56!  Apparently this model has been discontinued and it was the last one they had.  So I bought it.  I already have a decent Delta planer so I am seriously thinking of converting it into a thickness sander for doing lams.  Has anyone else done this and can you guide me on how best to do this?  I'm thinking that all I need to do is to remove the drum that holds blades, mill in a slot for the paper holder, make a paper holder strap and reassemble.  What do you guys think?

[Osagetree]

High RPM's may burn more than sand?

[dmikeyj]

True on the rpm's.  I wonder how hard it'd be to hook up a rheostat to the motor to slow it down though.  Shouldn't be too expensive.

Mike

[Jorgy]

I did it with an old Belsaw planer.So far I just wrap the paper on and tape it.My brother has a Woodmaster 36" drum sander.The drum has velcro on it and the paper you get for it has the hook,the ends are taped.You do get a little stretch in the paper no matter what,thats why delta put tensioners on there drums.As far as burning,use alumina zirconia paper(cloth),and do light cuts.

[wood carver 2]

If it's a belt drive, you could change the pulleys to adjust the speed.
Dave.

[eflanders]

Thanks for the ideas guys.  I'm gonna start the tear-down here soon.  Anyone interested to learn what I am about to undertake and how it goes?

[wood carver 2]

Silly question! This tool junkie wants to see!    
Dave.

[fujimo]

actually, i think its against the law to throw out a teaser, and then to leave us hanging.
'course we wanna see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JamesV]

I have always used my planer to cut my lams , tapers and parellels, down to .030 with no problems.

[wood carver 2]

JamesV, how do you plane so thin without the planer eating the lams?
I've gone down to 1/8" and some woods break up.
Dave.

[eflanders]

Today I started to tear down my new planer when I found out why this unit was in the discount bin.  Apparently someone tried to run it without securing the blade retention bar properly.  One of them was literally jammed against one of the frame members  It took considerable effort, but I was able to get the thing freed up, removed and then I was able to see what other damage there might be.  At this point, it looks like the only other damage is mostly cosmetic.

Attaching sandpaper to the former cutter drum will be easy as I can just use the same retention bar system that was used to secure the blades. But that is where the easy part ends as now I have to figure out a good way to build up the diameter of the cutter drum to the proper diameter so that the feed rollers and the cutter drum all work correctly. I believe the feed rollers currently are set a bit lower to allow for the cutting depth of the blades.  Is this correct?  

WC2:  I have successfully gotten down to .060" with just my planer by using a material sled but I never could get any thinner than that consistently. It might be because I use a fairly thin sled (1/2") and this may flex too much to go any thinner...

[JamesV]

Dave.................I use a heavy taper sled with 80 grit paper on the face. The sled is parellel and the taper screws to the botton of the sled so I can change rate of taper with just a few screws. The sled with taper attached is 3" thick. I get a little chatter on the ends when it gets really thin so I cut the lams long and cut the chatter off. If the blades are new or really sharp they seem cause more problems. Hope this helps and I will post some pics of the sled I use.

James

[JamesV]

 

 

[wood carver 2]

Thanks for the reply James. That is an excellent design that I'll copy If you don't mind. I recently upgraded to a spiral cut planer so I should have a bit less chatter than before. My old planer used to destroy thin wood.
Dave.

[jaybo]

I've seen one converted by using a rheostat to adjust the speed and the shaft that the blades attach to had the grooves where the blades attachfilled with bondo and sanded smooth.   He used adhesive  backed sandpaper.