Infill Smoothing Plane Project

[Togalosh]

Can I ask how much you paid for the sheet/plate metal ?

Are the brass ones only cast & not dovetailed?.. (melting down all my plumbing scrap might be pushing it ..)

I'll have a few dummy runs with wooden planes first as the frog/mouth maths/geometry seems trickiest to me although infilling is a daunting prospect.

Keep up the good work.

T

 

[speeder1987]

I'm really enjoying seeing how this is progressing

Thanks for posting

John

 

[rxh]

Togs,
I got the metal from Macc Models Engineers Supplies Ltd - you can see their prices on the website:
https://maccmodels.co.uk/
They don’t have brass in wide pieces ½” thick and I am still looking for a source of metal to make my lever cap. I did start to look into the possibility of doing my own casting from melted scrap but it would be quite a lot of trouble to get set up for and there are some serious safety issues to deal with.
I don’t think that anyone would want to make a dovetailed plane with brass sides and sole. I believe that steel is better for a sole as it more hardwearing. Planes with steel sole and brass sides look pretty (provided that the dovetails are well made). I suspect that brass/steel dovetailed joints are trickier to make than the all steel type: any defects will show up worse and brass work hardens when hammered making it liable to crack or split. Anyway, why not have a try at making a practice dovetailed joint between two pieces of scrap steel? That would give you a good idea of the work involved in making a plane that way.
Or you might be able to obtain a bronze casting that you could fettle and turn into a plane – I have read that such castings were available from Bristol Design but I don’t know if they make them now.

John,
Thanks for your comment. Not much progress recently because I was away on holiday last week. However, I have done most of the shaping of the edges but I’ll leave the finishing until the weekend so as to be able to work in natural light. Tonight I bent the piece of steel intended for the back iron. I did this by heating the end with a gas blowlamp then clamping it in the vice and thumping with a lump hammer. Finishing the back iron should hopefully be straightforward sawing and filing work. I hope to start work on the woodwork this weekend.

 

[Richard T]

re lever cap - I found it was (comparatively) easy to cut from solid brass. I would not have attempted it in bronze.

I don't know if you saw this thread - juicy-brass-lever-cap-t67240.html

 

[AndyT]

Togs,

Or you might be able to obtain a bronze casting that you could fettle and turn into a plane – I have read that such castings were available from Bristol Design but I don’t know if they make them now.

They may not be having new ones cast but they do still have them in stock. This post has details: https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/source-of-infill-bodies-or-kits-t42651.html

 

[rxh]

Richard,
Thanks yet again - that is a very useful thread about lever cap making. Now I just need to find someone to supply me with a suitable lump of brass. I haven't searched very hard yet and I have plenty of other details to work on before I need it.

Andy,
Thanks for the information. If anyone out there is making a plane from one of these castings it would be great if they would post a WIP.

 

[rxh]

This weekend as a change from filing metal I decided to make the knobs and some of the adjuster parts for the plane. I also planned to start some of the woodwork but I found a broken plastic part of my bandsaw when preparing to fit a new blade. I have repaired with araldite and will let it set overnight and then see if it is successful.

 

[rxh]

Here is the rear infill, made from Padauk. It is deliberately a bit too wide - I'll leave it for a while to see if it shrinks before reducing it to fit the steelwork.

 

[jimi43]

Simply stunning!!!

=D> =D> =D> =D>

Jimi

 

[Richard T]

Lovely bit of machine work on the metal bits. Is the adjuster 40 tpi and 32 tpi ? Will be very interesting to see it all together and what you think re its speed.

I don't know anything about Padauk or its stability. Do you know how old it is and in what conditions it has been kept?

My Walnut was three years old when I bought it and it has been living with us in the house ever since ( one year +) and I still don't trust it 8-[

Definitely best to cut out the bits and leaving them too wide as you have done. How long can you bear to leave it before fitting?

 

[rxh]

Jim and Richard,
Thanks for your kind comments.

Richard,
Padauk is supposed to be very stable but this is my first experience of it. I bought it a few weeks ago - it was sold as a turning blank and was well covered with wax at both ends. It is rather tricky to plane as there are bands of grain running in opposite directions and I resorted to a scraper plane. The dust is bright orange, has a strange smell and stains clothes - I suspect it is not very good for you! I still have a number of other parts to make or finish so it will probably be a few weeks before I am tempted to reduce the infill to final size and fit it.

 

[rxh]

Richard,
The thread is 1/4" ME, 32 TPI.

 

[Togalosh]

Very nice indeed ..& very bright ! 8)

Could you give a brief outline of how you made it or post some WIP pics please?

..it's the wavey sides I can't guess at.

 

[rxh]

Thanks, Tosh.
Here are some WIP pics of the rear infill, as requested. as you can see, it is made of three pieces glued together.
I shaped the handle using paring chisel, chip carving knives, small rasps, a Dremel tool with small sanding drum and abrasive paper. After gluing the three pieces I cleaned up the bottom and sloping face by planing, drilled the large hole with a Forstner bit and chiselled out the recess. Then I put in the pivot tube and brass disc.

 

[Togalosh]

Ahh.. I thought the whole rear infill was from one block..which now that I think about it is a tall order. How is the handle jointed to the unfill?

I'm now also impressed by the immaculate working conditions you keep.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[rxh]

Here is the back iron fitted to the blade.

Togs,
When I have reduced the infill so that it fits in the steelwork I propose to drill into it through the holes in the sides and hopefully the holes will meet in the middle. Then I'll remove the infill and enlarge the holes using special drill bits that I have made to follow the pilot holes without wandering - I have practiced this on scrap wood. Brass tubes will then be inserted in the holes and the infill will be replaced in the steelwork. Steel rods will then go right through and will be peined over to complete the attachment.
I am not always very tidy - I tend to have a bit of a brush-up before taking photos :wink:

 

[rxh]

Here is the completed adjuster and the front infill. The adjuster has a peg that fits into a hole through the bolt that holds the back iron to the blade - this was easier to make than a "banjo". I haven't tried this arrangement before but if I'm not satisfied with it I'll replace it with a banjo. I have used the pivot tube idea before and it worked well. My overall aim was to make a mechanism that works well with very little backlash.

 

[jimi43]

Very...very....very...very...BEAUTIFUL!!!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

Jimi

 

[rxh]

Jim,
Belated thanks for your comment.
I have been on my travels and I got distracted with refurbishing some second hand tools I found. However, this weekend I got back to plane making.

Here are the latest pictures.

 

[jimi43]

Nice progress mate...yes it is rather daunting when you go from both sides but this really is the best way.

I don't bother now as I have the mill which will drill perfectly straight but I remember doing a few jobs before that luxury and it was a bit worrying having spent a vast amount of time getting the infill right. :shock:

Keep the updates coming...it's going really nicely....and a wonderful photo essay which others can copy down the line.

Jimi