Is there a market for infill plane kits? Upd8 - setback No1

[Pekka Huhta]

I really hope that there's a market for infill plane kits, as I have been toying with the idea of starting to make kits as well (in case anyone missed it, https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... hp?t=30410 )

Nothing is difficult after you've done it once, not even tempering the iron. The biggest thing is to make starting look so easy that the potential customer is not afraid of getting started.

When I started my project, I had all sorts of doubts for differrent "difficult" workphases. I pushed the project for more than a year just because I thought it would be soo very difficult and laborious. At the end most of the things I was afraid of were easy and many of the things which I did not take as difficult at all took a lot of time and effort.

What I'm saying is that good instructions and probably videos etc. would definitely be something that would make starting easier. Of course someone would start building those planes from scratch from the same instructions, but that probably can't be avoided.

By the way, I think that the Legacy planes was not a huge success if they had only one plane to offer. You would have to have several different models to get it working.

Mikey's idea of offering also just components is good - or then you could offer semi-completed kits just as well. If someone is afraid of the peening process, the plane could be semi-assembled, but fitting the infills could for example be left to the customer.

Pekka

 

[Aled Dafis]

Hi, I've been doing a bit of research as regards costing a kit this week, and have decided that if I have some takers, I'll dip my toe in the water.

The first kit that I'm going to offer is the small shoulder plane kit. The specs of the finished plane are as follows.

- 95mm (3.75") long by 12mm (1/2"ish) wide.
- 25 degree pitch.
- O1 Tool Steel Iron tempered to Rc 60-62.
- Brass sides.
- Sole also O1 Tool steel.

In true Blue Peter style, here's one I made earlier.

All parts will be precision cut (and before you ask, no they won't be cut on the school's machine), that's all that there will be left for you to do is to file the dovetail angles in the sole plate, pein/rivet the whole assembly together and cut the mouth. Cleaning and lapping of the metalwork can be achieved on a belt sander or linisher platen quite easily, but take care, as the brass is considerably softer than the steel sole, and therefore it's quite easy to clean your plane into a nice wedge shape. :roll: :roll:

I'll also include a small piece of African Blackwood for you to make the wedge, but of course, you're quite welcome to use any wood of your choice.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the price on the forum as it may be seen as advertising, so It's probably better if you PM me for pricing.

Cheers

Aled

 

[Aled Dafis]

I've just edited the name of the thread to show that I'm offering kits.

As this is a hobby venture, am I allowed to post prices? To be honest I'm never going to get rich doing this, but at least a few people can have a go at making their own tools, and gain some new skills at the same time.

I'll look into pricing the small smoother this week, and I'll let you know how I get on within the week.

Cheers

Aled

 

[Aled Dafis]

I've now had the OK from a Moderator to post prices.

The price for a shoulder plane kit will be 65 pounds including postage. This includes all parts and materials to build the plane, a small piece of African Blackwood for the wedge, full instructions of how to go about building the plane, and of course any assistance that you might need from myself.

Please feel free to ask any questions either on the open forum, or via PM.

Cheers

Aled

 

[Aled Dafis]

It's been a while since I posted that I'd offer kits to forum members, so I thought it may be time to give you all an update on how things are going.

To be honest I've had a bit of a disaster with the laser profiling.

The parts came back cut to the specified dimensions and within tolerance, but the company failed to warn me that the process of laser profiling O1 tool steel actually hardens it's edges to the point that files and scribes fail to even mark the edges - I've already ruined two brand new files.

My plan was then to anneal the parts so that they could be worked -I'm not sure how much you know about metallurgy, but very basically, annealing softens the metal. I found the annealing process quite hit and miss, but eventually managed to evenly anneal the sole of the plane to the point that it could be worked with files (or at least I thought I did).

I then went on to actually build a plane, so that I would have a full set of WIP pics to go with the instructions, but the steel just didn't want to play ball, as I was about half way through peining the dovetails, I noticed that the sole had cracked just behind the mouth of the plane - I obviously didn't fully anneal it, and there must have been a hard/brittle area still present - making the whole plane completely unuseasble!!!! AAARRHHHHHH! At this point I became quite annoyed, hurled the plane across the workshop and went home!!

I did also get a few smoother plane kits profiled at the same time, but I haven't yet had time to experiment with them.

The good news however is that I'm in the process of ordering a new batch of plane soles, this time water jet cut, so the hardening issue should not pose a problem!!!

I've also asked a mate to sort me out a website, but he's yet to get off his fat arse and do anything about it. (let's hope he reads that bit!!)

Cheers

Aled

 

[Ironballs]

Sorry to hear about that Aled, I was going to suggest water jet cutting until I saw you'd already done it

 

[Aled Dafis]

I had originally planned to get everything water jet cut, but laser cutting turned out to be slightly cheaper. #-o #-o #-o #-o

 

[jasonB]

You really need a heat treating oven to anneal the plates without distortion and to do it evenly, blow torch is not the way to go on this one.

Water jet cutting will give a slightly tapered edge, make sure you allow for this in your sizing. CNC milling will give a usable edge but not as cheap.

Jason

 

[Pekka Huhta]

You really need a heat treating oven to anneal the plates without distortion and to do it evenly, blow torch is not the way to go on this one.

Not necessarily though. I have succesfully annealed lots and lots of steel parts "the traditional way", in my fireplace. I just toss the parts to the fireplace when the wood has turned to charcoal and still glowing a bit, stir them into the ashes and let cool slowly in the ashes till the next morning. It isn't that difficult to find out the right time to do this - provided that you do have a fireplace

It's not completely foolproof, not measurable and definitely not very scientifical, but it works. For me, at least

Pekka

 

[mahking51]

Hi All,
Slightly OT, sorry!
Can anyone pleasegive me a brief expalnation of how this water cutting is acheived?
Regards,
Martin

 

[wizer]

here you go Martin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_jet_cutter

 

[Ironballs]

You do not want to get any part of your body near a water jet cutter, this is what they use to cut out bits of titanium plate on bikes!

 

[jasonB]

You really need a heat treating oven to anneal the plates without distortion and to do it evenly, blow torch is not the way to go on this one.

Not necessarily though. I have succesfully annealed lots and lots of steel parts "the traditional way", in my fireplace. ...............................................

It's not completely foolproof, not measurable and definitely not very scientifical, but it works. For me, at least

Pekka

I have also done it that way a number of times, the reason I suggested an oven was to get an even annealing, avoid introducing any more carbon into the surface (case hardening) and to avoid any distortion in the plates which you don't want on a plane.

Jason

 

[Aled Dafis]

You really need a heat treating oven to anneal the plates without distortion and to do it evenly, blow torch is not the way to go on this one.

Not necessarily though. I have succesfully annealed lots and lots of steel parts "the traditional way", in my fireplace. ...............................................

It's not completely foolproof, not measurable and definitely not very scientifical, but it works. For me, at least

Pekka

I have also done it that way a number of times, the reason I suggested an oven was to get an even annealing, avoid introducing any more carbon into the surface (case hardening) and to avoid any distortion in the plates which you don't want on a plane.

Jason

Yes, I was a little concerned with the case hardening issue by introducing more carbon into the steel. As I mentioned, I tried the blowtorch approach with very mixed results.

This time round I'll just have to swallow my pride, and shell out for a new batch of plates.

Cheers

Aled

 

[Pekka Huhta]

I have also done it that way a number of times, the reason I suggested an oven was to get an even annealing, avoid introducing any more carbon into the surface (case hardening) and to avoid any distortion in the plates which you don't want on a plane.

You are perfectly right. On the other hand I was thinking that peening will probably distort the parts much more and that such a small sole is easy to lap even if it's a bit distorted.

Pekka