1. Safety and Basic Usage Orientation
Jointer and Planer
Safety and Basic Usage Orientation

2. Instructors
Ka-Loon Tung

3. Overview Nova Labs Tools Terminology Discussion What is it?
Capabilities
Anatomy
Operation
Safety
Techniques
References and Resources

4. Nova Labs What is Nova Labs? What is a Makerspace? (per Wikipedia)
A non-profit Makerspace
What is a Makerspace? (per Wikipedia)
A Makerspace is a physical location supporting a collaborative environment and community.
A maker's facility usually provides access to community tools and people with a wealth of knowledge.
Given access to these resources, community members are able to learn and complete projects, which would otherwise be out of their capability.
How is the space funded?
Through classes like this, membership dues and donations
How do I become a member?
Find a subject that interests you and get a member to sponsor you.
First Step - Find a Sponsor!

5. Tools
Jointer (Planer)
(Thickness) Planer

6. Terminology Discussion
What is rough lumber vs. surfaced lumber
Why buy rough lumber vs. surfaced lumber?
Terminology
S2S, S4S, S2SR1E
Quarter measurement (4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, etc)
What is board-feet?
Types of Defects
Rough lumber is wood that has been harvested from trees, and is usually dried to a moisture content to the ballpark of ~8-12%. This can be done via air dried (left out in a dry place with adequate air circulation to dry about 1 inch per year), or in a kiln (a large oven that tries the wood by introducing heat.
Surfaced lumber is rough lumber that has been cleaned up to remove the rough saw and mill marks, leaving a smooth surface.
The advantages of buying rough lumber over surfaced lumber are:
Cost savings, due to less labor/time cost to get rough lumber
More options selection as surfaced lumber is limited to what the vendor has available
Greater control over the thicknesses you desire
Less waste when your parts call for non-standard sizing
Surfacing material to address defects (more on that later)
The “S” terminology is short for “square”. This refers to the faces of a given board that is surfaced by the machine. Usually they annotated as parallel dimensions.
S2S refers to the widest parallel faces of a board being surfaced flat and parallel to each other
S4S refers to all 4 faces surfaced, with each side being surfaced parallel, and perpendicular faces being surfaced at 90 degrees.
S2SR1E refers to a board that is S2S, with a single side that is Ripped on 1 edge on a straight line rip machine. This yields one face (S3S) that is perpendicular at 90 degrees to the S2S faces. These boards are in theory ready for ripping to width
Quarter Measurements are how the lumber industry managed cutting of tree logs into lumber. Each quarter is rooted in the “clicks” of a saw mill, and lines up with quarter inch increments, hence the terminology of quarters. After surfacing, you generally loose roughly 1/8” – 1/4” in thickness, depending on your surfacing efficiency. So for example
4/4 generally will result in boards 3/4” – 7/8” thick
5/4 generally will result in boards 1” – 1-1/8” thick
6/4 generally will result in boards 1-1/4” – 1-3/8” thick
8/4 generally will result in boards 1-3/4” – 1-7/8” thick
A board foot is a volumetric measurement that wood is sold by. This volume is calculated by:
Board Feet = Length (inches) * Width (inches) * Thickness (inches) / 144
For example, a 8/4 board that is 6 inches wide and 8 feet (96 inches) long would have the same board feet volume as a 4/4 board that is 12 inches wide and 8 feet (96 inches) long:
Board Feet = 96 inches * 6 inches * 2 inches / 144 = 8 board feet
Board Feet = 96 inches * 12 inches * 1 inch / 144 = 8 board feet
Types of Defects
Bow – Warp on the face of a board along the length of the board
Cup – Warp/hollow across the width of a board
Crook/Crown – Warp along the edges of a board
Twist – A combination of aforementioned defects that cause the board to be further from flat and surfaced
Knot – A dark ring or break in the wood grain, likely resulting from an injury to the tree or branch that was growing
Split – A crack that runs along the length of the board
Check – A crack that runs along the growth ring of a board
Wane – a section of wood that has broken off or bark that is remaining along the edge or corner of a board
Unlike metal, wood moves as a result of moisture and humidity changes, so much temperature (which impacts moisture and humidity) . Defects occur due to the drying process, as wood moves while it dries and loses moisture content. Note that the moisture content in a board will never reach a fully stable point, but rather equilibrium with the environment. As a result, most woodworkers recommend acclimating boards for a few weeks time to the final usage environment, and rough milling to get a clean and stickering to acclimate to the environment for 24 hours before milling to final thickness. This is due to the internal moisture content being higher than the surface moisture content.

7. Jointer (Planer)

8. So, what is it?
a woodworking machine used to produce a flat surface along a board’s length
- Wikipedia

9. Capabilities
Face Jointing – Creating a flat face along the length of a board.
Edge Jointing – Creating a flat face along the length of a board that at a set angle (e.g. 90 degrees) with respect to a surfaced face
Rabbeting – Cutting a channel along the length of a board

10. Anatomy Cutterhead Guard Fence Control Panel Outfeed Table
Outfeed Table Height Adjustment
Infeed Table
InfeedTable Height Adjustment

11. Operation Wood Feed Direction Wood Grain Direction Cutterhead Guard
Infeed Table
Cutterhead
Outfeed Table
Wood Grain Direction
Cutterhead Guard
Fence
Wood Feed Direction
Material is passed from the infeed table, across the cutterhead and onto the outfeed table
The infeed and outfeed tables serve as a co-planer reference that removes the material equivalent to the co-planer off-set.
Co-planer means that the infeed and outfeed table are in the same plane with an consistent offset. So if we took a 3D XYZ setup, the X and Y dimensions would be consistent, while the Z is consistently offset.
The apex of the cutterhead blades is at the same height as the Outfeed table. The offset for the Infeed table determines the material removed. Recommend no more than 1/16” at any pass.
Wood Grain Direction
Wood grain direction affects the final finished quality. In an ideal world, the grain will be running downhill towards the infeed table, so that as the wood passes through the cutterhead there is less of a chance of the blades gouging the wood and causing tearout.
Wood does not (usually) grow with uniform grain directions. As a result, the grain tends to change shape. Do your best to identify the grain direction. Otherwise, take shallow passes.
Cutterhead Guard
The cutterhead guard swings to get out of the way of the material as you are feeding it through, and swings back into place over the cutterhead once the material is through
Fence
The fence is set to a consistent angle (e.g. 45, 90, 135 degrees) with respect to the tables for edge jointing operations

12. Safety Eyes, ears, and lungs Start and Stop Safety glasses
Ear protection
Dust collection
Dust mask or respirator
Start and Stop
Start the tool and make sure it is at full speed before contact with the material
Stop the tool after the material is firmly secured by (a) clearing the cutterhead or (b) held firmly for an emergency stop
Avoid backing out the material. Lift if needed

13. Safety
Apparel Awareness - No gloves, loose fitting clothing/hair, or jewelry
Acceptable material to work with
Wood ONLY!
Material Size should be long and wide enough to safely move through the cutter head
Long-grain operation ONLY! (Do not try to joint end-grain)
Light passes
Use Safety Devices
Push blocks and push sticks when face jointing
Magnetic featherboards to assist with pressure

14. (Thickness) Planer

15. So, what is it?
a woodworking machine to trim boards to a consistent thickness throughout their length and parallel* on both surfaces
- Wikipedia
* Verbiage updated for accuracy

16. Capabilities
Planing – Running a board through along a flat face to create a parallel surface that is also flat
Skip planning – Running a board that has not been face jointed

17. Anatomy Cutterhead (inside) Outfeed Roller Infeed Roller
Height Adjustment
Table
Power Switch

18. Operation Wood Feed Direction Wood Grain Direction Wood Feed Direction
Material is passed from the infeed table, across the cutterhead and onto the outfeed table
Wood Grain Direction
Wood grain direction affects the final finished quality. In an ideal world, the grain will be running downhill towards the cutterhead, so that as the wood passes through the cutterhead there is less of a chance of the blades gouging the wood and causing tearout.
Wood does not (usually) grow with uniform grain directions. As a result, the grain tends to change shape. Do your best to identify the grain direction. Otherwise, take shallow passes.

19. Safety Eyes, ears, and lungs Start and Stop Safety glasses
Ear protection
Dust collection
Dust mask or respirator
Start and Stop
Start the tool and make sure it is at full speed before contact with the material
Stop the tool after the material has cleared the cutterhead
Don’t back out the material. Push through with a piece of scrap material if needed

20. Safety
Apparel Awareness - No gloves, loose fitting clothing/hair, or jewelry
Don’t put any hands or clothing into the machine
Acceptable material to work with
Wood ONLY!
Material Size should be long and wide enough to safely move through the cutter head
Long-grain operation ONLY! (Do not try to joint end-grain)
Light passes
Use Safety Devices
Push blocks and push sticks when face jointing
Magnetic featherboards to assist with pressure

21. Techniques Snipe Order of operations (S1 through to S6)
Face joint
Edge joint
Surfacing parallel face
Ripping parallel edge
Square Ends
Posture and flow of movement
Gauging progress
Safety
Discuss the "what-if" dangers with a given technique
Use of safety devices
Hand placement when not using safety devices

22. References and Resources
Visiting the Lumber Yard
A trip to the lumber yard -
Demystifying the lumber yard -
How to mill lumber using a jointer -
How to mill timber/lumber - Introduction to milling with a jointer and thickness planer -
Jointer Setup -