On Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 6:58:01 PM UTC-5, dpb wrote:
On 1/31/2019 4:14 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
....

If I've missed anything or if you have any other questions about the set-up
or my technique, just let me know.


https://i.imgur.com/fSSwztH.jpg

In bulk, that's a reasonable-looking approach.

What we don't see, however, is the actual setup when trying to do a
planing pass.

Other than me feeding the sled in and retrieving it on the way out, what aren't
you seeing? Should I post a link to a video? ;-)

That's the setup. What do you think is missing? Is it just the shims? If you
want me to insert shims and then take the picture again, I can, but I kind of
think that that would be a waste of time. On the twisted boards that I'm
actually trying to flatten, I am shimming the gaps both to eliminate any
rocking and fill them in to prevent flex.


You don't give any measurements but if I just guesstimate that the
difference is as much as 1/32" over the last 3-ft of the material then
the angle is 0.05 deg from true straight edge. I don't think there's
any way you can measure anything close to that precision with the angle
gauge you've shown nor can be totally assured you don't have that much
flex in the setup shown in a combination of all the places there's room
for any movement whatsoever.

The board being planed is 70". The sled is 72".

As I mentioned, the gap shown in the image is exaggerated because of other
things I did to it. Even then, the exaggerated gap in the image is less
than 2'.

In practice, after planing the board with the sled, the gap is more like
1/32" over 6, maybe 8". Since I am supporting/lifting the sled on the
outfeed end well before the last foot or so goes under planer, I really
don't think the sled is drooping. If anything, since I'm lifting the sled,
I would expect the trailing end to be thicker, not thinner.


And, even though it is 8/4 material, poplar is quite soft/limber as
compared to, say, oak, so I would totally eliminate some flex there.