Portable power planer

#The present invention generally relates improvements in portable power tools, and more specifically to improvements that are particularly well suited for use with wood working power tools such as portable power planers.

#Various power tools are used in woodworking in an effort to efficiently and accurately form workpieces to desired dimensions and with a desired surface finish. As is widely known, planing machines are often used for surface planing of wooden boards. A conventional planing machine typically includes one or more rotatably mounted cutting blades attached to a vertically movable carriage assembly. Also known are jointer machines which are typically used for the edge planing of wood. In certain applications, the functions of conventional planing machines and jointers are combined within a single unit commonly referred to as a jointer/planer machine.

#In a typical wood planing machine, such as a surface planer, a selectively adjustable workpiece opening is defined between a carriage assembly and the planing surface of the base of the machine. The rotationally mounted blades are carried on the underside of the carriage assembly adjacent to the workpiece opening. The blades are adapted to remove a predetermined amount of material from the workpiece depending on the thickness of the workpiece and the height of the workpiece opening. The carriage assembly also usually includes one or more feed rollers which urge the workpiece through the workpiece opening during the operation of the wood planing machine.

#Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable power planer constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the portable power planer of FIG. 1;

#With reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a planer mechanism constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is generally indicated by reference numeral 10. With additional reference to FIG. 2, the planer mechanism 10 is shown to include a planer carriage assembly 12, a base assembly 14, a planer carriage elevation mechanism 16, a planer carriage locking mechanism 18, a carriage height setting mechanism 20, a height scale mechanism 22, a material removal gauge 24, a dust collection system 26 and a power take-off mechanism 28.

#Planer Carriage Assembly

#In FIG. 3, the planer carriage assembly 12 is illustrated to include a carriage 40, a motor assembly 42, a gearbox 44, a first roller assembly 46, a second roller assembly 48 and a cutterhead assembly 50, which will be discussed in more detail below. The carriage 40 is a unitarily formed structure having a cutter pocket 54, two pair of square apertures 58 and a plurality of nut apertures 60, which will be discussed more detail, below. The cutter pocket 54 is shown to include a horizontally-extending slot 62 that is formed through the top and bottom surfaces 64 and 66, respectively, of the carriage 40, and a pair of bearing apertures 68 that extend through the opposite sides 70 of the carriage 40 and intersect the slot 62. The cutter pocket 54 is sized to support the cutterhead assembly 50 for rotation therein.