Apparatus and method for creating a flat surface on a workpiece

A surfacing apparatus, comprising:

• an adjustable infeed support for receiving a workpiece to be surfaced;
• an outfeed support having a plurality of substantially longitudinal spaced ridges forming a plurality of grooves in the outfeed support;
• and
• a cutterhead, disposed generally at an interface of the infeed support and the outfeed support, the cutterhead including a plurality of cutting members, the cutting members being configured for forming a plurality of grooves in a workpiece to a depth corresponding to a datum plane which is correlated with the outfeed support ridges,
• wherein the plurality of outfeed support ridges are aligned with the cutterhead cutting members.

A surfacing apparatus, comprising:

• an infeed support for receiving a workpiece to be surfaced;
• an outfeed support having a plurality of substantially longitudinal spaced ridges forming a plurality of grooves in the outfeed support;
• a first cutterhead, disposed generally at an interface of the infeed support and the outfeed support, the cutterhead including a plurality of cutting members, the cutting members being configured for forming a plurality of grooves in a workpiece corresponding to a datum plane correlated with the outfeed support ridges;
• and
• a second cutterhead disposed in-line with the outfeed support, the second cutterhead extending transverse to the outfeed support,
• wherein the second cutterhead is operative to form a flat surface substantially parallel with the datum plane formed in the workpiece.

A surfacing apparatus, utilizing an intermediate datum surface formed in a workpiece to form a flat surface, comprising:

• a first support, disposed at a first elevation, the first support being configured to support the workpiece to be surfaced;
• a second support having a plurality of substantially longitudinal spaced ridges, disposed at a second elevation, the ridges forming a plurality of grooves in the second support;
• a first cutterhead, disposed generally at the interface of the first support and the second support, the cutterhead including a plurality of cutting members, the cutting members being configured for forming a plurality of grooves in a workpiece corresponding to a datum plane, the datum plane being formed to a depth substantially equal to the second elevation;
• and
• a second cutterhead disposed in-line with the second support, the second cutterhead being disposed at a distance equal to the desired thickness of the workpiece from the second elevation,
• wherein the second cutterhead is operative to form a flat surface on the workpiece substantially parallel with the datum plane.