Combination guard and rabbeting depth gauge associated with power planer

A portable handheld planer for planing a workpiece, comprising:

• a housing containing a substantially cylindrical planing tool rotatably mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis;
• a motor for driving the planing tool;
• a combination guard and adjustable rabbeting depth gauge mounted on one side of said housing, and comprising guard means, resilient means, abutment means, and stop means;
• said guard means being mounted adjacent one end of the planing tool for blocking access to said end during the planing operation, and being slideably mounted in the housing for movement in a direction transverse to said horizontal axis;
• said resilient means resiliently urging said guard means downwardly for engagement with the workpiece into which a rabbet cut is to be made;
• said abutment means limiting downward movement of said guard means;
• said stop means being adjustable in elevation for controlling the extent to which the guard means may be moved upwardly during the planning operation thereby adjustably setting the depth to which the rabbet cut is to be made;
• and
• fence means, mounted on the other side of said housing, for controlling the width of the rabbet cut.

A portable handheld planer for planing a workpiece, comprising:

• a housing having a vertically disposed channel therein;
• a planing tool rotatably mounted in said housing;
• a motor mounted in said housing for driving said planing tool;
• forward and rear shoes forming the bottom of said housing and adapted to support the planer on the workpiece, there being an opening between said shoes through which said planing tool extends to a small extent;
• a guard plate disposed vertically and to one side of said shoes adjacent to one end of said planing tool for blocking access thereto, and having an upward extension slideably mounted in said channel to permit vertical movement of said guard plate relative to said shoes, said guard plate having a horizontally disposed shoe at the bottom thereof, said guard plate shoe being disposed adjacent and outwardly of said one end of said planing tool and adapted to slideably engage an unplaned portion of the workpiece;
• abutment means, associated with said channel, for limiting the downward movement of said guard plate thereby determining the lowest position thereof;
• a stop member mounted in said channel and adjustable vertically therein for controlling the extent to which said guard plate shoe can be moved upwardly relative to said housing bottom, whereby the depth is set to which the completed rabbet will be made;
• resilient means for urging said guard plate downwardly against the unplaned portion of the workpiece, whereby whenever the planer is raised from the work piece said guard plate is urged downwardly to said lowest position;
• and
• a fence assembly adjustably mounted on the other side of said housing, and having a fence parallel to said guard plate and adjustable theretowards and away therefrom to determine the width of the rabbet.