Portable wood planing machine

A planing machine for automatically planing a workpiece, the planing machine comprising:

• a carriage assembly including at least one cutting member adapted for cutting a surface of the workpiece, said carriage assembly mounted within the planing machine for selective bi-directional movement along a path of travel;
• a workpiece support surface disposed relative to said carriage assembly so as to define a selectively adjustable workpiece opening therebetween, said workpiece support surface fixedly mounted within the planing machine;
• and
• a depth stop adjustment mechanism interconnected to one of said carriage assembly and said workpiece support surface and at least partially disposed within workpiece opening, said depth stop adjustment mechanism including a main body attached to said workpiece support surface and selectively moveable between a plurality of operating positions to establish a corresponding plurality of predetermined minimum workpiece dimensions for limiting vertical translation of said carriage assembly toward said workpiece support surface.

A method of adjusting a planing machine for automatically planing a workpiece to one of a plurality of predetermined minimum workpiece dimensions, the method including the steps of:

• providing a planing machine including a carriage assembly having at least one cutting member adapted for cutting a surface of the workpiece, and a workpiece support surface disposed relative to said carriage assembly so as to define a selectively adjustable workpiece opening therebetween;
• providing a depth stop adjustment mechanism including a main body and a plurality of depth stop members extending from said main body;
• mounting said main body to the planing machine substantially within said workpiece opening for movement between a plurality of operating positions;
• moving said main body between said plurality of operating positions to establish a selected one of said plurality of predetermined minimum workpiece dimensions;
• vertically adjusting said carriage assembly toward said workpiece support surface;
• and
• opposing vertical movement of said carriage assembly toward said workpiece support surface with one of said plurality of depth stop members.