Yup - thanks Wiley...Hey Hank--I followed your injury saga, just couldn't bring myself to look at the pictures. God speed your healing and recovery.
You'll probably think of this later, but good luck getting angle iron that is ready-to-use 90 degrees square like a milled Veritas plane, and that perfect 90 is the foundation of an accurate shooting plane. Off the shelf I would guess aluminum angle would be truer, but "guess" is the key word here.
Right - I would machine it on my mill and try to flatten the sole as I would any other plane, sandpaper on granite. The question is, if I can maintain a 90 degree angle from the sole to the "working" side of the plane...Unless you have a connection, you be into it for a few bucks for machining and grinding the angle iron.
That is the one that originally gave me the idea... I do NOT like the high angle of the repurposed frog and want to use a lower angle approach... but this is a GREAT back-up since I have a frog or two that would likely work find for the task!You might find this guy's shooting plane project interesting: JayT’s Building the Infill Shooting Plane, TimeTestedTools.
Seems like one would flatten the sole first and reference off that surface on the milling machine.Right - I would machine it on my mill and try to flatten the sole as I would any other plane, sandpaper on granite. The question is, if I can maintain a 90 degree angle from the sole to the "working" side of the plane...
just a old man not being clear - I meant machine one face, then reference that one to machine the other, then flatten the sole (if needed due to the length of the angle iron...Seems like one would flatten the sole first and reference off that surface on the milling machine.
What is the length of it? May be longer than your mill travel in which case you have to reposition it. Just another monkey wrench to it. I think how you go about it depends on mill tooling you have available. Do you clamp it to the table and Conventional mill the side or face mill it? Maybe weld it to some known square blocks and cut um off afterwards.Right - I would machine it on my mill and try to flatten the sole as I would any other plane, sandpaper on granite. The question is, if I can maintain a 90 degree angle from the sole to the "working" side of the plane...
I think rolled angle (1/4" thickness and would be stronger than a casting (like the Veritas or Lie Nielsen planes) so even with a slot out of the side of the plane it should remain sufficiently strong to the cutting motion forces... now dropping it on its nose... you are likely right, it might fold-up like an umbrella in a Texas snowstorm!What is the length of it? May be longer than your mill travel in which case you have to reposition it. Just another monkey wrench to it. I think how you go about it depends on mill tooling you have available. Do you clamp it to the table and Conventional mill the side or face mill it? Maybe weld it to some known square blocks and cut um off afterwards.
Wondering how strong it will end being after you cut the blade mouth. May be better making a weldment out of it before machining.
I have been - I have used a 5 and my 6 successfully, but I know the difference between my 78 and my 289 - it is dramatic...Unless you just want to build a plane you could use A #5 Stanley with a shooting board as I do.