door plane?

[Troll]

What the TS55 can do in a few seconds is put a consistent leading edge on the door, perfect every time, even if you have never done it before.  I've never see anyone with an electric / hand plane able to do this, and certainly not time-after-time.  The reason most doors don't fit properly is the lack of a correctly formed leading edge.

As for out-of-true frames I would remove the architrave and straighten them up.  If you plane a 'bow' on the door the hinges will be bound-up and tend to squeal.

I've never thought the EHL65 to be a good plane, for me the ergonomics don't feel right.  It's an old design and will probably be updated in the next few years.  As with all electric planes it suffers the problem of removing more material on the initial part of the cut; until the back part of the base plate, behind the cutter, is on the work surface.  If you have to make several passes you end up with a noticeable curve; not useful when you are trying to achieve a 2/3 mm gap.

I find a TS55 and a quick pass with the hand plane makes the best combination for door hanging.

Troll

 

[Nigel]

My advice would be to forget a planer buy a ts55 and rail instead.You can take 1mm of in a straight line very quickly.I doubt there's much of a price difference between the two.

Not being funny but have you hung a door before?

You can not hang a door with a TS55.  you can cut most of the wood off yes!  And maybe if your lucky if the frame is bang on straight cut the door down the exact size and it will fit (if you have fitted the frame square level plumb straight)!    BUT if thats the case you would not need a TS55 any way!  Cus if the frame is bang on straight and level! So if you had fit the frame your self then you would of also made the frame big enough so the door would just drop in with out any planning or using your TS55 and same with the height as you would off allowed enough for carpet or tiles by lifting the frame or leaving the stiles longer. Also taking half mm to a mm is very difficult with the TS55 as the blade tends to bend away from the door/wood.

NO way can you fit a door with out a planer. Hand or electric you need a plane! I have hung many doors and unless I have fitted the frame my self the frames are normally out! When I fit my frame I dont get my planner out at all because my frame is made big enough for equal gap so I just chop the hinges in and swing the door and done. I would only use my TS55 cutting to bottom of the door if the floor (tiles or carpet have come higher than I measured)normally do cus I dont like gaps under doors so I tend to leave the doors a little low.  Using the TS55 would be slow and would be difficult to scribe the door to the frame if the frame was slightly bowed or like a lot of frames if seen on the bottom of the frame it just kicks in or out.  

Unless your fitting your own frames and its all new build der is no way a TS55 will be any good for hanging a door it will be far to slow and not as good of a job.

JMB

 Have you been out in the sun again?

 I was assuming the OP was on about the bottom of the door as he just said planing a door.

I never use a planer and believe it or not I have fitted doors.I didn't mention hanging doors?????

New doors here are pre-hung.Besides the doors and the frames are rebated so you wouldn't use the ts on the sides even if you had  to take some off for some reason.
unless it's just a few mil.On these doors you just don't see a gap.

The only time I need to touch a door is to take some off the bottom for tiles that are a bit high.That's it!Let's say I want to take 5 or 6 mm off.There's no way a planer is

better in this situation.

When I said you can take 1mm off the point I was trying to make was that you can take off as little as 1mm if you have to.Maybe I should of said 1mm to infinity!

Finally ,I just don't like electric planers.All those shavings everywhere ,breakout ,curves,bows,bevels,snipe etc. [eek]

One more thing Why are all the frames bowed in the UK?

 

[Deansocial]

What the TS55 can do in a few seconds is put a consistent leading edge on the door, perfect every time, even if you have never done it before.  I've never see anyone with an electric / hand plane able to do this, and certainly not time-after-time.  The reason most doors don't fit properly is the lack of a correctly formed leading edge.

As for out-of-true frames I would remove the architrave and straighten them up.  If you plane a 'bow' on the door the hinges will be bound-up and tend to squeal.

I've never thought the EHL65 to be a good plane, for me the ergonomics don't feel right.  It's an old design and will probably be updated in the next few years.  As with all electric planes it suffers the problem of removing more material on the initial part of the cut; until the back part of the base plate, behind the cutter, is on the work surface.  If you have to make several passes you end up with a noticeable curve; not useful when you are trying to achieve a 2/3 mm gap.

I find a TS55 and a quick pass with the hand plane makes the best combination for door hanging.

Troll

my ehl65 doesnt suffer with those problems apart from the snipe. If there it more than 3-4mm to take of i will run the ts75 down if it is out the van but if not i will just use the plane.

As for removing the architrave and straighten them up, it make to much mess, Alot of the houses i work in are victorian and have huge architrave and plaster just waiting to jump off the wall

 

[jmbfestool]

My advice would be to forget a planer buy a ts55 and rail instead.You can take 1mm of in a straight line very quickly.I doubt there's much of a price difference between the two.

Not being funny but have you hung a door before?

You can not hang a door with a TS55.  you can cut most of the wood off yes!  And maybe if your lucky if the frame is bang on straight cut the door down the exact size and it will fit (if you have fitted the frame square level plumb straight)!    BUT if thats the case you would not need a TS55 any way!  Cus if the frame is bang on straight and level! So if you had fit the frame your self then you would of also made the frame big enough so the door would just drop in with out any planning or using your TS55 and same with the height as you would off allowed enough for carpet or tiles by lifting the frame or leaving the stiles longer. Also taking half mm to a mm is very difficult with the TS55 as the blade tends to bend away from the door/wood.

NO way can you fit a door with out a planer. Hand or electric you need a plane! I have hung many doors and unless I have fitted the frame my self the frames are normally out! When I fit my frame I dont get my planner out at all because my frame is made big enough for equal gap so I just chop the hinges in and swing the door and done. I would only use my TS55 cutting to bottom of the door if the floor (tiles or carpet have come higher than I measured)normally do cus I dont like gaps under doors so I tend to leave the doors a little low.  Using the TS55 would be slow and would be difficult to scribe the door to the frame if the frame was slightly bowed or like a lot of frames if seen on the bottom of the frame it just kicks in or out.  

Unless your fitting your own frames and its all new build der is no way a TS55 will be any good for hanging a door it will be far to slow and not as good of a job.

JMB

 Have you been out in the sun again?

 I was assuming the OP was on about the bottom of the door as he just said planing a door.

I never use a planer and believe it or not I have fitted doors.I didn't mention hanging doors?????

New doors here are pre-hung.Besides the doors and the frames are rebated so you wouldn't use the ts on the sides even if you had  to take some off for some reason.
unless it's just a few mil.On these doors you just don't see a gap.

The only time I need to touch a door is to take some off the bottom for tiles that are a bit high.That's it!Let's say I want to take 5 or 6 mm off.There's no way a planer is

better in this situation.

When I said you can take 1mm off the point I was trying to make was that you can take off as little as 1mm if you have to.Maybe I should of said 1mm to infinity!

Finally ,I just don't like electric planers.All those shavings everywhere ,breakout ,curves,bows,bevels,snipe etc. [eek]

One more thing Why are all the frames bowed in the UK?

LoL nice to have doors pre hung!   I like it makes life so much easier and like you said you can just cut the bottom of the door and your done.

Well a lot of houses the frames are out most of the time. Especilly Victorian 1s.  Like Dean said removing the architrave is a noo noo plaster comes off n everything.

Troll is correct in saying if the frame is bowed to much when the door opens up fully it puts strain on the hinges and can cause squeal. Only slightly bowed doors I have not found this a problem I did fit a door which was very bowed and thats how I learned it causes a problem with the hinges when you swing the door open so I decided the next time i fitted a door with a very bad frame I didn't fit the middle hinge which seemed to work fine as it does not affect the door the when you open it all the way. I do prefer 3 hinges though but gotta work with what you got.

What you said about planeing sis correct i have found the EhL65 if your not carefull does want to take more wood at the start but that's y I like to lay the door flat so I can look at how much it's removing.  I have seen a lot of joiners in the uk who put the door on it's edge but I find it difficult to see how much wood your taking of and whhen to stop.

I do use my TS55 hanging doors but I do need a plane to do a little tweak here and der and I believe the TS would struggle to do that and wont be quick enough.

Last week had to fit some doors the woman said I looked around and can not find a door to fit the frame but it's a norrow door frame any way and she does not want it smaller so i had to stick 20mm wood on the side of the door she also said it was slightly big in height so had to cut about 10inch of the top and bottom of the door but not only that the top of the frame was out of level by 15mm from end to the other.

Them oaks stairs I did well the bloke had a builder to do all the studding and floor joist up stairs. The builder also fitted the frames!  They where all over the place. He had only but 4 screws on each side I always 8 or more screws in a frame on each side.  I tried to adjust the frame but he had already plastered and the studding he had made very tight so the frame was just screwed against the studding so all I could do was either remove the frame and start again and reduce the frame or just straigten the frame up as best I can but meant the sides wouldn't be bang on level which they weren't any way. Seen as he is paying me a day rate I don't wanna be costing him alot of money spending time on the frames as I had plenty of other things to do so I just quickly adjusted the frame banged more screws in and hung the doors and made them fit the frames.

Here is the link to the pictures of what Im talking all 3 frames left the middle and right where all fitted by builder and done at a poor standard.

Scroll down
http://festoolownersgroup.com/various-woodworking-crafts-topics/old-style-stairs!/60/
These are easy doors the plane as well as you don't need to put a leaning edge only 20mm thick.

 

[Nigel]

But lets say you have to fit  a door and you can only have one tool,the ts or an electric planer?

Another thing I like here is all the doors and windows have lift off hinges.If you sit the door[open] on the hinges on the floor you can measure the gap at the hinge and you know how much to take off.

 

[Texastutt]

I can speak dutch [tongue]

...but can you yodel?

Dutch don't yodel, they just ask if your picking up the tab...  [big grin]

(disclaimer: my best friends about as Dutch as you get and he's picked up more tabs than I have)

 

[davidpawlak]

Lots of advice and appreciated . This is my problem. Almost all the doors I do have raised moldings which prevents the rail from laying flat on the door. That's why a planer is the only answer.

 

[spikfot]

There is no one correct answer, I use both depending entirely on the application. I think the EHL65 is great, the reason it is an 'older' design is probably because it doesn't need to be upgraded. By design it is intended to be a one-handed planer, and it is just that. Of the 3 I own, it is by far my favorite.

 

[jmbfestool]

Lots of advice and appreciated . This is my problem. Almost all the doors I do have raised moldings which prevents the rail from laying flat on the door. That's why a planer is the only answer.

YES! I knew der was another reason why the TS55 only with no planner to hand is no good!  Funny you say that!  I convinced my mate to buy a TS55 he was one of those who was like not worth the price! So I let him use mine for a couple of doors taking the bottoms off!  Cus he always used a hand saw  [scared] hand sawing oak doors! Man no way would I do that and he is only 2 years older than me.  Any way he loved it and went out and bought one!  Couple months later I was talking 2 him asking him how did he like the TS55 now he said brilliant! He then said I need a new rail though.  I was like why what do you mean?  He said I cut my rail.  I said is it a bad cut I did that but mine is just a little cut.  He said NO I cut my rail on purpose I was like why would you do that.  He said I notched the back of the rail!  He took out the rail track completely  [eek]  I said why would you do that!  He said the raised panels wouldn't let my rail lay flat. 

I said I would of used two 22 timbers and clamped them to the door and had them over hanging and turned the rail round and rest the rail on the 2x2 and just add the thickness of the blade (3mm) when you cut the bottom of the door.  He said I did not think of that lol!

I couldnt believe he notched his rail!   

My solution works fine for top and bottom of doors but not for the sides as the rail would sag in the middle so the Planner would come in

JMB

 

[Michael_MA]

There is no one correct answer, I use both depending entirely on the application. I think the EHL65 is great, the reason it is an 'older' design is probably because it doesn't need to be upgraded. By design it is intended to be a one-handed planer, and it is just that. Of the 3 I own, it is by far my favorite.

Great comment William - you hit the nail exactly on the spot.

Same to me, i own the HL80 and EHL65, and my favorite Universal planer is the EHL65, cause you can throw it a almost on every job which doesn't require the larger size.
It has the same cut quality - superb weight - no fuzz operation. Please Festool, the only change, wich i would expect/accept - put a PlugIt connector to it.
My HL850 is mostly sitting with the bench top mount as my poor mans planer/jointer

kind regards, Mike

 

[Rob-GB]

Ehl65 is an excellent planer for door fitting work, I usually have that and the TS55 on hand when doing door installs. Makes the process quicker.
That said I have 'shot' doors in with no more than a block plane, often my go to plane on site (much like JMB  ;D).
While working in Germany doors were supplied pre installed into the linings or frames so little adjustment was required, mostly an added washer or two on the hinge pins.
In the UK fitting doors to old frames/linings can be trickier due to old buildings settlement/subsidence issues. So the combination of EHL65 and TS55 really rules the task, even on fire doors with glazed panels and bolection mouldings. Flat panel doors can be fully 'shot ' in with just a TS55, I've done so, but often they need a hit of a belt sander on the hinge and leading edge for finishing purposes.

Rob.

 

[LostInTheWood]

I'm in the middle on this one.  The TS is awesome for back beveling doors.  I used to use the planer all the time, but find the TS much easier.  Of course I still carry my planer and the mini porter belt sander which I lovingly call "the rabbit."  If I'm making new jambs/linings, then I know I can get away with only my TS.  Replacements and "door correction" usually need a touch of the planer or the rabbit. 

There is no one correct answer, I use both depending entirely on the application. I think the EHL65 is great, the reason it is an 'older' design is probably because it doesn't need to be upgraded. By design it is intended to be a one-handed planer, and it is just that. Of the 3 I own, it is by far my favorite.

Great comment William - you hit the nail exactly on the spot.

Same to me, i own the HL80 and EHL65, and my favorite Universal planer is the EHL65, cause you can throw it a almost on every job which doesn't require the larger size.
It has the same cut quality - superb weight - no fuzz operation. Please Festool, the only change, wich i would expect/accept - put a PlugIt connector to it.
My HL850 is mostly sitting with the bench top mount as my poor mans planer/jointer

kind regards, Mike

Since you own both of them I don't see you as having a "poor mans" anything......

......but that is coming from a guy who only has the Bosch and none other.....  [embarassed]