[member=8327]jussi[/member] Have used mine several times since getting it over the winter. It really saved my butt the first time I used it to work out cupping that had developed on a really expensive 2"+ thick and 40" wide table top I had been commissioned to build, so it has already in effect paid for itself. Otherwise I've used it for traditional slab work.
Action is incredibly smooth, and it takes a lot of the strain and imprecision out of the task of flattening. I think the main issue most people are curious about is the cost as compared to just rigging up your own router flattening sled. I don't have an answer for that. My shop space is such that I can't have a fixed reference surface for flattening (other than smallish stuff that would fit on my workbench), but have to construct things anew whenever this operation is required. Having the rails and sled ready to go when this is required has been worth it for me (and especially not having to worry about any errors resulting from improper sled construction), and it only takes a short time to make a bed of required size out of ply and framing timber. I store the sled still fully assembled along with the rail extrusions in my garage/shop loft and rafters.
Couple of observations:
1) the slab still only comes out as flat as the reference surface you use/build. The aluminum rails will allow you to see if the bed is off, but the rails themselves are not so stiff that they won't flex a little if you accidentally use a surface that is a bit concave or convex, and this slight flexing will turn up in the piece you're milling -- so make sure you build the bed straight and true.
2) The 6ft. and 4ft. rail sizes are a bit limiting. Cut capacity is approximately 1 foot less than the rail length, so the 6 ft. rail only works on pieces less than 57" long (though you can obviously shift the rails during the cut if you make a longer bed). If you get the extended package, you can do 12 ft. by joining the 2 6 ft. rails, or 10 ft. by joining the 6 and 4. The former option means you have to build a much longer bed, or come up with a way of securing the rail in place without being able to screw one of the ends in; the latter option means you have to use the 6ft. rails for the sled, which, depending upon your space, may be unwieldy. The solution I've come up with was to order a single 4 ft. extrusion from Woodpeckers, which I've cut in half so that I can make 8ft. rails while still using the 4 ft. ones for the sled. This gives me the ability to work on 7 ft. or less slabs/panels while still using 8ft. ply for the reference surface.
jussi said:
Anyone buy one? Reviews? Would it work well to do dados as well?
