Portable planer with adjustable chip deflector

A portable planer for use by a user to cut chips or material from a workpiece is disclosed. The portable planer includes a chip deflector movably attached to a housing of the portable planer. The nozzle can be oriented with respect to the housing such that chips expelled from the portable planer are directed away from the user and downwardly toward a floor. Alternatively, the chip deflector can be reoriented with respect to the housing so that a collector bag or vacuum hose can be attached to the nozzle whereby chips are collected in an enclosed container rather than being freely blown. Ideally, the nozzle is swivelably attached to the housing to permit the selected positioning of the nozzle relative to the housing.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention relates to portable planers having chip deflectors 
which direct chips expelled from the planers. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Portable planers are used to smooth uneven surfaces on workpieces by 
shaving high spots from the workpieces until surfaces are essentially 
planar. To accomplish this result, a rotating blade assembly, located in a 
planing chamber of a planer housing and carrying blades, is rotated above 
a work surface. When the blades encounter a high spot, the blades shave 
small amounts of material from the high spot producing shavings or chips. 
The rotation of the blade assembly occurs at a relatively high number of 
revolutions per minute and acts as a fan creating a stream of air in the 
planing chamber. An outlet opening is provided in the planer housing which 
allows the stream of air from the planing chamber to carry chips away from 
the planer. Fixedly attached on the outside of the planer is a chip 
deflector which deflects the stream of air and shavings or chips 
downwardly away from a user of the planer. The shavings and chips then 
rapidly accumulate upon a floor or the like. 
The operation of such a portable planer produces a large volume of shavings 
or chips. While the original workpiece may be quite compact, shaving thin 
slices of material from the workpiece produces elongate shavings or chips 
which are often curled in shaped and fluffy in texture. Consequently, the 
planing operation creates a large volume of waste material. 
There exists a need for a portable planer in which these chips can be 
directed away the user of the planer, or else, can be redirected so that a 
vacuum or collecting bag can be readily attached to the portable planar to 
collect expelled chips. The present invention fulfills this need. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable planer which 
has a chip deflector adjustably mounted thereon so that the chip deflector 
can be selectively positionable to either direct expelled chips away from 
a user or else can be adjusted to facilitate the attachment of a 
collecting bag or vacuum hose to collect the chips. 
It is another object to provide a chip deflector on a portable planer which 
is movably mounted to a housing of the planer such that the chip deflector 
can be swiveled relative to the housing to direct expelled chips in any 
one of a number of predetermined directions. 
It is a further object to provide a method of selectively mounting a chip 
deflector to a housing of a portable planer wherein the chip deflector is 
mounted in a first position such that chips expelled from the portable 
planer are directed away from a user in a first determined position and 
then the chip deflector is repositioned relative to the housing in a 
second position and a vacuum hose or collecting bag is attached to the 
chip deflector so that expelled chips can be collected therein. 
The present invention includes a portable planer carriable by a user to 
plane chips of material from a workpiece. The planer comprises a housing, 
a motor, a cutting blade assembly and a chip deflector. The housing has a 
first planing surface formed thereon for engaging a workpiece and also 
defines a planing chamber. The motor is supported by the housing. 
Positioned within the planing chamber is the rotatable cutting blade 
assembly which is driven by the motor. An exhaust port is formed in the 
housing and is in fluid communication with the planing chamber. 
The chip deflector is movably attached to the housing and is in fluid 
communication with the exhaust port and planing chamber. Also, the chip 
deflector is selectively positionable relative to the planer housing to 
deflect chips expelled from the planing chamber in a plurality of 
predetermined directions relative to the housing. 
Ideally, the chip deflector includes a nozzle which is swivelable relative 
to the housing. Preferably, the nozzle is selectively positioned between a 
first predetermined position and a second predetermined position relative 
to the housing. In the first position, the nozzle deflects chips 
downwardly and away from a user operating the planer so that chips may 
fall upon a floor or the like. In the second position, the nozzle is 
ideally positioned so that a vacuum hose or collector bag may be attached 
to the nozzle to collect chips without the vacuum hose or collecting bag 
interfering with the workpiece or planer during the planing of the 
workpiece. The portable planer may also include the collecting bag. 
The present invention also includes a method for transforming a portable 
planer from a free blowing mode to a collecting mode. The method includes 
orienting a nozzle on a portable planer relative to a planer housing such 
that chips blown from the portable planer will be directed downwardly away 
from a user using the planer. The nozzle is then moved or reoriented 
relative to the planer housing. Then, a collection bag or a vacuum hose is 
mounted to the nozzle such that chips expelled from the nozzle are 
collected within either the collector bag or a vacuum cleaner.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
A portable planer 10 having an adjustable chip deflector assembly 12, made 
in accordance with the present invention, is shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. 
Portable planer 10 has a housing 14 with a first handle 16 and a second 
handle 20. Located adjacent second handle 20 is a trigger 22 for 
activating a motor 24. An impeller 26 and a cutting blade assembly 28 are 
rotatably driven by motor 24. 
An adjustment knob 30 is located near the front of planer 10 for adjusting 
the height of cutting blade assembly 28 relative to a workpiece being 
planed. A planar engagement surface 32 is formed on the bottom of planer 
10 which is slidable along the surface of a workpiece to be planed. 
Housing 14 has a generally cylindrical transversely extending planing 
chamber 34 in which cutting blade assembly 28 is rotatably mounted. 
Cutting blade assembly 30 has a block 36 upon which a pair of blades 40 
are mounted. When cutting blade assembly 28 is rotated, blades 40 cut 
chips or shavings from a workpiece during a planing operation. 
A transversely extending evacuation chamber 42 is formed in housing 14 
above planing chamber 34. A floor plate 44 partially separates evacuation 
chamber 42 from planing chamber 34 with a transverse opening 46 connecting 
chambers 34 and 42. Similarly, a back wall 48 partially separates impeller 
26 from evacuation chamber 42. An aperture is formed in housing 14 to 
allow air flow between chip deflector 12 and evacuation chamber 42. 
Consequently, evacuation chamber 42 is in fluid communication with 
impeller 26, chip deflector assembly 12, and planing chamber 34. 
In operation, motor 24 is activated rotatably driving impeller 26 and 
cutting blade assembly 28. Impeller 26 creates receives air through an 
inlet (not shown) and blows the air along evacuation chamber 42 and out 
through chip deflector 12. Concurrently, chips or shavings are cut by the 
rotating blades 40 of cutting blade assembly 28. These chips are evacuated 
from planing chamber 34 through transverse opening 46 and into evacuation 
chamber 42. The chips join the air blown by impeller 26 in exiting planer 
10 through the chip deflector 12. 
Chip deflector 12 will now be described in more detail. Chip deflector 12 
includes a base 54 and a nozzle 56. Base 54 includes an upper annular 
portion 60 and a planar flange portion 62. Flange portion 62 has a pair of 
spaced apart apertures 64 for receiving fasteners 66 (see FIG. 1) to 
secure base 54 to housing 14. Annular portion 60 has an annular opening 70 
with a radially inwardly and circumferentially extending annular rib 72, 
best seen in FIG. 4. Also formed within annular portion 60 are two 
positioning recesses 73 and 74 located 90 degrees apart as shown if FIG. 
2. 
Nozzle 56 is hollow and elbow-shaped having proximate and distal ends 
portions 76 and 78. Formed on the outside of the outer periphery of end 
portion 76 is an annular groove 80. Annular groove 80 is sized such that 
first end portion 76 can be inserted within annular portion 60 of base 54 
with annular rib 72 being received within annular groove 80. Four slits 82 
are formed in proximate end portion 76 spaced along its circumference to 
allow proximate end portion 76 to deflect radially inwardly so that 
annular rib 72 can be received within annular groove 80. 
As shown in FIG. 2, a tab 82 is formed on the outside of proximate end 
portion 76. Tab 82 is received within retaining grooves 84 formed in base 
54 to selectively hold nozzle 56 in the two positions shown in FIG. 2. 
This mating configuration allows nozzle 56 to be selectively swiveled or 
positioned relative to base 54 and housing 14. When nozzle 56 is 
positioned in a downward position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, chips planed 
from a workpiece are directed downwardly and away from a user using 
portable planer 10. Alternatively, nozzle 56 can be rotated with respect 
to base 54 and housing 14 such that a vacuum hose 90, as shown in phantom 
in FIG. 2, can be readily placed over nozzle 56 to collect chips blown or 
expelled from portable planer 10. 
In operation, trigger 22 is depressed activating motor 24 which, in turn, 
causes impeller 26 and cutting blade assembly 28 to rotate. Planer 10 is 
slid across a workpiece during planing with blades 40 shaving high spots 
from the workpiece. The combination of impeller 26 and cutting blade 
assembly 28 rotating creates a stream of air exhausting chips through chip 
deflector assembly 12. 
If the nozzle is orientated downwardly away from handles 16 and 20, and 
accordingly the user, the chips can be directed away from planer 10 and 
user and blown freely onto a floor. However, if it is desired to collect 
the shavings in a bag or with a vacuum cleaner, a vacuum hose or bag is 
attached over the end of nozzle 56. Nozzle 56 is preferably rotated to a 
horizontal position so that the vacuum or bag attaching to nozzle 56 will 
not interfere with the workpiece being operated upon. Nozzle 56 is 
preferably limited in its range of motion between a downward and a 
horizontal position to insure that the nozzle 56 cannot be aimed in the 
direction of a user's face during normal use. 
While the foregoing specification of this invention has been described in 
relation to certain preferred embodiments thereof, and many details have 
been set forth for the purpose of illustration, it will be apparent to 
those skilled in the art that the invention is susceptible to additional 
embodiments and that certain of the details described herein can be varied 
considerably without departing from the basic principals of the invention. 
For example, rather than nozzle 56 being swivelably attached to base 54, it 
is possible the nozzle 56 can be attached in only discrete 
circumferentially spaced positions. Also, it is envisioned that nozzle 56 
could be directly connected to housing 14 rather than requiring base 54. 
Again, this connection would allow nozzle 56 to moved such that the 
exhausted chips are directed downwardly or horizontally.