How NOT to make field panels - Do Not Do this!

[Fergie 307]

Flushed with my success from yesterday. I’m going to have a go at mounting my spindle moulder rebate block, with a top bearing to create a serious flush cutter. The advantage of the spindle block is that it has carbide disposable cutters and ‘nickers’, so none of the issues of a router cutter that creates tear out at the edges. I think the extra mass will mean it can take a good bite in one go. I intend to vary the top bearing (which I have a few) to allow me to cut door or window frame rebates. These are typically 16mm deep and around 50mm deep.

I would welcome any suggestions, help with how to do this setup as safely as possible. The cutters on this rig will be on the side, ie exposed to my midriff where as the field block had them on the top, out of the way so to speak. They are limited projection, so the sane amount of cutter exposed as any router bit.
I intend to do it hand held again.

I shall miss your posts when you are gone. Most of us would probably prefer to be reduced to ashes in the conventional way before being scattered

 

[ChrisWiduWood]

i'm still not convinced this is real, the photo shows the spindle block is not centre to the router? how did you hold the course with no bearing or guide? and most of all why would you substitute the spindle for a router? details... i need details...

 

[SammyQ]

EVERYBODY!! The title specifically says: "DO NOT DO THIS"...O.P. has a warped sense of humour ("Let's see how many people skim read?" perhaps).

 

[deema]

@ChrisWiduWood any offset that appears in the photo is probably down to the angle it was taken at, I also have to say, that the router has had the base machined. When I bought it for £10 is was sold as being wonky. I think it had been dropped. @Sideways and I set it up on my mill and machined the base to be perpendicular to the spindle. I can add a photo of how the thickness of the base varies. This probably adds to the look of it being offset.

So, the following photo shows the block and the stubby spindle and how it was built up. I added spacers in between the cutter and the spindle, these could rotate, however not as well as a bearing. They acted as a guide for the cutter. Although the block is aluminium, rotating at some where near 17,000 RPM it generates a lot of gyroscopic stability, it was surprising ease to hold and guide. I was clutching the router in a death grip with my heart in my mouth.

 

[Stevekane]

How about mounting your cutter on the end of a motor shaft instead of the little router, give it a bit more grunt and get the perimeter speed down too, you would then be more than half way to a diy spindle,,
Steve.

 

[Against_The_Grain]

In the spirit of showing the capabilities of the router, I'll show another good example. I'm sure any of you that have tried to replicate historic mouldings with a router have had a hard time doing it as either you have to use standard off the shelf cutters, or you have to spend a large fortune having custom made bits to suit your profiles. Usually you can get a profile close with these, but never exact.

I have this great little bit which in reality it is simply a miniature Whitehill cutter block but better suited to much smaller cutters, you can cut and grind old planer knives to any profile you like and clamp them solidly in it. The beauty is that you don't need to be too particular about how you set it up, here in this example just to show how well it works I've got the profile knife I want to use and a balance cutter which is actually a slightly thicker steel set deeper into the block. The cutter projection is a bit large for the router base but that's fine as I can set it close and plane the timber down after to suit.

After running the router with a fence on a southern yellow pine scrap and planing it down in thickness to get rid of the lip left behind, I'm left with the intended historic moulding (in this case, part of an architrave profile from Beadida Manor) on the edge of the timber, exactly as I want it.

The surface finish is excellent, as the cutter spins at 24,000rpm even with only one cutter actually cutting it cuts 400 times per second, meaning you can be quite brisk with the feed rate and still end up with an exceptional surface.

So if you want to replicate historic or make your own completely original mouldings on a budget, one of these bits is a must-have for the routing enthusiast. Spend pennies reusing old knives, rather than hundreds of pounds buying custom bits.

 

[Stevekane]

How about mounting your cutter on the end of a motor shaft instead of the little router, give it a bit more grunt and get the perimeter speed down too, you would then be more than half way to a diy spindle,,

 

[Against_The_Grain]

How about mounting your cutter on the end of a motor shaft instead of the little router, give it a bit more grunt and get the perimeter speed down too, you would then be more than half way to a diy spindle,,

Bad idea, the rim speed would be way too low then, The panel block wants to be turning at an absolute minimum of 4800RPM and the average 2-pole motor runs at 2800RPM, the risk of kickback would be very high in that case.

 

[Lefley]

So, trying to get myself a little more enthusiastic about routers, I decided to experiment making fielded panels with a router instead of my trusty spindle moulder. As the title say, do not do this, it’s extremely dangerous, and rather silly!

First off I need a cutter, I have a nice big panel cutter I use on my spindle moulder, it’s only 190mm in diameter, and made of aluminium so fairly light. It’s only rated at 6000RPM, and my trusty router doesn’t have speed control, so that could be interesting.

View attachment 145683

I now needed an adaptor, the cutter is designed for a 30mm shaft, but my hand router only takes 1/4”. An adaptor is required, luckily, I have a stubby spindle for my spindle moulder. It has a threaded hole on the underside that allowed me to quickly make an interface on the metal working lathe so that it would fit into the router collet. I snuggled the collet up good and tight!

View attachment 145684

The idea is to run the router on top of the work, and use shims to both space off the router (ok they will be rotating so care is needed) and to set the distance down for the cut from the top surface.

View attachment 145685

The little Elu router looked a bit small compared to the cutter block. But what the heck, in for a penny in for a pound. If you go to my thread on gate renovation you can see the results in oak. Not bad!

I'd really love to see a tube video of you taking a cut with that. You're wife is probably out right now, upping your life insurance with a huge smile on her face,

 

[Jameshow]

I'd really love to see a tube video of you taking a cut with that. You're wife is probably out right now, upping your life insurance with a huge smile on her face,

Dodging the Ambulance strikes I see Deema!!

 

[Terry - Somerset]

At 10,000 rpm a router bit with a diameter of (say) 100mm will rotate at its edge in excess of 100mph.

To put into context - an Olympian javelin thrower may get 70-75mph on release. Would not want to stand in front of that!

There is a joy in finding solutions to woodworking problems. Occasionally enthusiasm takes over rational judgement - running a cutter at 2-3 times its rated speed using a tool designed for cutters one third of the size and weight is a good example.

 

[ChrisWiduWood]

Got to say ... still not a believer. Im not saying OP is. a liar , i just cant see it is central to the shaft , that and it's a huge block on a 1/4 shank...

Any how.. Im not here to be negative, Merry Christmas one and all!