I have joined the woodrat club....

[Escudo]

What ho all.

My new woodrat is on the wall despite a few mishaps during the installation largely due to my not following the instructions exactly.

However, I am very pleased with my new purchase and just had one or two quick questions.

Firstly, can you cut rebates using a straight bit? I presume if you set the cutter at the required depth and it protrudes far enough as the timber passes by a rebate will emerge?

Secondly, I have what seems like quite a lot of bolts, screws and fittings left over after the installation, which is a bit worrying. Is this normal, they could be spare parts I suppose? :?

Looking for some wisdom.

Esc.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Congratulations on becoming a member of this exclusive club.

To answer your questions, yes you can cut rebates the way you descibe. You can use the brush below the cutter to keep the work pressed up or mount it on a mortise rail or whatever and crank the work side to side. If hand holding the work, go left to right.

There should be some left over hardware so don't worry. Some parts are spares and some are used for other things. Did you get any accessories with your Rat?

 

[Escudo]

Thanks for you quick response Dave.

I will give it ago.

I purchased the woodrat cutters (set 2) which seem very well made - but for the rest I assume it is a standard machine. Did you have something in mind?

I do not have any 1/2" routing bits for my new Dewalt router (625 model)and will give some thought to buying a few to add to the set mentioned above.

Which cutters do you use Dave for rounding over and beveling stock in the woodrat?

Esc.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

As far as accessories go I was just wondering if you'd bought the mortise rail. It seems to have a fair amount of excess hardware.

As far as profiling bits go, I have a few different sized round over bits with pilot bearings on them. I also use a chamfering bit with a bearing and I think there is at least one V-groove bit in the cabinet.

There's also a rabbeting bit set with a variety of bearings. Mostly I seem to use either the WR straight bits and up cut spiral straight cutters. I have a range of WR dovetail cutters as well as some of the Craftsman Gallery ones in Imperial sizes as opposed to metric. I really like the looks of the sockets made with HSS bits better than ones made with TCT dovetail bits.

 

[Escudo]

I am generally very confused by which router cutters to get. :?

I would like cutters to use in the woodrat for profiling as you state but also to be able to use these free hand when appropriate.

I just don't quite understand the importance of the bearings or pilot things.

Do these really matter in the woodrat or are they more important for freehand use?

I am also uncertain as to whether 1/2" bits are better than 1/4" using the reducing collet in the router?

Gosh Dave I need some guidance here.

Esc

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I'm going to send you a PM in a few moments.

First, the bearings are really more useful for hand held router work but because they are self limiting they are handy for use in the Rat or in a router table.

Buy bits with the largest shank you can get. You'll have fewer issues with vibration with thicker shanks so you'll get a smoother finishin the cut.

Don't agonize too much over the bits to get. Buy them as you have need. And don't buy those bit sets. Usually there are two or three profiles you'll use and a bunch that just take up space. Buy high quality bits instead of the cheap ones.

Now off to that PM.

 

[stewart]

Hi Escudo
Congratulations on your new purchase!
There's a great site for looking at the capabilities of the woodrat which I check into every so often: http://www.aldel.co.uk.
This site's quite useful for set up (which I know you've already done) and also for use: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/wr-1.htm.

Happy 'ratting!

 

[Vormulac]

Hi Esc,

Good to hear that the time we spent on the Woodrat stand at Ally Pally wasn't wasted! I can't afford one and probably wouldn't have room for it anyway, but I look forward to hearing about how you get on with it.
Did you go on one of their courses in the end?

Vormulac.

 

[Escudo]

Thanks for the replies shipmates,

Thankyou for advising on those links Stewart, I must confess that I have seen them before, although it was a little while back. I will give them a good look over at the weekend for some inspiration.

I will keep you posted of my progress vorm. I thought long and hard about a trip down to collect the rat and take in a days training. I was thinking of combining it with the yandles do.

I decided against this plan on grounds of travelling time and cost i suppose as its over 300 miles from here and I would have to stay over for a couple of nights as well. (+ the missus gets lonely without me you know )

In addition I found a site that sold the rat for a bit of a discount and just went for it. I figure that with a bit of playing about I will soon get the hang of it, once I get to the bottom of the router cutters.

Dave seems a nice chap and is going to advise if I can get something called skype?

Cheers vorm and stewart.

Esc.

 

[GCR]

Hi Escudo

Regarding 'Rat specific courses. If you can find one it is probably worth while going for it. I did a days course, unfortunately the instructor has retired, and it gave me the confidence to get on and use the 'Rat (it sat in its box till I went on the course) rather than spend much time experimenting. Also, info about cutters etc is on hand. I believe there are several trainers out there still.

The good news is that there are many members of this forum who have much experience with the 'Rat - but it in the end it was the course which got me underway.

Bob