Router bit size

[TheTiddles]

Using MRMDF you will be able to machine and finish it just fine, I’d probably use 25mm MDF for the base part. Finishing it is easy once you know how. Bond the top part on and use like normal

 

[magicalwonders]

I had similar issues with Oak skirting and architraves in France for my 17th cent water mill resto.....
in the end I said to the wife I need a WADKIN EQ spindle moulder and power feed....hahaha.....
within a month I had one.....pre Brexit of cource.....
can u say that word now moderators...? hahaha.
sure miss it.....
also did a lot of it for others.....
would it pay u to get a small spindle like a Kitty etc and use real wood....? just asking....

I did consider a spindle maker when first thinking about the job, but they are well beyond my budget for what is a one-off use. Since then the cost of wood has gone through the roof anyway. I have the moulded rail already purchased, and I got lucky with that on price as it was massively reduced in price.

So all I need now is to buy in sheets of 2.4 x 1.2 mtr and cut into 25cm strips. After that, a cove cut or maybe even just a bevel is needed. I've gone with MDF because it helps keep the cost down, and it's going to be painted anyway.

 

[magicalwonders]

Using MRMDF you will be able to machine and finish it just fine, I’d probably use 25mm MDF for the base part. Finishing it is easy once you know how. Bond the top part on and use like normal

Sounds good. I may have to stick with 12mm though to keep costs down. I can always put blocks in at shorter intervals.

 

[J-G]

My skirting will be 25cm high before adding a rail, so wood is not within my budget. I already have moulded rail, so only need a cove bit for the 25cm boards.

That seems very high (to me). The skirting in the photo you posted I estimate to be 135/140mm ~5.½" which is also on the high side but the additional 69mm (I'm assuming Travis-Perkins 19x69 MDF painted Truprofile Architrave) will make your skirting 319mm - over 12½" - as a comparison, the top of the 13amp sockets in the photo is ~9-3/4".

The Infinity UK site doesn't really give any info on sizes, so I'll need to reach out to them.

They give very good info on sizes (you just have to drill down into their site).

With this extra information I've amended my drawing :

Showing the six most likely Infinity cutters you are likely to consider, though to be honest I think only the three largest are a reality.

This is the advantage of drawing to scale - you can see exactly what you will get!

All the cove bits listed use a bearing rather than being the full half-round smaller bits I assumed in my initial post. The biggest is 50.8mm (2") dia with a 19mm radius and the smallest 25.4mm dia with 4.8mm radius - I've annotated the drawing with Infinity's codes.

This drawing shows the 12mm MDF and I've also assumed that the 13mm will be batons rather than complete 250mm wide board.


If you consider even the 37-951 too small, you might look at their 'Crown Moulding Bits'. The largest of those is 2-3/4" dia. and has a radius of 68.7mm but I haven't added that to the drawing because I hadn't looked deep enough into their site before I'd saved the .png!!

 

[Spectric]

I think a lot of trim was much more elaborate than it is now, it has been cut back and cheapened to reduce cost and maximise profit for the builder, hence why in many new "houses" you do not find any real wood. MDF mouldings and even trusses are fabricated from sterling board. Take a look round some period properties and skirting boards were much higher, you had chair rails through the middle and picture rails. It seems they took some pride in what they did and now we have small characterless boxs that are just bland, nothing more than a battery farm for humans.

 

[TheTiddles]

I think a lot of trim was much more elaborate than it is now, it has been cut back and cheapened to reduce cost and maximise profit for the builder, hence why in many new "houses" you do not find any real wood. MDF mouldings and even trusses are fabricated from sterling board. Take a look round some period properties and skirting boards were much higher, you had chair rails through the middle and picture rails. It seems they took some pride in what they did and now we have small characterless boxs that are just bland, nothing more than a battery farm for humans.

In my “house” MDF is stable, easy to paint and repair and never warps. I bet you’d not have any new fangled plasterboard or concrete in yours hey, just mud and straw?

 

[Spectric]

Plastic is also stable but I would not want my house built from lego.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you're using 12mm sheet and want a decent sized curve there won't be much left to run a bearing on. With a good fence you could run a standard (cheap) core box cutter (or any other) down the full sheet at the required spacings then cut the strips afterwards. If you're working to 250mm that'll give you four lenghts to a sheet with a piece left over. Get a 1.7mm of 1.8mm kerf saw blade and you'd lose less than 1mm of the curve on each strip. Fiddly, but possible.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Plastic is also stable but I would not want my house built from lego.

I would - it'd be worth a fortune.

 

[MARK.B.]

All of us will have an opinion or two and you have had a few great solutions , the final choice of the fished look is all down to your personal taste and to a large extent your budget given the cost/availability of materials and the finish you will achieve is down to your skills with the tools required. You say that you have not used your router yet, so it might be good idea for you to do a load of practice cuts on some waste off cuts before committing to the real thing ,helps to prevent brown trouser momentsand knackering your work

 

[TheTiddles]

Plastic is also stable but I would not want my house built from lego.

Clay pipes, lead gutters, no PTFE tape on compression joined copper? I bet you’re surrounded by polymers in your “house”, but it doesn’t fit your narrative to admit it.

 

[magicalwonders]

That seems very high (to me). The skirting in the photo you posted I estimate to be 135/140mm ~5.½" which is also on the high side but the additional 69mm (I'm assuming Travis-Perkins 19x69 MDF painted Truprofile Architrave) will make your skirting 319mm - over 12½" - as a comparison, the top of the 13amp sockets in the photo is ~9-3/4".


They give very good info on sizes (you just have to drill down into their site).

With this extra information I've amended my drawing :
View attachment 116297
Showing the six most likely Infinity cutters you are likely to consider, though to be honest I think only the three largest are a reality.

This is the advantage of drawing to scale - you can see exactly what you will get!

All the cove bits listed use a bearing rather than being the full half-round smaller bits I assumed in my initial post The biggest is 50.8mm (2") dia with a 19mm radius and the smallest 25.4mm dia with 4.8mm radius - I've annotated the drawing with Infinity's codes.

This drawing shows the 12mm MDF and I've also assumed that the 13mm will be batons rather than complete 250mm wide board.


If you consider even the 37-951 too smal, you might look at their 'Crown Moulding Bits'. The largest of those is 2-3/4" dia. and has a radius of 68.7mm but I haven't added that to the drawing because I hadn't looked deep enough into their site before I'd saved the .png!!

Thanks for the updated drawing. Yes, I had another look and found the details on the Infinity bits!

That's not my skirting in the pic I posted. It's just an example of skirting made from MDF. I'm quite happy with how it looks.

Here's a pic of my current skirting -

It's a bit less in height than I remembered, coming in at 22cm/23cm plus the rail on top, finishing at around 29cm

I'm going to reduce the height of the Travis Perkins rail so, it stays in proportion to the base.

The 13mm is the size of the backing batons, although I'm going to have them vertical instead of horizontal.

 

[magicalwonders]

All of us will have an opinion or two and you have had a few great solutions , the final choice of the fished look is all down to your personal taste and to a large extent your budget given the cost/availability of materials and the finish you will achieve is down to your skills with the tools required. You say that you have not used your router yet, so it might be good idea for you to do a load of practice cuts on some waste off cuts before committing to the real thing ,helps to prevent brown trouser momentsand knackering your work

Absolutely. I plan on making a few practice cuts. At current prices, I can't afford to mess it up! Lol. I'll probably be measuring more than twice as well!

 

[Nelly111s]

I’ve not tried Infinity cutters, but I can recommend Wealden cutters. Good price/quality ratio. Great tech support if you need advice. Also fast shipping, so if you find a cutter getting blunt, you can buy another easily (or sharpen the blunt one).

 

[Stevekane]

Your obviously fairly clued up with tools and all but check out info on using a router, there are some things you need to observe such as how fast you feed/ push the cutter and depth of cut, cutter speed, some of which is to do with having both an understanding and a feel for how its going,,not to make it sound too “magical” but practically you need to look after that expensive Wealden router bit,,,esp with the 100mtrs stretching out in front of you,,
Steve.

 

[magicalwonders]

I’ve not tried Infinity cutters, but I can recommend Wealden cutters. Good price/quality ratio. Great tech support if you need advice. Also fast shipping, so if you find a cutter getting blunt, you can buy another easily (or sharpen the blunt one).

Cheers, I'll check them, out.

Your obviously fairly clued up with tools and all but check out info on using a router, there are some things you need to observe such as how fast you feed/ push the cutter and depth of cut, cutter speed, some of which is to do with having both an understanding and a feel for how its going,,not to make it sound too “magical” but practically you need to look after that expensive Wealden router bit,,,esp with the 100mtrs stretching out in front of you,,
Steve.

I'd forgotten when I posted this thread that I actually have a palm router! I've only used it for rebating hinges, but I know it's not up to the job for skirting. I bought a Trend T7 which seems pretty powerful at 2100W. It's had some really good reviews, but it's not suitable for mounting on a table. I did know that before purchase though.

I have been watching a bunch of YouTube videos on how to use a router, so I'm pretty much there on the "theory" side of things. Now I need to do some practice runs on scrap wood!

There is one thing I'm finding a bit of a mystery. I've identified what all of the accessories are apart from one! The router included a bag containing a 1/4" collet, but it also contains a chrome part that is pointed at one end. I have no idea what this is. Here's a pic -

The manual makes no reference to it, and I've searched online without success in finding out what it's used for!

 

[cowie122]

Hi,

I am going to be making my own skirting boards and would appreciate some advice regarding the size router bit I need for a cove shape at the top of the board.

To minimise the cost, I will be using 9mm MDF in conjunction with 16mm spacer blocks. This will give me a 25mm skirting. An 18mm moulded rail will go on top, overlapping the 9mm board by 2mm. The picture below (not to scale) gives a side view.

View attachment 116247

I have a router but have not used it yet, as this will be my first project for it. I would welcome some advice on the size of the cove bit I would need to achieve a curve in the MDF. I need to go to a depth of 7mm.

I need to do around 100 metres, so will need something pretty durable. I have no idea what mileage can be expected from a router bit. I guess it depends on quality. etc.

The cove bits all come in different sizes, but I'm not sure which radius would be best for what I want to achieve?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Myles

If you must use MDF use MR grade as it will machine cleaner I worked in shopfitting and we made bead board for Ralph Lauren shop's on a CNC out of the MR grade you do get other grades for moulding but more difficult to come by

 

[Gordon Tarling]

View attachment 116337

The manual makes no reference to it, and I've searched online without success in finding out what it's used for!

I think it goes in the spindle instead of the collet and is used to help you ensure that the spindle centre is on your drawn centreline.

G.

 

[Stevekane]

Im not familier with the Trend T5 but I wonder why they say its not suitable for mounting in a table,,any ideas?
In fact Ive just looked at a T5 and it looks to be a copy of my old Elu Mof router presently hanging upside down in a cheap router table though Im happy to be corrected on this,,,
Perhaps there are subtle changes not immediately apparent to me?
And if you've looked on utube you will have seen that a very basic router table can be knocked up out of almost anything flat and sturdy.
Steve.

 

[TheTiddles]

Cheers, I'll check them, out.




I'd forgotten when I posted this thread that I actually have a palm router! I've only used it for rebating hinges, but I know it's not up to the job for skirting. I bought a Trend T7 which seems pretty powerful at 2100W. It's had some really good reviews, but it's not suitable for mounting on a table. I did know that before purchase though.

I have been watching a bunch of YouTube videos on how to use a router, so I'm pretty much there on the "theory" side of things. Now I need to do some practice runs on scrap wood!

There is one thing I'm finding a bit of a mystery. I've identified what all of the accessories are apart from one! The router included a bag containing a 1/4" collet, but it also contains a chrome part that is pointed at one end. I have no idea what this is. Here's a pic -

View attachment 116337

The manual makes no reference to it, and I've searched online without success in finding out what it's used for!

It’s for centring the guide bush and/or aligning the router to a cut line.
No router is “made for” table use, they all have a number of design flaws that make them sub-optimal for that, but I can’t think of any that would not do it, certainly a Trend T-5 and T-11 are both fine for it