Router - Where did I go wrong?

[technium]

Thanks all, really appreciate the help!

Colin

 

[Austinisgreat]

The Wealden Tools website also has a very good tips, tricks, and advice section.

HTH

Andrew

 

[technium]

OK guys ive had another chance to get out in the workshop today and tried doing the routing around the window and this time it worked fine now I know which way round to route and also leaving a small amount of waste to trim was so much easier.

thanks again

Colin

 

[Bm101]

I'll keep an eye out for your DVD's.

 

[skipdiver]

Nice one. Aint things easier when you know how and a little knowledge goes a long way as they say.

 

[technium]

Nice one. Aint things easier when you know how and a little knowledge goes a long way as they say.

Yep, hopefully in years to come I will be able to provide advice on this forum to repay the thanks.

I'll keep an eye out for your DVD's.

Im taking pre-orders now mate, just send £19.99 now via paypal and I promise at some point you might get one

 

[Mr T]

When using any woodworking machine it's worth thinking about the balance of forces. With the hand held router the cutter is rotating clockwise, think about which direction the cutter will want to push the router (towards you if the workpiece is on your left), you should push in the opposite direction. Similarly the cutter is rotating anticlockwise in the router table so it wants to push the workpiece left to right (if you are facing the fence) so you should feed right to left.

Routing the inside of your window the cutter is rotating clockwise thus forcing the router anticlockwise so your feed should be clockwise to maintain balance. Plus you should aim to cut less than half the cutter width per cut. You could take a first cut with the bearing away from the frame before trimming to the frame. It's a matter of listening to the machine and cutter noise and being sensitive to when it's under strain.

It's better to understand the forces involved than rely on rules of thumb.

Chris

 

[Eric The Viking]

+1 for Chris' s comment. You'll end up wanting to rout something in an unusual way sooner or later, and it helps if you get used to thinking about the forces and cutter rotation rather than the 'inside/outside' model.

A good example of this is slotting - any slot you cut has the cutter working normally on one side, and "climb cutting" on the other, at the same time. This matters, because it causes the stock to pull dramatically to one side, and you have to ensure, for a straight slot, that the router and stock can only move in a straight line with respect to each other. This is easy against a fence on a router table, but challenging handheld if you're not expecting it to pull sideways (and even if you are!).

Imagine that you then want to widen the slot slightly... immediately you have to think carefully, as cutting either side in one direction is normal and controllable, but the other (for the same side) will be a climb-cut, with the potential to at least ruin your nice straight slot, or worse, become dangerous.

The other time I find this matters especially is when I'm using a router for cutting out recesses in things (i.e. shallow, wide "mortices"). When the recess is close to the width of the cutter it doesn't matter much, but for larger ones there's a temptation to criss-cross the area, with the consequence that the cutter (being handheld) can wander all over the place. You always need to be systematic and careful.

 

[Mr T]

Imagine that you then want to widen the slot slightly... immediately you have to think carefully, as cutting either side in one direction is normal and controllable, but the other (for the same side) will be a climb-cut, with the potential to at least ruin your nice straight slot, or worse, become dangerous.

This is especially important on a router table. If you cut a groove then move the fence towards the cutter to widen it, the rotation of the cutter will want to push the work piece right to left, the same direction as you would normally feed. This could have dire consequences. Better to always move the fence away from the cutter when widening a groove. So you need to think about which side of the groove to cut when you make the first cut.

Chris

 

[technium]

Thanks guys, lots to take in and lucky I asked before I got too carried away.

cheers

Colin

 

[Eric The Viking]

Chris makes a very good point.

Being cheapskate, I don't really have a micro-adjustable fence. Instead, I use those plastic packers for window-fitting, etc., and old business cards.

For doing things like rebates and slots to odd sizes, I fix a couple of clamps straight down onto the table, right behind the fence at either end, when it's in the right place to give a cut at the finished depth of the rebate, or the final width of a slot. Then I move the fence to the first-pass cut position (i.e. nearer the cutter) by adding a collection of cards/wedges between the fence and each of the clamps. That's where I start cutting. Each pass is a controlled increment, by removing some of the packers, finishing with the fence backed up against the two clamps (which haven't been moved).

With business cards you can get excellent micro-adjustment, because the cutter is in the middle of the fence. Adjusting one end by the thickness of a business card gives half that amount at the cutter. The thinnest plastic packers are 1mm nominal, so that's 0.5mm adjustment at the cutter.

Eat yer heart out, Incra...

E.

PS: Obviously, you can only do this if you also have a way of clamping the fence solidly in place. The packers are only for position. I wouldn't dream of trying to machine anything with the fence only pushed against them and not otherwise secured. It mustn't be capable of moving whilst in use!

 

[RogerS]

Doing things wrong with a router happens to us all. I remember when I first tried a router table many, many years ago that I felt the router trying to pull the wood out of my hands. I persevered thinking that I was taking off too much but still I could feel this pulling sensation. So much so that I started reading about direction of cut etc and managed to convince myself that my router was faulty and turning the wrong way

Deciding to try it once more, I started feeding the wood in only to have it whipped out of my hand and fired to the left embedding itself in the plasterboard. What had this numpty done wrong ? Simple. I had the fence adjusted too far back and was feeding the wood between the router cutter and the fence !

 

[sunnybob]

" I had the fence adjusted too far back and was feeding the wood between the router cutter and the fence ! "


oh yes, thats whats known as a REAL learning curve.
Luckily when I did that I was standing behind the direction of wood.
It flew 40 feet outside the open garage door and into the street.
You learn fast in the router game.