Routing advice please

[Wizard9999]

A family member has asked if I can make some replacement brackets for a towel rail. The originals are made of MDF and have just split when one of their kids was a little too vigorous when hanging up a towel. Whilst a replacement rail costs buttons they can't find one that will line up with the screws already put through holes in the tiles, so it would make a bit of a mess of the bathroom wall.

I have had a trial run making a prototype of one of the parts in some softwood (I plan to make the final items in hardwood) which measures about 10cm x 3cm. The original has a profile which matches one of the cutters in the set I have which is fortunate, but I am worried about putting the profile on such a small piece. I have put the cutter in my router table, it has a bearing at the top and I put the starter pin in place. I was able to route the profile on the longer sides but on the two shorter sides the cutter just snatched the piece away from me.

I'm working from the front of my table so running the workpiece from right to left, as I would if I were using the fence, which I think is correct. But it is clearly not working and I don't think it feels safe.

Would I be better clamping the piece down and using a trim router to put the profile on it or is the piece simply too small to safely use a router full stop? Advice would be much appreciated.

Terry.

 

[Myfordman]

Have you considered using a much longer piece of stock, cut the profile on each end and when complete, saw them off.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Stick the small bits to a larger piece with hot melt, machine them and take them off again.

 

[paulm]

A sled arrangement that slides against the fence and clamps and holds the workpiece will be a useful accessory for the router table, good for making tenons and similar as well as the kind of piece you are currently working on.

 

[Chrispy]

Doesn't answer the question but it is usually best to rout the end grain first so that any break out is removed when trimming the sides.

 

[Wizard9999]

Many thanks all for the help guys.

A sled arrangement that slides against the fence and clamps and holds the workpiece will be a useful accessory for the router table, good for making tenons and similar as well as the kind of piece you are currently working on.

Always up for a 'shop project so this is music to my ears Paul :lol: I have had a quick search on google and found lots of examples.

However, one of the challenges I have with this problem is that one end of the piece should ideally be semi-circular (and the other end has a radius on each of the corners - at least that is what I need to have if I am to exactly match the piece I am replacing. I have yet to find any examples of a sled type design that would help with anything other than a straight cut.

One thought that does occur to me is that if, rather than a semi-circle I simply put a section of a curve on it which would form part of a circle with a larger radius I could follow the suggestion of attaching it to a larger piece if that larger piece had a much larger section of that circle on it. I guess, as I have a mitre slot in my router table I could even construct a sled that can be locked into position in the mitre slot that has a moveable pivot point on it (to allow for different sized curves), a bit like a circle cutting jig on a mitre saw.

Any further thoughts would be much appreciated.

Terry.

 

[RobinBHM]

I guess the timber brackets have a flat back to sit against the wall. In which case I would make the pieces larger initially so that there is a run off for the cutter and a larger work piece. You could either saw that off of after or have the correct size bracket and screw an extra piece on.

You could make from the end of board say 150mm x 100mm as a pair joined together, rout all round then cut off after. Of courser you then have the issue of need a fixing to cut the pieces off safely. Easy if you have a table saw with a sliding table.

Start and finish the cutting on the sacrificial piece, that way there is less chance of cutter burn.

 

[whiskywill]

at least that is what I need to have if I am to exactly match the piece I am replacing.

Why not make two new end pieces instead of trying to match a difficult shape?

 

[Adam9453]

Second vote for hot melt glueing it to a larger piece, routing it then knocking it off. Easy

 

[Wizard9999]

Second vote for hot melt glueing it to a larger piece, routing it then knocking it off. Easy

What I can't get my head around is how this helps with the end which is semi circular, if the larger piece allows for the whole semi circle to be profiled surely it would not actually be any ginger than the work piece?

Terry.

 

[Myfordman]

I can't get my head around what you see as the problem Terry. Making the end on a longer piece (or gluing it on) gives you so much more control and keeps your pinkies miles away from the cutter.

 

[skipdiver]

I do a lot of router work on a router table but some of the smaller parts i do from above with the router hand held and the piece firmly fixed with whatever method suits best. You can also attach bridging timbers around the piece to be worked on to support the router and stop it tipping.

If anything feels remotely 'dodgy', i find another way of doing it.

 

[Wizard9999]

I can't get my head around what you see as the problem Terry. Making the end on a longer piece (or gluing it on) gives you so much more control and keeps your pinkies miles away from the cutter.

I thought the suggestion was to stick it to a wider piece, rather than a longer piece Bob. I think that may be the disconnect between what you were trying to explain and my lack of understanding as to how it would work.

Terry.

 

[Myfordman]

Ah Ok. I thought I'd put you on the right path with my earlier post.
Good Luck

Bob