When I went over to the Community Workshop yesterday, I was greeted by Colin, who is the technician at the adjacent school, with my Incra router plate, which now has a very neat hole in it which lines up perfectly with the rise & fall nut of the T10 router that I have very generously been given to replace my 625. Thanks, Bob, it is very kind of you.
I also persuaded one of the guys there who was teaching someone to do some turning, to turn me a little plug to keep the dust out. My excuse was that, having lost a contact lens, I couldn't see properly with just one eye. "I've only got one eye as well", says he, "This one is plastic!". So with a penny glued to the top, filed down ever so slightly, I now have a smashing little plug that I can remove with a magnet.
I've already commented on the difficult-to-understand decision to mount the router at 45 deg, forcing me to mount the plate running front-to-back rather than the more conventional left-to-right in order to keep that rise & fall nut accessible at the front.
It has another downside, I have discovered. Once installed, I couldn't open the lid! The knob fouls the frame of my RT carcase. Fortunately this is easily overcome by simply removing one of the router handles.
So finally, after nearly 4 years, I have a useable RT in my workshop.
My fence has survived its ordeal in the barn virtually unscathed, as it was wrapped in industrial clingfilm, as was the RT itself, except that that was ripped open by the thieves, which is why it looked rather less happy.
So all I need to do now is sort out some T-track. My fence is a bit shorter than the table, and is being held by a couple of trigger clamps, which are not ideal, as they are at the limits of their reach. Previously, I had routed slots through the top to connect a Bristol lever to a sliding nut below. It was fine, except for the fact that debris used to fall through and mess up the drawers underneath. Using T-track instead will solve that drawback.
I have a little job to do for Chris (Ray's wife), but I need to be able to see properly, first. However, I had a bit of good news today, in that the hospital that supplies my bespoke contact lenses rang to say they had received it and I would get it by post tomorrow. That is fantastic, given that the usual turnaround is a week or so. I left a message on their answering machine on Saturday, so it would not have been actioned until Monday, so the order was turned around in less that 48 hours. Brilliant.
