Which router? Newbie in need of advice.

[mseries]

MOF96E is the variable speed version of the MOF96 and is even more excellent. NB the MOF97 pictured is described as 110V because it IS 110V, at least it has plug for a 110V system fitted

 

[LFS19]

Thanks for the replies everyone, allot of great tips.

I'm going to go through when I get back from college tonight.

Thanks again!

 

[LFS19]

Apologies for the late reply.

I took all your very helpful answers to my question into consideration, and have decided to purchase both a decent set of chisels, and second had Elu router.

I understand the importance of hand tools, and so have recently bought a hand plane that I'm not getting to grips with, and as I said, am soon to purchase some chisels,
(Any pointers for those? They seem more complicated than buying the machinery!)

On the router - the Elu MOF96 that was mentioned several times seems to go for a very reasonable price on eBay, so with my relatively small budget, getting of of those for £40-£50 will free up some funds.

Is there anything to look for to make sure the router has when buying second hand?

Thanks to everyone for their input.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Hi,

As for chisels if you get down to Lidl in the next few days they have their specials , 4 chisels with wooden handles for £6.99, they are surprisingly good for the money. If you miss them then Narex chisels are good and cheap (although one chisel will be the same price as the 4 Lidl ones), they are available from Workshop Heaven amongst other retailers

What is it about the plane that you are not getting to grips with? With both the plane and chisels sharpening is vital. If you have no one to show you I advise buying a cheap honing guide and oil stone or diamond stone and a leather strop. Cheapest option would be something like this http://www.its.co.uk/pd/0-16-050-Stanle ... 016050.htm. Personally I use diamond stones freehand but the oil stone will work fine and the honing guide is the easiest way to get started, at some point you may wish to try freehand. Sharpening can be a bit of a fraught subject around here, for some reason that I don't really understand it always descends into an argument between people who can already sharpen fine so I shan't add any more but if you need more detailed advise PM me.
Paddy

 

[user22161]

I had an Elu MOF31 for years, which did good service. When that bust and use became more infrequent, I bought a cheap Draper 1/2" which I later cut the handles off and mounted in a table. Now have a cheap and cheerful Silverline (which is identical to the Draper) takes all popular sizes of cutter and has a 3 year guarantee. Also have recently purchased a 1/4" Makita rip-off for lighter work.

No way would I describe the Silverline as "quality" but, it does what it says straight out of the box and is good value for hobby use.

http://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/Pr ... ers/264895

They also have a heavier duty model, a bit dearer - http://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/Pr ... ers/124799

 

[LFS19]

Hi,

As for chisels if you get down to Lidl in the next few days they have their specials , 4 chisels with wooden handles for £6.99, they are surprisingly good for the money. If you miss them then Narex chisels are good and cheap (although one chisel will be the same price as the 4 Lidl ones), they are available from Workshop Heaven amongst other retailers

What is it about the plane that you are not getting to grips with? With both the plane and chisels sharpening is vital. If you have no one to show you I advise buying a cheap honing guide and oil stone or diamond stone and a leather strop. Cheapest option would be something like this http://www.its.co.uk/pd/0-16-050-Stanle ... 016050.htm. Personally I use diamond stones freehand but the oil stone will work fine and the honing guide is the easiest way to get started, at some point you may wish to try freehand. Sharpening can be a bit of a fraught subject around here, for some reason that I don't really understand it always descends into an argument between people who can already sharpen fine so I shan't add any more but if you need more detailed advise PM me.
Paddy

Thanks, I'll take a look at those,

With the plane I just can't get anything flat. It just isn't helping me at all, I often just end up trying to saw it flatter using my band saw.
I've just bought it, so do you think it needs sharpening already out the box?
I always go too far off and the board ends up bowed in the middle, round at the edges and generally worse that before I started trying to flatten it, haha.
It's a number four plane, if you were wondering.

Thanks for the tips and for the option to PM you, appreciate it.

 

[LFS19]

I had an Elu MOF31 for years, which did good service. When that bust and use became more infrequent, I bought a cheap Draper 1/2" which I later cut the handles off and mounted in a table. Now have a cheap and cheerful Silverline (which is identical to the Draper) takes all popular sizes of cutter and has a 3 year guarantee. Also have recently purchased a 1/4" Makita rip-off for lighter work.

No way would I describe the Silverline as "quality" but, it does what it says straight out of the box and is good value for hobby use.

http://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/Pr ... ers/264895

They also have a heavier duty model, a bit dearer - http://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/Pr ... ers/124799

Thanks for the links, I'll take a look.

Appreciated,

 

[user22161]

Thanks for the links, I'll take a look.

Appreciated,

I've just been looking around as well, the old Draper in the router table went up in smoke this afternoon part way through a job May get a Triton MOF001 as it has built in lift features and seems to have good write-ups.

 

[John15]

You shouldn't dismiss the use of hand-tools altogether. A hand router is excellent for cutting dados and trimming tenons - Both second-hand Record and Stanley models are available on Ebay for £30 - £50.

John

 

[user22161]

Just taken delivery of my new Triton MOF001 from Amazon. I LIKE it! Wish I had bought one ages ago as the built in lift would have saved a lot of hassle building my own. OK, at around the £ 170 mark it's not cheap but, if the OP is thinking of adding a router table at a later date, it's well worth saving up for. About an hours work marking out and drilling the mounting plate and the job's done. Comes complete with winder handle for the lift function, all that's missing is a 1/2" collet available as an extra.

 

[Droogs]

With the plane I just can't get anything flat. It just isn't helping me at all, I often just end up trying to saw it flatter using my band saw.
I've just bought it, so do you think it needs sharpening already out the box?
I always go too far off and the board ends up bowed in the middle, round at the edges and generally worse that before I started trying to flatten it, haha.
It's a number four plane, if you were wondering.

Thanks for the tips and for the option to PM you, appreciate it.

The problems you describe here are very common for everyone when they start to use hand planes. For the most part it is down to technique and familiarity with the tool. It takes a fair bit of practice to plane to a line and ensure that the face and edge are at 90 deg relative to each other. If I may, here are a few pointers that are from my experience that helped me:
1. No plane is truely sharp and ready out of the box, especially if its mass produced
2. Check the sole lengthwise and diagonaly with a straight edge for flatness. Unless it's really out you will be fine to learn with it.
3. Learn how to sharpen the blade and keep it sharp - use a jig until you get the feel for the angle the blade should sit at when sharpening both the main bevel and the micro bevel. If you want to try freehand sharpening straight away, then try it. Use your ears as well as you fingers to find the right angle for the main bevel. By this I mean start at the far end of your honing stone/block/glass at a low angle and draw back slowly raising the angle of the iron as you pull towards yourself and gently raise the angle. You will hear the difference when the main bevel is fully engaged with the stone as well as well as feeling different amounts of resistance/drag.
4. Initially don't worry about the face and edge being at 90 deg. It is more important to learn to plane the surface you are working flat and level along its length. In order to help musle memory develope in your arms with regard to holding and moving the plane, practice on a piece of wood that is just slightly narrower than your plane sole.
5 Secure the piece firmly and rest the toe of the plane on the surface so that the plane is at an angle with the toe facing towards the far end but turned anti clockwise at roughly 11 oclock relative to the wood and bench (this is for right handed users). This will allow you to start the cut of the blade in a slight slicing motion and make it a little bit easier to get going. apply slight down pressure with the left hand and forward pressure only with the right hand.
6. as the plane moves forward rotate the plane to the direction of travel so that it is in line with the surface being worked.
7. as you reach approx 2/3 of the way to the far end reduce the down force from your left hand and increase it on your right. so that by the time you reach the far end all the down force and forward force are from your right hand only.
8. If the plane catches or sticks, STOP. DO NOT try to force it forward, you will just cause tear out and other problems. Adjust the plane iron to take a thinner shaving and try again from the area just before the catch.
9. Once you are taking a full width shaving with the plane for the entire length of the work check the work with a straight edge for flatness.
10. Now that you have a flat surface you can concentrate on making sure that it is at 90 deg to the face. Check with a known good square. look along the length from the end of the work and using the square check for squareness. Mark anywhere it is out with a pencil and then tackle those areas to remove the error. Start at the far end first and work backwards. Once done recheck and mark/reference as needed
11. Repeat the above on narrower and narrower pieces as you gain confidence with holding the plane at the right angle to create the 90 deg face/edge corner.

HTH