Well… I raised my first 8 panels today using a 3+” bit (under the table) in my Bosch 2 1/4 HP 1617evs. I now know why they make bigger routers.
My poor Bosch sounded like a 2-cycle weed whacker about ready to stall out… which it did several times. I took about 5 passes to make the cuts. New bit. I just don’t know if it will make it though the remaining 23 panels I need to raise for this project.
I am considering an emergency 3+ HP router purchase and am attracted to the Hitachi M12V primarily because of the price. Just $159 at Amazon…worth saving my Bosch from burning up! One of the reviews, however, suggest some homemade modifications are necessary with a hacksaw to get it to accept bits of more that 3″.
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I have 4 Makitas' and 1 Ryobi, all 15 amps that I like. I like the square base, if you can still get them. They give a little more projected base when you are going around the outside corner with a large cutter.
Almost all will need a sub-base to clear the top of the cutter from the base.
Have you thought about cutting away the excess wood with your table saw, then finishing with the router? Just take one of your finished panels, and hold it up on edge. Adjust the fence and tilt to leave a little wood to finish up with the router set up that you are now using.
But then go on and buy the big router anyway. You will be glad that you did.
I hope that the 3"+ plus bit you use is the newer vertical style not horizontal. That is quite a lot of spinning centrifugal mass and it alone can make your router sound strange.
As rootburl said, try to mill most of the waste first with a tablesaw.
I am using a horizontal bit.
are you wasting some of the stock on a TS first? Wasting away saves a ton of work, on a tool that was not designed to be full fleged shaper with mass behind it.
try a bevel cut with the panal at vertical and the TS at 15 degees to slice off the "mucho not so" panel first, the do 2 passes with said router set up....create a template of the final profile ya want and set router to just below that, for the first pass, creep up to final desire, an allow for sanding,scraping, or what ya need to tweak it sweet.
Hogging with hand tools is also an option if one so desires, by all means, do not expect the cutter/router combo to hog the waste effieciently, without tearout.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
The M12 router, when mounted in a table, can hold your 3" bit, and it won't need any modification. The only restriction on large-diameter bits imposed by the design of the M12 is when those bits will not be fully below the base. Like many of the PorterCable routers, the hole in the base is sized smaler than 3".
But in a table-mounted application, all of the bit (except for the shank) is below the router base (actually, above it, since the router is mounted upside down). So the size of the opening in the router base is irrelevant.
What's more important, is the size of the opening in your router table. So long as it's 3", you'll be fine.
Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.
I use a pair of identical Freud 3 1/4 HP routers; one hand held, the other permanently in the table. I liked the idea of redundancy just in case. The model I have is a little dated now, but comes with speed adjustment, constant speed control (speed stays constant as the torque load increases), built in fine height adjuster and a lockable On/Off switch... in short, all the features needed to make an effective table mounted router are built in as standard; no need for jury rigs or fancy contraptions...
I've run countless hundreds of feet of board through a quality Freud raised panel bit set, the router being more than capable of the job provided you take multiple passes, removing a little at a time so as not to overload the cutter or the machine.
For the record, the bit I use is significantly wider than the aperture through the router base. To compensate for this, I lower the bit as close as I dare and advance the table fence around the cutter to limit the amount of cutter I'm exposing for the initial pass, gradually withdrawing the fence for subsequent passes until the fence is flush with the guide bearing. In addition, I use a fresh, square-cut guide block for every batch of panels; the block serving as a sacrificial push stick to limit any tear out at the end of each pass.
Traditional rules still apply; machine across the grain before going along the grain to remove any tear out caused during the cross-grain passes. If you take your time, working steadily through fine adjustments with each pass, you'll minimize the stress on the router, the cutter, the wood and most importantly, yourself....
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
From the feedback I have received, I get the impression that my experience would not be much different even if I used a bigger router. It sounds like I should still cut the waste at the table saw and then take small bites with the router. Is this accurate? As much as I love buying tools, I'd rather stick with my current setup if the difference would be marginal.
I can only advise based on my own limited experience... I've done a bunch of raised panels, but only with this one router...
Would you be better off with an upgrade.... Neither I nor anyone else here can honestly answer that for you; that's a judgement call that only you can make... but to me... it's obvious that from your first post that the router was struggling to cope because it didn't have enough power to handle the amount of material you were removing with each pass... I gotta work in such a way that I not only gets the results I want, but exerts the least stress on my tools too... typically, to raise a panel from 1" stock I'll take over a dozen passes per side. Granted it takes a little time, but it means that both the router and cutter survive to do the same again some other time..
pre-sawing the bulk of the waste makes a lot of sense; less material to remove means less load on the cutter and the router... personally I don't pre-cut, but that's because I don't have that much faith in my table saw.
I'd strongly recommend a bigger router with bomb proof variable speed control circuitry; there's no other way to get the speed down to the safe working limit for a bit that size... you run the risk of mechanical failure of the bit if you run it at too high a speed. Pat Warner explains this and a whole bunch besides over on his web page; I know from experience that time spent there is never wasted.... check it out....
http://www.patwarner.comMike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
I have raised a lot of panels with the M12V - if you are going to get a heavier router that is a good machine for table duty (but it is too heavy for "every day" use out of the table).
That said, my shaper is due around the end of the year. ________________________Charlie Plesums Austin, Texashttp://www.plesums.com/wood
NC I advised that you saw first, then try finishing with what you are doing.
My last sentence was to get the big router anyway. You will be glad you did.
You will be able to feet 50% faster with everything you do with your router from then on.
Your cuts will be better, and your bits will last longer.
I am a power tool junkie... I ordered the M12V.
The price dropped to $149 at Amazon, minus a $10 coupon from my last order... I just could not resist.
Now if I could only avoid telling the wife.
Edited 12/8/2004 4:57 pm ET by NCLAQUER
If you orderd $50 more of stuff you would have recieved a $25 discount! Any tool order with Amazon over 200 get an instant $25 off and free shipping!
Mikeplease excuse my spelling.
You can not combine the $25 off with the $10 off I used. So, in actuality, the net benefit would have been $15. ...'gotta draw the line somewhere.
Last year they ran $50 off for orders in excess of $225 (or was it $250?). I'd like to see that come back.
Edited 12/9/2004 5:47 am ET by NCLAQUER
For what it's worth, I've used a 1617EVS in my table for several years. I've raised a number of panels and never had a problem with it. And all my panel-raising bits are from MLCS! Long-term plans are to put a 3hp router in my table, but I keep putting it off because of the good luck I've had with the 1617.
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
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