Just want to make sure I understand the following hypothetical situation.
If I cut a dado on the table saw and then I need to widen it a sixteenth of an inch on one side only and I want to use a hand held router . If the the dado is face up on the workbench and the orientation of the dado is east – west is it correct to assume that you treat the cut as you would an internal cut i.e. clockwise. So cutting the edge nearest to me I would guide the router right to left and then if I wanted to widen the edge farthest away from me I would rout left right?
If the above is correct what happens if you use a router table so now the dado is inverted or face down. Is it correct to say that widening the edge nearest to you means feeding from the right to the left and that widening the other edge means feeding into the table from left to right?
Replies
Dado
Don't know ?
dado
Your assumptions are correct.
Just think of your table saw and how the teeth enter the wood and the direction you feed.
Climb cutting would like feeding into your table saw from the back side, same goes for a shaper or router table.
Yep
Your description, as Bruce said, is correct.
The reason, stated differently, is that you generally want to move the router (or, the work piece) in the direction such that the cut is against the rotation of the bit, not with it. With the router in the usual bit-down position, the rotation is clockwise. That, of course, is reversed with the router inverted in a router table. The key is to think about which side of the bit is actually making the cut.
watch chipout
If both ends of the dado show, you might want to think about a short climb cut at the end. If you strictly go in the 'safe' direction you are subject to chipout at the end.
Forrest
Routing Direction
Thanks to all of the above for taking the time to reply. I appreciate the comments.
direction of cut
We usually try a piece of scrap wood to see which direction to cut in so that you can see the tear out on something beore it ruins your work that you care about and you soon get the hang of it ......
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