I am making molding for my house, using a beading bit, a cove bit, and an edge beading bit (in a router table). All is going well except that part of the header has a piece of lattice (1 1/2″ wide) that is routed with the edge beading bit on one long side and the two ends. I’m having trouble with the ends because the width of the stock barely bridges the fence where the bit is and I can’t get it stable enough as it passes the bit to keep the cut even. Right now I’m using 2 large pieces of scrap on either side to stabilize it but that’s touch and go too…any suggestions?
Thanks!
Replies
You've tried securely clamping it into a miter gauge with a piece of stock behind it to prevent tearout?
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Rennie, I haven't tried clamping it to the miter slot 'cause I'm not sure how to do that (if the question didn't give it away, I'm kind of a rookie).
Forestgirl, that goes for the sled too...I'm sorry to say I don't even know what a sled is. I will be looking that up!!
Thanks for the help! I will look into both of these suggestions.
Rennie was talking about using a small miter gauge in the slot, clamping the stock to the gauge. Of course, I like my idea better <grin>. Wish I could draw (and it wasn't so late, yawn).
Let's see, your lattice is 1.5" wide, right? I don't know how thick it is, but for example let's say it's .5" thick. So, you take a piece of 2x4 and make a 1.5" wide channel inside one face, .5" deep. Here, I'll try it with the keyboard.
_____ _____ |___|_______________
Now, lay the lattice down in the channel, and flip the whole thing over so the lattice is laying on the table, nestled inside the 2x stock. If you have a very steady hand, and you don't feed too fast, you might not even need anything to steady the piece at 90° to the fence. For instance, if you're using a 2x6 rather than a 2x4. But for extra security, you could make the "sled" that would fit over the router fence, stick out at exactly 90° to the fence, and back up the stock as it slides along the fence. Look here for the absolute simplest technique.
Here's a link to a manufactured extruded aluminum sled, but you can make a wooden one that rides the fence. Look at the 3rd picture -- it shows how the sled is used for end-routing.
Other tips:
If you have a variable speed router, slow the bit down! That really helps keep things sane.
If you can, make the space surrounding the bit smaller. Cutting a zero clearance subfence would be the cat's meow. For instance, go back and look at that Lee Valley picture again. See how the subfence has a "hole" cut in it that's exactly the shape of the bit? That gives your end-grain stock complete support. If your fence ends are sitting 1/2" or 3/4" away from the cutting edges of the bit, it makes it much more difficult, even dangerous. If that piece of wood dips into the space between the bit and the fence, bad things happen. At the very least, you want to slide the fence ends as close as possible to the bit (safely).
A "coping sled" is another option. Here's a manufactured one, but as you can imagine, it's not all that hard to make one.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 7/26/2006 2:18 am by forestgirl
Edited 7/26/2006 2:19 am by forestgirl
Forestgirl,
I bow to your obvious experience and expertise in this mater. ;o)
The coping sled you link to is closer to what I had in mind.Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. Frank Lloyd Wright
Hi, Rennie. Not necessarily great experience (on that pref for fence vs. miter slot). My table doesn't have a miter slot, LOL!! I use the Veritas steel table top, love it. Funny, I talked to an old grizzled veteran at one of the WWing shows years ago about router tables, and asked him about miter slot vs. no miter slot. His opinion was, they're just there to collect sawdust. ;-)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Miter slot is just to collect dust ??? Boy I use mine all the time to secure feather boards. I've even stacked them up to 4" above the table when using long architectural molding bits for picture frames.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Kidding -- to a certain extent. <g> They definitely have their uses, but probably aren't mandatory. I just thought this guy was interesting, since he was selling Bench Dog router tables!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
By Jove, I think I've got it!!! Are you an instructor? If not, you should be. Thank you so much - that was exactly the info I needed. In fact, I'm gonna print your post right now.
See, now I'm all fired up to get back out there and I have to go to work instead...sigh :o)
You're the best -
Lara
Lara, I'm glad the post helped. Please be careful with your router. My last suggestion would be to pick up a good router handbook (the late Patrick Spielman is one of the top authors) and peruse it for ideas and safety guidelines.
Nope, don't know near enough about woodworking to teach it, but teaching experience in a couple other fields. I love seeing light bulbs go on, LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I am super careful...in fact, if I were a superhero, I'd like to think I'd be Safety Girl. :o) And I do have a couple of router books and woodworking books (Woodworking with the Router and the Popular Mechanics one, among others) that I've been reading, but I couldn't find anything specific to a piece of wood that thin. I will admit to being a bit impatient though - "less reading, more routing!!" So, you Wise Ones (I'm not worthy) have unfortunately been bearing the brunt of my instant gratification knowledge seeking. I hope I'm not being too much of a PITA.
I'd imagine you can see the illumination from my light bulb all the way over there in the NW! If you hear a loud pop, it blew :o)
I would try making a U-shaped channel in a larger piece of stock, for the lattice to fit within (squared U; dado set would work) and, using a sled on the fence, feed the whole unit past the bit. A miter gauge would work to replace the sled, but I like using a sled -- no worries about being perfectly parallel to a miter slot.
In a similar effort, I used a 12" miter saw to cut 2"-2.5" pieces of very, very small quarter-round moulding by routing a perfect-fit groove in the edge of a 2x4 and placing the molding in that for the cuts, which were 45° no less! for mini picture frames.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Typically, moulding is run on wide stock and then ripped off using a tablesaw or hand rip saw.
When that can't be done, you've been advised well by others on how to run little pieces past a router bit. However, you should try to plan the work to avoid these little nuisances whenever you can.
When given the choice of wasting a little raw stock or nibbling my fingers with a router bit I'll pick the former almost every time.
Edited 7/26/2006 5:00 pm ET by BossCrunk
Now, that makes a lot of sense too! Sadly, I don't have a table saw (yet). 'Scuse me while I go Google "hand rip saw" :o)
This one goes in the "Geez, why didn't I think of that" file...thanks!
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