Popular Woodworking 2003-12 № 138, страница 54
TIPS & TRICKS GREAT TRICK: Scrap Piece Helps when Routing Narrow Work When routing the end of a narrow work-piece on a router table, use a large square scrap to guide it along the fence. The scrap not only holds the work perpendicular to the fence, it also backs up the wood so it won't tear out. GREAT TIP: Keep Your Hands Away With Small Workpieces If a workpiece is very small, your hands may come too close to the router bit as you rout it. In this case, you have two choices - you can rout the work with a portable router using a commercially available foam rubber "routing pad" to hold the work, or you can rout a portion of a larger workpiece and cut a small piece from it, as seen above. GREAT TIP: Slide Smoothly with Wax To help the table slide more smoothly, wax and buff the table surface, the fence faces, the miter gauge bars and the grooves for any miter fixtures. Popular Woodworking you also need to check that the router is properly aligned and adjusted in the table. There are two things you need to check - the depth of cut (the distance the bit protrudes past the mounting plate) and the position of the fence. Other things to remember when using a router table with a fence include: • Keep the workpiece pressed firmly against the fence to ensure you get as straight a cut as possible. • Feed the work slowly and steadily -do not pause, if you can help it. When properly used, a fence guides the work and also protects you from the bit. Even when using a bit with a bearing guide, align the fence faces even with the front edge of the bearing and adjust the fence gap as tightly against the bit as possible. • Let the fence surround the unused portion of the bit. • Whenever practical, use feather-boards, push sticks and push shoes to guide the work along the fence. A router table also can be used without a fence. In these cases, a starting pin and a bit with a bearing or a template guide attached is used. This operation is similar to using a hand-held router with a similarly guided bit, but the table operation makes it safer and easier to use larger-profile bits. The starting pin provides an extra bearing point to allow you to rest against two points while routing, adding an extra level of safety. When using the router table in this setup it's even more important to maintain proper safety and hand clearance from the exposed bit. Doubles as a Jointer Speaking of fences, it would be a large oversight not to mention using a router table as an edge-jointer. Some commercially available router-table fences give you the option to adjust the face of the outfeed table forward slightly (by as much as Vs") to offset the fences. With a straight router bit aligned tangentially to the face of the outfeed table, you can run wood across the fence and straighten or thin edges just as you would on a jointer. Bit is aligned with face of outfeed fence By offsetting the outfeed fence (moving it forward 1/i6" or Vs"), a router table can be used as an efficient edge jointer. The face of the outfeed fence is aligned with the furthest point of the straight bit and, as the wood passes the bit, the outfeed fence supports the cut. |
