Popular Woodworking 2003-12 № 138, страница 61
TIPS & TRICKS PRO TRICK: Need Good Dowels? Just Make Your Own By rounding-over the four arrises of a square workpiece (where the edges and faces meet), you can make your own dowels on a router table. The width and thickness of the workpiece should be precisely twice the radius of the bit. As you rout, leave about 2" of stock uncut on either end of the piece to keep the work stable on the router table. GREAT TIP: Drawers Help Maximize Space in Your Table • R * If you're making your own router table, you can choose either a portable bench-top version or take advantage of the extra storage space in a floor model by adding drawers to store all your bits and any useful jigs and accessories. Popular Woodworking Making a Mounting Plate If you buy a router table, many will come with a mounting plate - a thin, flat sheet to which you attach the router base. The plate is needed to mount the router in any stationary jig, including the table. If you're making your own table, or if the one you purchased doesn't come with a mounting plate, don't worry -making the plate is rather straightforward. All you have to do is cut the material to size, drill a few holes and screw the plate to the jig or table. However, you must make several informed decisions as you fashion this simple part. • The material from which you make a mounting plate must be strong enough and dense enough to absorb the vibrations of the router, but thin enough so it won't restrict the depth of cut. You should be able to cut and drill the material easily, and it should be transparent so you can see what's going on beneath it. There is really only one material that fulfills all these requirements - transparent plastic. I suggest you use ordinary acrylic plastic that's rather inexpensive. Some structural plastics are super-strong, but too flexible. Acrylic is more rigid. I suggest using a 1/4"-thick sheet for routers up to 11/2-hp and a 3/8"-thick sheet for more powerful routers. • For safety and accuracy, there should be as little space as possible between the work surface and the router bit where it protrudes through the plate. However, bits can range in size from 1/i6" to 31/4". So what can you do? I suggest you drill the opening about 1/4" larger than the largest bit you own, then make several inserts to fit the opening. Use the same transparent material that the mounting plate was made from and just drill a different diameter hole in the center of each insert so you have a variety to choose from. • Once you make these inserts, you're going to need to fashion some way to hold them in place. Some router bases have metal or plastic flanges to mount guide bushings. If your router is so equipped, you can use these flanges to support and secure the inserts. If your router doesn't have built-in flanges, attach a plastic ring under the mounting plate. The inside diameter of this ring should be 1/2" smaller than the diameter of the mounting plate to create a ledge to support the inserts. • To cut an opening in the table's work surface for the mounting plate, first rout a square groove in the surface. Clamp a wooden frame to the table to guide the router and cut the groove so the depth matches the thickness of the mounting plate. (Make this groove about 1/32" smaller than the circumference of the plate; later, you can sand or file the edges of the plate to get a perfect fit.) Then make the router opening by Because router bits can range in size from 1/i6" to 3^/4",you should drill the plate's opening about V4" larger than the largest bit you own. Then you can make several inserts out of the same acrylic you used for the plate. |
