85 - Router Table, страница 10

6 Featherboards

▲ Extra Hand.

Featherboards work like an extra hand, keeping a workpiece tight against a table or fence.

Running a small piece of wood safely past a router bit spinning at 20,000 RPM can be a challenge. There's always the possibility the workpiece will kick out, lift up, or even kick back toward you. So it's a good idea to put that T-track on the fence and tire miter gauge slot in the table to good use and add a featherboard or two.

The Benefits. Whether you mount the featherboard to the table or fence, it applies pressure against the workpiece. The flexible fingers allow the workpiece to slide smoothly in one direction, helping prevent the workpiece from moving up, away, or kicking back at you. You can make your own featherboard, but there are a number of manufacturers that make inexpensive models that are easy to use. One of my favorites is the Bench DogFeather-Loc shown in the margin.

Bench Dog has models you can mount to the fence or table. The table version has a short miter bar for locking the featherboard anywhere along the miter track with the turn of a knob. Prices vary from $20 to $25 depending on the model.

7 Corral the Dust

Whether it's hand-held or mounted in a table, a router tends to create more dust and chips than you can imagine — and it spreads the mess around the shop faster than you might think possible.

Collect the Dust. To minimize this problem, the first thing you should do after attaching the fence to the router table is bolt a dust hookup in place, like the one you see in the photo at right.

The nice thing about adding a dust hookup is that it doesn't cost a lot. The one you see at right is only $13 and makes hooking up your shop vacuum or dust collector hassle-free. Most woodworking stores or mail-order sources carry dust hookups for router table fences (refer to page 51).

inexpensive t hood makes routing more enjoyable by keeping your shop cleaner.

Tandem Model. If you plan to rout tall workpieces on edge, Bench Dog offers a version that stacks two featherboards together with a spacer in between. This tandem version provides additional pressure to ensure the workpiece stays flat against the fence.

Stopped Cuts. When you need to start or stop routing a workpiece at a precise point along its length, then a stop attached to the fence of the router table is the accessory you need. A stop can be as simple as a wood block clamped to the face of the fence. But many manufacturers have made stops even more convenient by designing them as a separate accessory that attaches to the T-track they manufacture.

A manufactured stop is easy to adjust and clamp in place. And it's a whole lot quicker than trying to

deal with a wood block and separate clamp (or two).

Compatibility. But you might run into trouble trying to adapt some manufactured stops to the fence and T-track you're using. So I've found that an easy solution is to simply turn the Bench Dog Feather-Loc upside down and turn it into a handy stop, like you see in the photo above.

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ShopNotes No. 85