90 - Get the Most out of a Plunge Router, страница 17
Working with ^ Brass The brass I picked up for the keys of the layout tool on page 34 needed a little work before it could be used. The edges were rounded, so it wasn't quite flat, and it needed a bit of polishing. The nice thing is it only took a few simple steps to clean it up. To flatten the key so it would slide smoothly in the groove of the index block, I used a piece of 120-grit sandpaper attached to the top of a workbench. Simply slide the brass back and forth until it's flat, as shown in photo A. After shaping each key, rub the brass lightly with a fine abrasive pad to get rid of any scratches (photo B). A piece of steel wool (0000) provides a soft luster, as shown in photo C. Finally, to seal and protect the look of the key, spray on a couple coats of lacquer (photo D). <4 Cutting Extra-Wide Grooves A good way to cut the wide grooves needed for the router table inserts on page 28 is to start with an extra-long workpiece. This way you can make the cuts for both pieces at the same time so they're sized identically (Figure 1). To do this, you'll need to make multiple passes with the dado blade. Just set your dado blade to make a wide cut and set the depth of cut to match the thickness of the inserts as shown in Figure la To center the groove perfectly, you'll want to set the fence on your table saw so it's slightly off the center of the workpiece and make the first pass. Then turn the work-piece around and make a second pass. To widen the groove, adjust the fence and continue turning the workpiece end-for-end to keep the groove centered until you reach the ^^ final size of the groove. ^^ After completing the wide groove, you can trim the top and back pieces to size so they're ready to be assembled (Figure 2). phenolic ■ filler plate depth of groove matches thickness of phenolic inserts phenolic router plate FIRST: start slightly off center SECOND: turn &lank. and make second pass |
