New to routing/tables, questions.

[bobby_m]

I finally broke down and spent some money on tools rather than begging and borrowing through my home improvement adventures.

I picked up the BT3100, the Ryobi 2hp plunge router (mounted it in the BT), and a nice assortment of router bits. I've borrowed routers and have done some limited work with a straight cut bit and a clamped straight edge, but I know there is much more to it.

What I'm most confused about is how one decides whether to hand-hold the router vs. table mount it. Which bit styles are used for each situation, and how the fence on the table plays into it.

1. I assume that bits that use a pilot bearing can actually be used hand held or table mounted, but that there really is no reason to use a fence since the bearing guided the bit over the work (with the operator's help of course). If you do use the table mount, I suppose the use of a fence would be more an issue of safety.

2. Fence options. Without exploring manufactured router tables and conventional fence positioning, I first thought of using the BT3100's rip fence in the same way it is used for tablesaw ripping. That is, putting the work piece between the fence and the bit. Now that I look into things (and various pictures on this site), I see that the fence usually has a relief cut in it that harbors the bit partially. In this config, the routing occurs on the side of the work piece facing the fence. I suppose it's easier to set the bit's reveal to the work piece in this manor.

3. Would a rectancular tube of aluminum make for a good router fence? I'm thinking it would be easy to t-nut mount it to the rip fence and being hollow, easy to adapt a dust port to the end.

Thanks for any insight.

Bobby

[LarryG]

Bobby,

I see you're new to the forum (two posts), so welcome!

First thing I'm going to recommend is that you buy a copy of "Woodworking With the Router" by Bill Hylton and Fred Matlack. This is the best router "accessory" you will ever buy. There's a new, updated edition coming in a week or two; you might want to wait for that.

Handheld vs Table: To some extent, a matter of preference, but in general if I can make the cut on my router table that's what I do, with handheld being used mostly as a last resort, or when the operation makes the table impractical (i.e., "inside" plunge cuts). A good rule of thumb is: if the workpiece is small enough to handle easily, take it to the router in the table; when the workpiece is too heavy or unweidly to do that, take the router to the workpiece.

Bearing Bits In A Table: Yes, you can use most of these without a fence, but for safety you need a starter pin, to serve as a fulcrum when you lever the workpiece into the spinning bit. A little hard to describe in words but the Hylton/Matlack book will explain all. I always use the fence with straight workpieces, and use a starter pin without the fence mostly only for pieces that have curves or recesses the fence won't allow the bit to reach into.

Fence Setup: You don't want any part of the workpiece between the bit and fence; that's very unsafe (the exception being non-thru cuts, like dados or slots for bolts). Also, when the bit is buried in the fence, if the workpiece drifts away from it a little, it doesn't matter ... you just back up, reseat the workpiece against the fence, and continue. A fence is also the best and simplest way to make incremental passes, removing a small portion of wood each time, rather than trying to take it all off at once. Finally, a fence allows you to isolate the bearing completely; i.e., make the cut as if the bearing wasn't there. (Especially when profiling edges, you don't want the bearing to be in control of the workpiece's position relative to the cutters if you can possibly avoid it. When I make my last incremental clean-up pass, I typically set the fence out in front of the bearing a few thousandths, such that as the workpiece slides along the fence, the bearing itself doesn't spin.)

There are lots of ways to skin the router-table-fence cat. A lot of us use shop-built fences constructed from plywood and/or MDF, many including dust ports. Here's mine, loosely copied from a design in WOOD magazine:


Although all of us here will be happy to answer your questions, I cannot stress enough how valuable a resource the Hylton/Matlack book is. They'll teach you answers to routing questions most of us don't even enough to ask!

[scorrpio]

Routing on a table gives you more control and safety. Therefore, any operation that can be done on a table should be. Large bits like panel raisers etc should always be run in a table. Handheld routing is generally reserved for working on large pieces - i.e. shaping edge of a table top. Additionally, plunge routing is a bit hard to do properly in a table unless you have some kind of adjustable stop system for controlling elevation.

Pilot bearings help a lot to limit the cut, but fence gives you greater flexibility. If you try to put a full 3/4" cove on the edge of a hard maple board, you'll probably stall the router, ruin the bit, or tear up the board. By setting the fence, you can make gradual passes (1/8" at a time) until the wood rides on the bearing. Fence also provides superior support against tall workpieces. Try properly routing a door panel or a piece of molding with a vertical bit, using nothing but bearing to keep it plumb.

I think that aluminum square pipe will do good. Most people are more comfortable with wood, however, cause if fence contacts the bit, it's no biggie. In many cases, fence actually works a ZCTP - you clamp a blank to your fence, and feed it into the bit so that it will provide maximum suppork for your work.

[bobby_m]

Thanks for the tips, it's all making sense to me now. I'll check out that book when the updated version comes out.

Bobby

[vaking]

Since you are using router in the BT accesory table take a look at pictures below. These are pictures of my Hitachi M12V in that table with the fence installed. My fence is a Craftsman Pro I attached to rails of BT. I also attached a Ryobi Dual-slot miter table (part of accessory kit) between the blade and router so I have miter slots usable with either saw, router or can take it out and put SMT in its place. The fence can surely be made out of wood, for me it was just quicker and cheaper.

[onedash]

Larry G
Maybeim confused. How do you use your router table? Looks to me like your fence is turned perpendicular to where it should be. If I had to guess the pic is of the back and you feed it in from the other side and the piece on the right hand side of the photo is another fence to keep it tight to the router fence???
Just seems strange that you dont stand in front? (to the right side of the photo) But the table looks to be to long.
And Vaking? Same thing I guess? When I was contemplating putting a router in my table saw I would have had the fence parallel with the blade but would have gone to the right side of the saw and faced the blade to run the piece through so it would be me/router bit/fence/table saw blade.
Any advantage/disadvantage to this method you both use?

[scorrpio]

onedash -
Larry's setup is shot from the back. He apparently stands on the side furthest from camera. Vaking's setup is shot from operator's position.

When you rip or crosscut something on a table saw, you usually stand at the fromt of the saw, and feed the workpiece through the blade in 'away from you motion - you do not stand to the side of the saw feeding the piece side-to side. It is a far more natural motion to move the work along your eyesight. Just like working with hand saw, you move it towards-away from you, rather than side-to side.

Same idea here - the work is fed into the router bit in same fashion as it is fed into a table saw blade during a rip cut.

You might be confused by the fact that most benchtop router tables have their fence oriented along table front, positioning the operator for a side-to-side feed. This mostly has to do with a fact that benchtop tables are designed for small shops - snd in smaller shops, benches are usually along the walls, so you HAVE to make fence parallel to the wall in order not to limit the table capacity. Standalone router tables do not have that limitation, as you can work from either side. In fact, were I to build a benchtop router table, I would probably design something that can be pulled out to protrude in front of the bench, letting me stand to the side of the fence, rather than in front of it.

[LarryG]

It ain't ideal, but it was free.

My router table is actually a wide table-slash-mobile base for a BT3x00, built by forum member Otter and given to me when he was seduced by the Dark Side and had no further use for it. I didn't have room in my shop to use it for its intended function, so I positioned it so it would best work as a router table.

The picture below shows how I extended the top to the shop's side wall, to create a place for my planer. The lighter-colored top where the planer sits fills in the area where the BT would normally go. When I need to use the planer, I remove the router fence and slide the planer down to cover the router lift.


Were it not for the planer extension, I could have turned the fence 90 degrees, the orientation that seems like it ought to have. And in fact I would have preferred that. It would have required a fence roughly four feet long, twice as long as the one pictured, but that wouldn't have been a problem. But as you can see, I wouldn't have had any outfeed clearance: the planer is shoved hard against the wall.

Both pictures were indeed taken from the back side of the table; I stand on the opposite side and feed the stock into the bit pretty much the same way you would on a table saw. This is not a good arrangement, though. The best place to stand at a router table is not at the end, not at the front, but diagonally off one corner. (In the above picture, if you can imagine the fence mirrored to the other side of the bit so that the feed direction would be from lower right to upper left, the camera position is essentially at the location I mean.) This is the best compromise position between being able to feed the workpiece past the bit and hold it against the fence.

EDIT: Forgot to say that Yes, the flat board on the opposite side of the lift from the fence is a hold-in ... it works more or less like a featherboard. The cutouts you see in it are so I can insert the crank handle into the lift no matter where the hold-in is positioned, with the hold-in board re-oriented (i.e., flipped end-for-end) if necessary to bring the proper cutout into play. I use this mostly when cutting dados or slots out in the middle of a wide workpiece.

[JimD]

Hand-held versus in a router table depends more on the piece you are working on instead of what bit you are using. If the workpiece is small, I usually use the router table. If I am rounding over the edge of the bottom of a dresser, like I did on Sunday, I use a hand-held router.

I like wood for a router table fence. For some operations, it is important to bury the bit in the fence. You can't reasonably do that with an aluminum fence. I like melamine particle board with a coat of wax. It is cheap and slick with the wax.

Jim