Catch-22: Need router fence to make router fence!

[dlminehart]

I'm making the router fence featured on Wood magazine's cover recently. The faces of the fence are adjustable left and right, via slots on the back. To make the slots, they recommend using either a scroll saw or . . . a table-mounted router with a fence! Hello!

Not having a scroll saw, I used the edge guide that came with the router, on slots roughed in with an appropriately sized bit in my drill press. Tightened the edge guide down with the knurled screws. And found that strenuous hand-tightening was inadequate; vibration loosened the screws about halfway through the 2" slot cutting. Wayward slot.

Also, even when fixed, the edge guide only prevents the bit from moving away from the edge. Although the plywood was only 1/2" thick, and the bulk of the wood was drilled out, perhaps I should have eaten away 1/8" at a time. Anyway, the bit would sometimes grab on the rough inside of the drilled slot and jiggle a little toward the edge.

Result: depressingly funky slots, on outlandishly expensive ($4/sq ft) baltic birch.

I think I need to practice on cheap(er) materials for a while. And perfect a whole bunch of isolated router operations like slot cutting, rabbeting, dadoing, etc. Had hoped to jump right in and do something modestly productive . . . and it's looking now like, what with tax prep, mother visiting, trip to LA for a cousin's wedding, and other things, I'll be lucky to get some basic skills down before April! Color me frustrated...

[RickLab]

Dave,

You can clamp a straight piece of wood to the table top to use as a fence while you make your new one - it doesn't have to be fancy. Any setup that won't move should work fine. If you're working on the edge of the work piece you can bury part of the router bit in this temporary fence if need be.

[jstevens]

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

Tightened the edge guide down with the knurled screws. And found that strenuous hand-tightening was inadequate; vibration loosened the screws about halfway through the 2" slot cutting.

David, I find it very frustrating to work with tools/accessories that don't...work. Maybe some blue loctite on the threads will keep them from vibrating loose. But these days, if I don't have confidence in a tool, I buy a different one. (Actually, what I've done is save up a little longer for each tool so I can buy really good ones). It may seem expensive to go that route, but think of the costs in terms of lost time and wasted materials from using tools that don't work.

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

Also, even when fixed, the edge guide only prevents the bit from moving away from the edge.

Yeah, edge guides will do that. I only use them for routing the edge of the stock. For ploughing a groove or dado, try a dado jig that will keep the router from deviating toward either side of the line. Due to the size of the jig, you may need to rout the sheet first before you cut it to size.

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

perhaps I should have eaten away 1/8" at a time.

I have one hand-held router, and it's only around 1000W strong (maybe 1 1/4 HP) so I set my bits to cut around 3/16" at a time. Depending on the size of the bit and power of the router, you may be able to cut deeper, but I prefer to go conservatively, making sure that the bit doesn't get too hot, the motor doesn't get to hot, and the router is easy to control. (Especially that last one.)

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

Anyway, the bit would sometimes grab on the rough inside of the drilled slot and jiggle a little toward the edge.

You won't make that mistake again. Even with a weak router (by today's standards), I haven't seen a need to help my router out by removing material with a drill or saw prior to routing.

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

I think I need to practice on cheap(er) materials for a while. And perfect a whole bunch of isolated router operations like slot cutting, rabbeting, dadoing, etc.

All good ideas. I try to do a "practice run" on scrap materials, or cheap stuff like pine, particleboard or MDF before I go for the "finished version." I only started using a router about a year ago, so I make a lot of mistakes, and this helps reduce the materials costs of each mistake.

quote:Originally posted by dlminehart

Had hoped to jump right in and do something modestly productive . . . and it's looking now like, what with tax prep, mother visiting, trip to LA for a cousin's wedding, and other things, I'll be lucky to get some basic skills down before April! Color me frustrated...

David, I know how you feel. With materials as expensive as they are, and time in the shop so hard to find, it can be very hard to view mistakes as positive learning experiences or "costs of doing business" in woodworking. But don't let it get you down--you will get this project under your belt.

Over the past year, I've read a bunch of books and articles by the "experts" in routing and woodworking in general--Pat Warner, Lon Schleining, Mark Duginske, Jim Tolpin. One of the most valuable things I've learned from these authors is that no matter how many years they've been woodworking, and no matter how many beautiful, sophisticated projects they've completed, those guys STILL make mistakes!

The time and materials lost to mistakes are an unavoidable cost of woodworking for the novice and the expert. They're also an opportunity to learn and save time & materials in the future if you take a minute to figure out what went wrong. Now that I've started looking at it that way, woodworking is a little less frustrating. Best of luck to you, hope this helps.

Regards,

John

[mehranh]

If you have a drillpress, you can use an upcut router bit at the highest speed. It does a nice job , slow,but nevertheless..nice.

Alternatively, you can make a jig with couple of parrallel boards and a pattern cutting type of bit.

[ElRay]

quote:Originally posted by mehranh

Alternatively, you can make a jig with couple of parrallel boards and a pattern cutting type of bit.

Similarly, you can rip a 1x or 2x to give you two clean edges, then clamp one so that when the router base is against it, the "bottom edge" of the bit is in the right place and then clamp the other board so that the "top edge" of the bit is in the right place, then you can run the router between the boards.

A third option, assuming the slot needs to be parallel to one edge, and the edge is straight, you can add an auxiliary fence to your edge guide, and then sandwich the aux fence between the work piece and a second board, so the edge guide can't move away from the piece you're routing.

The route I'm taking is to make one of the "zero clearance" dado jigs from Wood, etc. and posted here in different threads before I start on the router fence.

Ray

[sscherin]

This was my "I need it quick solution" for a fence..

Suprisingly it worked quite well.
It's just a 2x4 with a dado cut for the bit and a floor sweep clamped on top for dust colection.

[PlaneDawg]

hate to say it - but that's sweet! simple, and almost elegant.

Paul

[boblon]

quote: hate to say it - but that's sweet! simple, and almost elegant.

Paul

I agree. Especially the floor sweep clamped to it for dust collection. I don't think I would have thought of that simple solution. Well done.

BobL.

[bmyers]

The factory edge of a piece of MDF is also very straight. You could use that in a pinch as something straight and stable.

BTW: Which Wood issue was that? I don't remember seeing it and I'm in the process of building a fence myself.

Bill

[dlminehart]

The Wood issue was Nov 2004. Here's a cover photo: