Skil router & PC dovetail Jig

[greencat]

I recently purchased the dovetail jig and realized that the Skil would not take the template guide. No real suprise and I wouldn't recommend any one buy this router. I was going to buy a universal base when I decided to email Skil. They have an adapter for my base that is only $7.50 shipped. I hope it works.

This is the part number if anyone needs it. RAS140

Skil Factory Service Center
901 S Rohlwing Rd Unit C
Addison IL 60101
Phone 1.800.346.4103 (menu option 1)

[greencat]

Am I going to have a problem?

I got the part from Skil. The PC guide fits but the part does not seem centered.

Do you think I will have a problem using in a dovetail jig or if I hold the router in the same position that the off center will not matter?

[JimD]

I think you can cut dovetails fine if you are not perfectly centered if you keep the handles of the router in the same orientation throughout the cut. It is worth loosening the screws that hold the baseplate to the router, however, and trying to shift things a little to get better alignment. You have to be pretty well aligned with the jigs I have used because the dovetail bit is larger in diameter than the template guide and there is not a lot of clearance where the bit is closest to the guide. As long as you are dealing in a small mis-alignment it should work fine. I would test it in scrap first, however. I routinely cut the first pieces 2 to 3 inches long so I can test the setup and cut off 1/2 an inch if I do not like what I see.

Jim

[greencat]

Thanks for your help. I want to build some drawers and don't have a planner. What thickness of wood should I use for the sides and back?

[sacherjj]

The Skil Router I have doesn't always lock up correctly. By that I mean the bit isn't always angled the same when I change height. Try to center it as best as possible when locking the height adjustment and then just keep the handles the same.

I wish I knew more about woodworking before I bought my Skil router. It is 2-1/4 HP, I believe, but it really struggles with reproducable possitioning. But, I guess you can never have too many routers.

[LarryG]

Depends on the drawer size.

"Normal" size drawers -- meaning those like you'd find in residential kitchen and bath cabinetry, furniture, and millwork for offices -- generally have 1/2" bodies. The larger examples of these might use 5/8". Very small drawers, such as in an apothecary cabinet, are usually 3/16" or 1/4". Large shop drawers to hold your power tool collection can stand to be 3/4".

Some of this has to do with strength, some with visual scale. For example 1/2" bodies for the aforementioned apothecary cabinet would be stronger than needed for what they can hold; but equally important, they'd look really clunky and amateurish.

[greencat]

"Normal" size drawers -- meaning those like you'd find in residential kitchen and bath cabinetry, furniture, and millwork for offices -- generally have 1/2" bodies. The larger examples of these might use 5/8". Very small drawers, such as in an apothecary cabinet, are usually 3/16" or 1/4". Large shop drawers to hold your power tool collection can stand to be 3/4".

Some of this has to do with strength, some with visual scale. For example 1/2" bodies for the aforementioned apothecary cabinet would be stronger than needed for what they can hold; but equally important, they'd look really clunky and amateurish.

I'm thinking about drawers in a bedroom dresser. What type of wood would you use for the body? Can I buy 1/2 inch wood?

[LarryG]

I'm thinking about drawers in a bedroom dresser. What type of wood would you use for the body? Can I buy 1/2 inch wood?

Lowe's and HD sell "craft boards" that are available in 1/2" thickness, but they're very expensive and likely not wide enough for the size (height) of drawers you'd have in a dresser.

Your best bet is Baltic birch plywood. This too isn't cheap, but it's almost the ideal material for drawer bodies since it is strong, has good flatness stability, contains few internal voids, and attractive. The top edges of the drawers can be dressed with a bullnose or roundover bit and will still look quite nice, even though the plies are exposed.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=846

I think JimD has built a lot of drawers out of BB plywood using dovetail joinery, and should be able to tell you a lot more than I can.

[scorrpio]

I would try centering if there is wiggle room. It looks like the base itself is out of alignment. My Dewalt router came with a special concentricity gauge, you might have to improvise.

Far as what wood, ash or poplar are popular wood choices for drawer bodies. Not sure what stores may carry it locally in 1/2", but you can order ash from Rockler. Not sure what your drawer height will be, their 4.5" wide/0.5" thick ash is $0.30 per linear inch, which means you'll be paying a whopping $19 per board foot of a wood that lumberyards sell rough at $2-$3/BF.

[sacherjj]

If you can find a good local hardwood lumber supplier, they will blow away Rockler or Woodcarft's prices. Check out http://www.woodfinder.com/ The lumberyard I have been using will also S4S for me at a reasonable price.

[JimD]

Larry is correct, I use BB plywood for drawers a lot. I have also mail ordered 1/2 inch maple for drawers but it is more cost and work than ripping up a sheet of plywood. I buy 1/2 inch BB plywood in 5x5 sheets for about $30 locally. That's $1.20/square foot - pretty cheap. It is harder to cut in a dovetail jig with a router than solid wood but it works. The voids are so few I do not bother to cover the plys. It is easy to tell it is plywood but LOML does not object to the appearance including in furniture for our room (16 drawers in our room alone).

BB plywood is a little less than 1/2 inch so it helps to have a dovetail jig like the one I have from Harbor Freight that has a separate adjustment for the thickness of the drawer side. You have to extrapolate the table but it is possible to get normal dovetails in this slightly non-standard material with that adjustment. In a jig like the older or newer PC with built in stops, you cannot readily adjust for less than 1/2 inch material (or at least I could not figure out how to do it) and so you end up with dovetails where the slots in the front are deeper than they need to be so you have gaps. They may not be visible but the side pieces do not bottom out properly. If that is the sort of jig you have, you may want to buy some 1/2 inch material.

I use the BB plywood for the backs and also for the fronts if the visible front of the drawer will be a separate piece of wood. If the front with the dovetails in it will be visible, I use 3/4 hardwood for the front. I typically dovetail the backs because it is so simple once the jig is set up but that is not necessary, a dado is sufficient.

Jim