Routing issue

[LCHIEN]

DIY router table starting pin

Here, I made one in about 10 minutes of shop time.
Used approx 1-1/4" long 1/2" dowel and a store-bought 1/4" dowel pin.

Fits snugly into the 1/4" hole in my router table I have for the starter pin.

[radhak]

Imagine - i was thinking postings were sparse today, then this eye opener thread comes up. Loring, thanks a ton for that 'would have never known otherwise' piece of advice. no wonder all my end grain had gouges - so much so that i gave up on routing the extremities and would sand them down . i always believed i had the wrong technique and despaired of learning the right way.

Funnily, i am sure i have seen the starting pin in a couple of books i skimmed thru - but i never read it's purpose at all.

Now I need to find a way to incorporate a pin on my shop-made table. Shall try Loring's dowel technique first, then maybe order it.

[ironhat]

We who live a long way from a builders' supply store, let alone a BORG, let alone a Woodcraft-type place, learn to get cheerful when we discover something we had no idea we needed IS ALREADY IN THE HOUSE...and possibly chuckle that, unbeknown to us it was there all along.

So it's easier for me to see the happy side of this than the 'unfortunately' part.

[gwyneth]

Chiz, isn't it great? You already have everything you need--smaller hole plates, the pin, something to hold small parts.

Unfortuntely, I was too ignorant to know what I had and how to use it. Every project is a new opportunity, isn't it?

We who live a long way from a builders' supply store, let alone a BORG, let alone a Woodcraft-type place, learn to get cheerful when we discover something we had no idea we needed IS ALREADY IN THE HOUSE...and possibly chuckle that, unbeknown to us it was there all along.

So it's easier for me to see the happy side of this than the 'unfortunately' part.

[LCHIEN]

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll get on it tomorrow afternoon.

I guess the most popular term is STARTING PIN. Here's some very good references on the 'net I googled.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/usestrtpin.html

(at the end of the article, the pivot board i suggested earlier:
http://www.rd.com/content/openConten...ontentId=17863

http://www.woodnet.net/tips/routing/...-starting-pin/

[jwaterdawg]

Just my $10^-2 but I always use a starting pin for any free-hand work regardless of how big the piece is. A router bit can be a dangerous puppy if not treated with respect. The only time I don't use one is when referencing off the fence. I just think there's too much potential to get hurt with freehanding on the routing table without one.

[ironhat]

<snip>

Chiz, isn't it great? You already have everything you need--smaller hole plates, the pin, something to hold small parts.

Unfortuntely, I was too ignorant to know what I had and how to use it. Every project is a new opportunity, isn't it?

[gwyneth]

Loren, I also noted the existence of a hole at 3:00, which in your picture appears to hold the pin.

Using the word 'backup' may be a little misleading to describe the technique--the idea is that the pin is a fulcrum, sort of a bearing for the workpiece until you have completed the beginning of the feed process.

Chiz, isn't it great? You already have everything you need--smaller hole plates, the pin, something to hold small parts.

[LCHIEN]

Would there be a problem raising the bit slowly through the table--say 1/16 per pass--and using the bearing?

Chris

I would not do it that way. Usually the height is very critical for like roundover bits, you want to set one height and use it for all pieces and not be resetting it. I've made lots of roundovers this way:
The bearing limits the cut, you can feed faster and not so hard and take a little off per pass if you don't want to cut too deep, that's usually what I do. With the bearing precisily controlling the limit of travel by gudiing along a firmly attached finished edge, its easy to make light, multiple passes without worrying about keeping perfectly to a fence or making a less than straight cut. just do it over and over until you don't hear that bzzzz sound of wood being cut. then you know it will be smooth and even and never burned.

[ironhat]

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll get on it tomorrow afternoon.

[cbrown]

Would there be a problem raising the bit slowly through the table--say 1/16 per pass--and using the bearing?

Chris

[LCHIEN]

Alternate way

For those of you reading this and not having a pin, there's an alternate way that is used. That is to clamp a pointed stick to the router table so that the tip of the stick is positioned in the same place as the pin, you then use the point in the same way you use the pin.

If you want to have a starting pin but don't want to pay $3 for a pin and $5 for shipping and wait five days, you can easily make one - a stepped post. Take a .5" dowel and drill a centered hole in it 1/4" dia. Push a 1/4" dowel pin into it. Cut it so its 3/4" to 1" long on the .5" part and 1/2 to 3/4" long on the .25" dia part. Drill a 1/4" dia. hole in your plate just outside the insert tring and around 3:00, 4:30, or 6:00 relative to the bit, depending upon your preference.

[LCHIEN]

Wow, this got a lot of traffic while we went out for a pizza. Yea, I have the pin for the threaded hole - came with the lift. I have never use one so I never gave it a thought. I'll bet I'll be practicing on some of my cutoffs. Does using the pin take care of the the bit edge grabbing at the 90* corner as well? Can I use the pin and the fence, along with addition to the fence per Chris' suggestion? I'll look at the possibility of using a smaller ring - it came with 3 or 4. Routing is a whole new world to me. I've been reaing the Hylton-Matlack book piecemeal so I'd better do my research there as well. No sense losing a knuckle and ruining a good project - LOL (sort of).

No, absolutely don't use a fence with the starting pin. Look at the Router Workshop/Oak part link I gave you earlier. That should explain how.
The key is that you use the pin as a backup so that the router does not grab the end of your workpiece and you lose control. Once you have started the piece and are moving down the side you can come completely away from the pin, which is why you need to have the rest of the table open (no fence!). Yes it takes care of any corners, rounded or square, see the link.

here it is again:
http://www.routerworkshop.com/safetypin01.html

[ironhat]

Wow, this got a lot of traffic while we went out for a pizza. Yea, I have the pin for the threaded hole - came with the lift. I have never use one so I never gave it a thought. I'll bet I'll be practicing on some of my cutoffs. Does using the pin take care of the the bit edge grabbing at the 90* corner as well? Can I use the pin and the fence, along with addition to the fence per Chris' suggestion? I'll look at the possibility of using a smaller ring - it came with 3 or 4. Routing is a whole new world to me. I've been reaing the Hylton-Matlack book piecemeal so I'd better do my research there as well. No sense losing a knuckle and ruining a good project - LOL (sort of).

[LCHIEN]

I was wondering if you (or somebody besides me) thought the hole between the arrows and the bit was in fact for the pin: my point was that he wouldn't have to drill the table.

This seems to be the router lift/plate Chiz has. Actually it has a hole for a guide/starting pin, to the left of the bit, not under the bit. Don't really see the hole in Chiz's photo, maybe the workpiece hides it. Unless his is different, it looks like there's a hole. In fact, the Woodpecker page says that the router lift comes with a solid brass starting pin (yet another name) so Chiz already has one.
The hole you mention is for the "lift wrench" for making coarse adjustments (actually locks the lift). The crank handle is for making fine adjuetments when the lift wrench is locked. You'll note the photo shows a router guide pin installed to the right of the insert just outside the red insert ring.




Link to full description page for this lift.
http://www.woodpeck.com/quickliftalum.html


I have a Woodpecker "plain" table (no lift). I drilled a hole for a starter pin at around 4:30 (if you consder 12:00 to be straight above the bit). I think that works better than the position shown. Maybe as far around as 6:00 would be OK.