Taller featherboard for router table?

[GaryA]

I've got the Bench Dog ProMax & Prolift CI router table set up. I was going to give my new Woodline plantation shutter router bit set a try...and as I was cutting a test louver (which is fed vertically), i noticed that as the bit takes off the material on the bottom, the featherboard is no longer holding it well, and flat up against the fence, since it now has an angled roundover. I'm thinking that the horizontal FB actually needs to sit dead in the center of the louver (its about 3.75" wide) to give it the support it needs. I saw that Bench Dog makes the Tandem featherboard set...but that doesnt seem like it would do it. Am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thanks

[pecker]

Perhaps you could clamp a block of wood to the fence, with a spacer the same thickness as your stock, to act as a guide which would hold the piece vertical.

[SARGE..g-47]

As Pecker stated, why not just shim it?

[GaryA]

so, in other words, have it catch the piece and fill the gap on the outfeed? I like the idea, but I'm not sure how i'd be able to get such a small piece in, and with a clamp. Maybe double sided tape?

[pecker]

No...your stock is 3.75" across, and stands vertically, right?
On the outfeed side, ABOVE the stock, you would clamp a piece of wood, with a spacer as thick as your stock between it and the fence. The piece of wood would extend downward, say to about an inch below the top of your stock. This would form a sort of tunnel, or guide, for your work to slide through as it leaves the cutter. Since it would be near the top of the fence, it will hold your work vertically against it.

[pecker]

Sorta like this:

You will need to slightly roundover the edge at the entrance of the "tunnel" to help guide the stock into it. You could put one on the infeed side also, to help stabilize your work.

[GaryA]

Aha...I see! So, looks like my problem with that setup is that I do not have a nice tall fence like you do to clamp the "shim" above the workpiece . See pics below. I'm open for suggestions...

[pecker]

Get some longer T-bolts for your featherboards, then put spacers under the orange part to raise them up to the middle of your workpiece.
Or maybe make another fence out of two boards, L shaped and clamped to the table, such that your stock travels between both fences and stays upright.

[GaryA]

Great idea...thanks!

I dont guess those longer t-bolts can be found locally at a hardware store that would fit the sslot?

[LarryG]

Gary, your pictures are a little misleading about the nature of the problem. You have to make four passes to complete each blade, right? The reason the pictures are misleading is because until the workpiece passes the bit, the wood is NOT shaped but is instead flat on that "corner" and is in full contact with the fence. Therefore, a featherboard rigged normally on the infeed side of the bit will always work just fine.

On the outfeed side, however, you need to apply a shim to the face of the fence that matches the thickness of the removed material. Then rig a second featherboard on the outfeed side of the bit. The shim will keep the featherboard from pressing the workpiece into the fence on that side.

The shim does not have to exactly match the curved profile of the machined blade, nor does it have to be the full height of the machined area. It just needs to be the correct thickness at the point it contacts the workpiece, at the level of the featherboard.

[GaryA]

You're right Larry...the pic was misleading, and not the way I actually had it set up. But I see what you're saying. What is the best thing to use for shimming something like this (i understand I dont need to shim to whole profile). I think also, a built-up feather board with the longer bolts would give me some good support if it was hitting the center of the louver (the flat part). Thanks

[mpc]

Can the slats be left long during the router operations - so you have a square end? You'd have to rotate the workpiece into the spinning bit (similar to dropping a cabinet rail/style onto a bit to cut a mortice) but then you'd have the square end already past the bit two or three inches, riding against the outfeed fence, keeping the workpiece square. Once the 4 router passes are complete, then slice off the square end.

I got this idea from a ShopNotes (? Or other woodworker mag) about making custom dowels on the router with a basic roundover bit. Both ends of the work were left square, then hacked off after the middle portion was rounded by the bit in 4 passes.

Just an idea, though adding an outfeed shim to your fence is probably what I'd do too.

mpc