How to Use a Router Table -- WOOD magazine

the router is one of the most versatile tools near workshop just a few router bits will allow you to embellish almost any project but the addition of a router table will greatly open up the possibilities the surface area of a router table is much greater than that of a handheld router and it excels at the machining of small awkward parts that you can't do with a handheld router this is woods version of a router table and what I'd like to do is talk to you a little bit more about what we did with it and I'll show you some of the tricks you can do with it this table consists of a very durable laminate top we have a hardwood surround you'll see a couple of feather boards and jam blocks on the top they're fully adjustable they slide on this little mini track keeps your wood down when you're doing some of the routing operations and finally a really nice dust shield and safety shield on the front that is adjustable you can't see it but behind here is also a vacuum port kind of helps keep the dust down from there too we also have a paddle type safety switch attached to the side of these angled legs making for a very stable base that can be clamped any surface now that you've seen our table let me show you some of the things you can do on it the first thing we're going to do is show you how to make this small piece of trim it's a very delicate very nice piece of trim really tough to do with a handheld router very easy to do on a router table but before we start let me talk to you about a few things the first is whenever using a router or any other tool eye protection hearing protection is a must the second thing is on a router table make sure that your feed Direction is always right to left it's important that you run in that direction because it maintains the most control over the router bit if this were a handheld router it would be left to right but since we've reversed that and put it upside down you're going to be going right to left the bit we're going to be using is called a wavy bit but more importantly its diameter is about an inch and by running the bit speed commensurate with the diameter of that router bit we're going to probably be running this router at around 20,000 rpm if this were a straight bit I could run it up into as much as 25,000 rpm but a very large panel raising bit or maybe rail and style set much larger bits should be run it between 12 and 16 thousand rpm you can check your manuals and your bit specs to make sure that you get the right set that's how we're going to use this machine let me show you how we're going to run this now the wood we're going to use for this project is called McCrory it's a wood I used on a project for the family and of course they don't make any McCrory trim so I had to make my own we're going to run it through the router do both sides and then later on you can take it to a table saw and cut off the ends I'll mark with a pencil the areas where we would take the table saw and cut that trim off you'll find that it's a very safe very easy way to make a lot of trim our second trick on the router table is making dowels let's just say you can't find the diameter of the species of wood you're looking for it's easy to do it on a router table in this case we're going to take a piece of oak this is one inch stock and create a one inch dowel and to do that we're going to use a 1/2 inch roundover bit okay now here's how the layout works I've taken a piece of one inch stock and put a mark three inches in from either end this just adds a little safety factor I've also marked the beginning and the end of my routing pass with a piece of tape on the back edge of this router table to start the route I'm going to take the leading edge of my piece of wood set it on that first mark and by holding well press it into the bit run right to left until the trailing edge of my piece of wood reaches the end and then pull that piece away I'll then turn it 90 degrees and do it again and repeat it and repeat it until I've routed all four sides now one of the tips that comes with this this is a relatively large bit I'm going to do this in two passes because if I try and take all of that material off at one time there's a good chance I'll get a check now I'm going to raised a bit and run this through four more times that will complete the turning and another thing to think about this is a one inch square and to make a one inch dowel I use a half inch roundover bit if I want a three quarter inch dowel I use a 3/8 router bit and so on here's a quick tip when routing endgrain on a piece of wood it's real easy to get blow out it's because this edge is unsupported here's a very inexpensive way to stop that this is a piece of MDF I've cut a hole in it here's another one with a little block glued to the front of it and it just allows me to provide support on the back of this piece when running through the router table it runs right up against the fence no fancy jigs needed or anything and it does a great job let me show you no tear out just a beautiful edge now tell you what's also nice about this when this begins to wear out just use a table saw and shorten it and when it gets too short to use throw it out and start over now another use for your router table is as a jointer if you don't have a jointer don't worry you can use your router table and what's called a pattern bit to do that work for you here's the pieces of stock that you need the first is a small piece of Formica this is relatively thin and what I did is I double stick tape tit to the outfeed edge of this router tables fence but before I put it on there took a piece of sandpaper or sanding block like this and I just radius this edge I'd like to kind of sand that down a little bit so that the wood doesn't get stuck on it as it passes by that side I now tuck a pattern bit this is what they look like this is called a bottom bearing pattern bit whose bearing the outside edge of which matches perfectly with that router blade when I put that in the table and have my fir mica double stick tape to the other side I can now take a straightedge and adjust my fence so as I come back at that bit I am just touching that bearing it now allows me to run a piece of material on the infeed edge that will joint that board as it runs on the outside let me show you how that works what a beautiful jointed edge all right our last tip involves use of a pattern bit but this time without the fence on the back and also to recreate a leg this is one leg and a project that I made they had four and of course the object is to have all four legs at the floor at the same time so I created a pattern to replicate these legs dozens of times the object behind it is to take a pattern like this and I use quarter-inch hardboard and use double stick tape to adhere it to a blank piece of wood using a jigsaw scroll saw a bandsaw cut that piece of wood to within a sixteenth of an inch or so away from that pattern and now using the pattern bit as you see on the table here we're going to run this past the bit and again riding on this bearing everything that sticks beyond that bearing or beyond this pattern will be trimmed off to create a beautiful leg let me show you how it works you so now let's strip away our pattern be careful here because you don't want to break the pattern if I take my existing leg and lay this on to it you notice the profile is exactly the same it's a great way to provide multiple legs they're all the same and they'll fit well now I hope you've liked what you've seen you're only limited by your imagination and the number of things that you can do with a router table if you want information on how to build this table or on tips techniques and some projects that will utilize it please see us at Wood magazine.com now get out there and start routing

Channel: WOOD magazine

Views: 827,611

Keywords: WOOD magazine, woodworking, how-to, project, plan, carpentry, tool, technique, review, table, saw, band, miter, cabinetry, cabinet, making, make, build, router, feather board, bit, Jim Heavey, Jim Heavy

Id: jamwRhQTJbA

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 29 2016