Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 Aww yiss. One of these jobs will take ten minutes, the other will be a weekend job I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 Is "new router bit day" a thing yet? The one on the left is my Ø11mm cutter on an 8mm shank that's seen too many days of being ridden hard and put away wet. She still does a great job, but that bearing is becoming a bit worn and needs constant cleaning/lubrication since it isn't sealed. That mighty Ø12mm shank on the Ø19,1mm diameter milling bit is going to need a new collet though. It isn't even going to touch the sides of the 1/2" collet that came with the Makita. It wouldn't even be fun watching it try. ...also, R5 roundover so I'm good for most of the major sizes. Hopefully now that I have a router table on the horizon, an R2 roundover bit should become more usable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 Protip: If you're working in Windows on a full size keyboard, hold down ALT and type 0216 on the number pad to get Ø. Also in this twelve CD set, classics such as the unforgettable ALT+0176 (°), ALT+0178 (²), ALT+0179 (³) and many many more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 I should print a note about those. Then again, "merkistö" (whatever that thingy is called in English) does the job pretty nicely most of the times. The German ß would sometimes be nice but my relatives understand a double s as a substitute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, Prostheta said: Aww yiss. One of these jobs will take ten minutes, the other will be a weekend job I think. Wot's in the glass? Looks like an IPA glass..... SR 3 hours ago, Bizman62 said: I should print a note about those. Then again, "merkistö" (whatever that thingy is called in English) does the job pretty nicely most of the times. The German ß would sometimes be nice but my relatives understand a double s as a substitute. Character map. I'm old school so I tend to remember these pretty easily. I guess growing up knowing the ASCII set meant something after all! Edited September 4, 2020 by Prostheta Oops, managed to tick too many checkboxes and hit mod functions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Looks like an IPA glass..... Most certainly is. Alcohol in Finland is so freaking expensive that even beer glasses only measure mere centiliters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Wot's in the glass? Looks like an IPA glass..... SR Talisker 10yo in a Glencairn glass. Nina complained about it being cold today in spite of it being 19°C during the day. The rain and general wet air kicks arthritis in the balls somewhat. After picking up the router lift, Nina insisted that we have a whisky before sauna. As usual, I decline to complain for fear of upsetting life's minor balances. This is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonMay Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 1 minute ago, Prostheta said: Talisker 10yo in a Glencairn glass. Nina complained about it being cold today in spite of it being 19°C during the day. The rain and general wet air kicks arthritis in the balls somewhat. After picking up the router lift, Nina insisted that we have a whisky before sauna. As usual, I decline to complain for fear of upsetting life's minor balances. This is fine. @Prostheta ,happy wife.... happy life. It might have been tough, but compromise can be a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 9 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Nina insisted that we have a whisky before sauna. This is fine. Good woman you've got there. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 10 minutes ago, ScottR said: Good woman you've got there. SR You're damn right. When it's both the opposites of special and simple at the same time, that's the balance. However, I believe Nina snores louder than I do, but I can't quite verify this. She was of course interested in the starter pin on the router lift. Because you have to be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 I think that the 50mm lens reduced to 35mm, coupled with the distance needed to get things in frame skewed the size of things. The router lift plate is something like 298 x 235,5mm. Just under 12" by just over 9-1/4". Once the router is in there, the weight is finger breaking good. I'm sure that I'll keep those spare digits out of the pinch zone when mounting it into the table! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 The next piece in this puzzle is how to rout a port with a shallow rebate in the MDF top. The rebate must have R20 corners to match the router lift's plate and a depth of at least 10mm, preferably 10-11mm so the adjuster screws haven't got a lot of work to do. I'm going to have to end up making a template in plywood. Four low/narrow pieces of plywood DSTed to the template sheet all meeting end to side from around the lift itself will work. Once those four pieces are in place, the corners need knocking out with a Ø40mm Forstner bit. Aligning this into the corners and knocking in the point with a hammer before drilling is probably the best way. The other alternative would be using the 38mm drum on the spindle sander to work into the corners but I'm unsure whether this will be too tight for the corner radius....I'll have to take calipers to the drum itself with paper loaded. Having two options will help my head work on it today whilst stripping wallpaper.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 My Ø38mm sanding drum does in fact turn out to be a hair over Ø40mm when it has sandpaper fitted. That's absolutely perfect. So the objective is to trace a rough outline on a sheet of plywood, knock out a few holes larger than Ø40mm near each corner so the spindle can fit through, run a single layer of tape around the plate to ease the fit slightly, tape plywood strips around to make the "negative" space for the template, sand the corners out to meet the plywood strips, then rout the straight edges till the waste can be removed. If this isn't self-explanatory, photos will help illustrate once I do this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2020 So in principle, this. The four straight-edged pieces of plywood bounding the router lift plate are set in an anti-clockwise edge-to-end manner. Even though these pieces are cleanly cut from a table saw and hence mate perfectly, they don't really need to thanks to the internal corner radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 The first job is to knock out a hole in each corner. The largest Forstner bit I have on hand (read: "can find") is Ø35mm. Four of these plus a bit of chiselling to knock off the points.... ....to get the Ø38mm drum through. I did a shallow pass with a crappy bit that was something like Ø12-14mm, staying shy of the corners. I then realised that I could use my longer Ø8mm bit and not have to worry about that. This was LOUD and hurt my ears. I really should have worn ear defenders.... Once cut to about a mm from the lower face, I sawed out the waste. ....then cleaned up the internal edges with a bottom bearing template copy bit. The corners need a little cleanup with sandpaper or a file. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 It didn't drop in immediately, so I chased the corners a little with the spindle sander. I must have been a little conservative with my initial work....however now we've got a sweet fit! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 Around the perimeter of the router plate are ten grub screws used to set the plate flush with the table surface. The plate is 9,65mm thick, so I think a recess of 12mm should be perfect. Where each height setting screw sits, I'll be fitting some sort of metal thing (not decided what thing to use yet, hence "thing") so the MDF doesn't compress under the weight of the lift over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Template DST'ed to the top, around a 35mm wide channel sunk into the perimeter of the plate mounting port. After this, I pulled the template and drilled dozens of holes around the central waste part before cutting it free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 very nice looking table! great result with the iron-on band on the table top. On 8/23/2020 at 5:05 PM, Prostheta said: Making things to make other things is part of the joy. timeconsuming, but indeed joy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Oh, totally. This is a very transactional bit of work though; I have a lot of work around our new home that will benefit from a router table, such as picture rails, skirting boards, door frames/thresholds, new kitchen cabinet doors, etc. Compared to buying these things ready-made (which isn't practical when designed custom anyway) the cost and time spent building a well-made machining station pays for itself very quickly. A good router table should be a money printer, especially when it comes to predictably accurate and safe work. There's so many reasons on top of that, but this is a start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Alright. We're getting there. The top drops in perfectly, and I've just realised that I haven't even tightened the "snugger" cam locks (silver hex bolts, one left and two top). Levelling the plate was a bit of an adventure. As mentioned, the MDF is soft so I drilled ten 3mm deep, 9mm diameter holes at each levelling screw position, then drilled them through at 4mm. Ten A4 steel hex head machine bolts with flat smooth heads went into each of these with a little cyanoacrylate glue to provide a solid and durable surface for the levelling bolts to seat on. To level the plate, I brought all the screws up and went around the plate anti-clockwise, sinking each leveller down until it contacted and starts to raise the plate before moving onto the next. Once we're around the plate (twice) the levellers are within a half turn or so of their bolts. The plate was roughly levelled using the top and lower outermost screws and checked for rocking. Here it becomes a case of bringing down the rest of the levellers and doing slight quarter turn adjustments here and there. Once pretty much dead on, the four big corner bolts lock the plate to the table, and another round of checks and adjustments are made. I think it took five minutes or so to get it dead on. I'm very happy with it, and we'll see how it routs. The upper surface of the table frame was insulated with adhesive cellular foam rubber, both to decouple machine vibrations from the frame and to provide air sealing for the vacuum. A port will go at the bottom of the cavity, and I'll experiment a little with chip management baffles or whatever. The joints around the frame will get a nice bead of silicone caulk as additional sealing, although I'm sure it's already pretty much perfect. A possible option will be to add car sound insulation to the inner walls to reduce the echoey-ness of the machine cavity. This is beast of a router and anything that improves the noise factor is a bonus. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Looking good Carl. MK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Thanks Mike! The table is currently usable, but it will really come into its own once I get the fence installed. The general idea for the table top is to have one T-track running the entire width (length?) of the table so that I can fit featherboards and other job-assistive devices. The back of the table will be getting two lengths of T-track from the rear to the centre. These will be used for securing the fence, which itself is being made from various off-the-shelf aluminium extrusions. The 120 x 30 front of the fence has 4x t-slots which can also be used for featherboards, fitting sacrificial fences and whatnot. That should be delivered next week, so we'll get a better look in a few days.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 27, 2020 Report Share Posted September 27, 2020 That's looking good, @Prostheta I have suffered a severe bout of router-lift envy...is that a Covid symptom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2020 5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: That's looking good, @Prostheta I have suffered a severe bout of router-lift envy...is that a Covid symptom? That and farting during the quiet parts in film dialogue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.