Pattern following bits and router tables

[kiwigeo]

Who's using pattern following cutters on their router tables? If so are you running cutters with the bearing above or below the cutter.

Most of the cutters designated as pattern following cutters have the bearing on the shaft of the bit which means when mounted in a router table the bearing is running below the cutter and the template must be mounted on the underside of the work piece. Most of the cutters Ive seen with the bearing on the end of the cutter are designated as trimming cutters and not really ideal for removing a large amount of material.

[Allen]

Like you said Martin. The larger ones I have all have the bearing on the bottom, (closest to the table).

[Trevor Gore]

I use the 806-691-11 cutter shown here with a bearing on the shaft as well. That means I can always rout "down hill" on the grain by flipping the work piece and adjusting the bit height so the pattern runs on the other bearing. The shear cut gives a smoother cut than a straight cut one.

[kiwigeo]

I use the 806-691-11 cutter shown here with a bearing on the shaft as well. That means I can always rout "down hill" on the grain by flipping the work piece and adjusting the bit height so the pattern runs on the other bearing. The shear cut gives a smoother cut than a straight cut one.

Thanks Trev...will give this idea serious consideration.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trev

Is the bearing on the shaft below the cutters
fixed to the shaft (press fit) or does it slide onto
the shaft and held in place by the chuck/collet and
the cutters? The image on the Carbatec site only
shows one bearing on the top end of the bit.

[Bob Connor]

Have a look at this Martin. One mean looking mother with a bearing at both ends

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproduc ... h+Bearings

ROUTFlushTrimRouterBitSPCPF.jpg (3.91 KiB) Viewed 18607 times

We have one. It almost took Dave's little finger off a few years back so it doesn't get too much use any more.

Regards

[kiwigeo]

Hi Trev

Is the bearing on the shaft below the cutters
fixed to the shaft (press fit) or does it slide onto
the shaft and held in place by the chuck/collet and
the cutters? The image on the Carbatec site only
shows one bearing on the top end of the bit.

The bearing that comes with the bit is held on the end of the cutter with a screw. The second bearing slides over the shaft and is held in place with a collet. The necessary bearings and collets to are available at Carbatec

[auscab]

I have both , Bearing above and below, but not one at both ends Yet.
It would have come in handy today while we were cutting sabre legs, being able to flip the leg would have meant one of them would not be in clamps now with its toe being glued back on.
People pay me to make furniture for them and then tastefully kick the Keywrap out of it though,so I get away with a bit of rough stuff some times.
Whenever I'm using them though, the template is always held down and traced around, and then the work piece is rough cut 3 to 5mm off that, so the bit is just trimming that 3mm to 5 off.

Having a bearing at both ends is fine but I would defiantly have One with the bearing at only the router end of the shaft as well.
I did a ribbed guitar mold , and that type of cutter made a quick job of it. I did a template of the mold then with that template cut the four sides.Two for the left and two for the right. These have to be spaced apart like you see in Kinkades book ,All those spacers get glued and nailed but they over hang the inside of the mold, so they can be trimmed back flush to the shape. the cutter with no bottom bearing trims them back coming in from both sides. it did not reach all the way so there was a little to chisel of the middle of each one.
same thing for some of the solid molds I have done, template cut 3 x 18 mm thick chipboard in one go.

[Trevor Gore]

As Martin said.

And as Bob said, be very, very careful when doing any pattern routing on a table router. I always trim as close to size as possible with a bandsaw and then clean up with the router. You can do the same sort of thing with a 1/2" diameter cutter (1/4" shaft) which isn't quite so intimidating.

[Paul B]

I use both, but for different jobs. Or for different parts of the same job, like making a new mould, register off a template attached to the outside of the mould (bearing closest to collet), then flip your mould and change cutters so you can do the other side registering off what you just did on the first side of the mould (bearing on end of cutter). Clear as mud?

Yes, get as close as you can with the bandsaw first, otherwise it could get very ugly, very quickly.

[Dominic]

Hey, I've been using these Freud bits and am getting really nice clean results. I've been routing in the headstock shapes recently and this bit leave a beautiful finish, even on end grain. And only 24bucks US

http://routerbitworld.com/Freud-50-501- ... 50-501.htm
Good quick service as well.
Cheers
Dom

[EricDownunder]

I used one recently with the bearing below the cutter it seemed to work realy well untill the the piece I was doing flew across the room hitting my son-in-law in the guts, no blood or tears just a few s************f*****, my router is a normal 12mm Makita, I think I need to buy a slower router.
Any ideas

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the input chaps. Im about to jump in the car and head off to Carbatec. Im going to pick up a CMT trimming bit and an extra bearing/stop as well as a conventional pattern following bit. of course Ill also "accidentally" buy alot of other stuff as well.

[kiwigeo]

I used one recently with the bearing below the cutter it seemed to work realy well untill the the piece I was doing flew across the room hitting my son-in-law in the guts, no blood or tears just a few s************f*****, my router is a normal 12mm Makita, I think I need to buy a slower router.
Any ideas

Yes.....which way were you cutting? A climbing cut reduces risk of tear out but increases the risk of either the work taking off on you on a table or a free hand router taking off with you in tow.

[MBP]

. Most of the cutters Ive seen with the bearing on the end of the cutter are designated as trimming cutters and not really ideal for removing a large amount of material.

No router bit is ideal for removing large amounts of material.
You should check out the spiral bits as well.

I was speaking with the FLAI rep and he strongly recommended trying out his router bits and table saw blades (as he would of course). I asked the local shop and they said the FLAI are better than CMT and about the same price. Tell carba tec you want something a bit better than CMT and I am told they will tell you to go with FLAI.

I used one recently with the bearing below the cutter it seemed to work realy well untill the the piece I was doing flew across the room hitting my son-in-law in the guts, no blood or tears just a few s************f*****, my router is a normal 12mm Makita, I think I need to buy a slower router.
Any ideas

Where you feeding against the spin of the bit or with it. Feeding with it is asking for trouble on a table router. Try feeding with the blade on your table saw

[rocket]

Torkin bout Carbatec,,,, i find that every time i go there lately they seem to have less stock on the shelves, and even out of supply of some items such as glues , fillers and such, i found that they didn't even have a full array of sharpening abrasives that they advertise they still have a good display of machinery and hardware i suppose, just wondering if they might be gearing to the online sales trend, anyone else found this?
Cheers,,,
Rod.

[kiwigeo]

Torkin bout Carbatec,,,, i find that every time i go there lately they seem to have less stock on the shelves, and even out of supply of some items such as glues , fillers and such, i found that they didn't even have a full array of sharpening abrasives that they advertise they still have a good display of machinery and hardware i suppose, just wondering if they might be gearing to the online sales trend, anyone else found this?
Cheers,,,
Rod.

It's a local thing...the Adelaide shop is fully stocked and doing well at the moment. This wasn't the case a few years back when the place was the pits....especially the online side of the operation here.

[kiwigeo]

Back from Carbatec........the haul as follows:

1. two CMT router bits.
2. techniglue resin and hardener.
3. a 4: dust port for the back of the router table.
4. a f*****ng huge hunk of King Billy Pine for making falcate f*****ng braces!!!

[GregL]

Hi Martin,
You got King Billy Pine at Carbatec?!
Actually, I just checked Brisbane Carbatec, and they say they stock Huon Pine boards!
Thanks,
GregL.

[kiwigeo]

Hi Martin,
You got King Billy Pine at Carbatec?!
Actually, I just checked Brisbane Carbatec, and they say they stock Huon Pine boards!
Thanks,
GregL.

They stock a bit of wood mainly for the turners here in Adelaide......sometimes you get lucky!

[Nick]

4. a f*****ng huge hunk of King Billy Pine for making falcate f*****ng braces!!!

Might want to whittle that down a bit before gluing it to a soundboard or you'll have the uke purists on your case!

What I do with bearing mounted bits is, as everybody has mentioned, bandsaw close to the line then put a couple wraps of masking tape on the bearing so that the bit doesn't cut right to finished size when cutting against the spin. I then remove the tape and cut with the spin (or climb milling in engineering circles) & holding the job firmly but not so your knuckles are turning white. You are only removing a few thousandths (thickness of the tape) & there is less tendancy for the bit to want to grab the job & hurl it to the furtherest corner of the shop or against another just finished guitar . As with engineering, my final cut is always a climb cut, it gives a better (read smoother) finish. Or, ofcourse, you could just cut against the spin & clean it up with a bit of sandpaper if your nervous system is not robust enough.

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the tape tip Nick...very useful.

If anyone spots a router table tearing down Mount Barker Road Stirling with me clinging desperately to the thing it'll be me mulling over the hazards of climbing cuts.

[kiwigeo]

Just got home from the shops and found one zero volt router switch dumped on my front doorstep.

[auscab]

Just got home from the shops and found one zero volt router switch dumped on my front doorstep.

Like the Red Head said.

Please explain!!

1 . What is it ?

2 . What are you going to do with it ?

[kiwigeo]

Just got home from the shops and found one zero volt router switch dumped on my front doorstep.

Like the Red Head said.

Please explain!!

1 . What is it ?

2 . What are you going to do with it ?

What is it? Every piece of machinery should have one. It has two functions:

1. Say your machinery is running and the plug gets pulled out. It kills the machine but if you haven't hit the stop button...as soon as power comes back on your machine will wizz back into life. With a zero volt switch if power is lost to the machine the switch cuts out until you manually reset it.
2. The zero volt switch is an FAM....a F***k Around Minimizer. With a router mounted in a table the switch on the router is usually fairly inaccesible. A zero volt switch on the side of the table allows you turn the router on and off with minimal f****ng around......and we all hate f*****ng around.

What am I going to do with it? Mount it on the side of the router table and be ready to hit the big red stop button when things go to shit with a climbing cut.