Читать книгу Practical Weekend Projects for Woodworkers - Phillip Gardner - Страница 24

If you are new to routing, practice with the various cutters you buy on a piece of scrap wood before using them in earnest, partly to get used to the feel, but also to see just what each type of cutter can do. When making a cut, use two or three passes. If the wood smokes or the tone of the router drops, you are trying to remove too much material in one pass; stop, raise the cutter a little, and try again. Always allow the router to achieve full speed before starting a cut, and never start a cut with the cutter up against the wood.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the way the router works. The cutter rotates in a clockwise direction when viewed from above.

This means that if you plunge the cutter into a workpiece and push the router away from you, it will pull to the left. The “direction of feed” should always be against the direction in which the cutter rotates. Therefore, when pushing the router, the side fence must be mounted on the right. The tip of the cutter should pull the lumber along; if you rout in the other direction, there is a danger of the lumber being pushed away from the cutter, resulting in an uneven cut and the potential of danger to yourself from the exposed cutter.

For your first attempt at routing, choose a simple task such as cutting a straight groove in a piece of softwood. Follow the steps below and take your time—before long you will be routing with confidence.

Clamp the workpiece firmly to the workbench, with its edge just overhanging the front. Draw a short pencil line parallel to the short edge and about 4 in. (100 mm) in.

With the power disconnected, stand the router upside down on the workbench and insert a straight cutter, ¼ in. (6 mm) in diameter. Make sure that at least three-quarters of the cutter shank is in the collet. Tighten securely with a spanner.

With the router upright, loosely fit the side fence to the righthand side.

Stand the disconnected router on the workpiece and plunge the bit so that it just touches the surface. Engage the plunge lock. Place the bit on the marked line and adjust the fence so that it is tight against the edge.

To set the cutting depth, leave the cutter touching the surface and wind the depth-adjusting rod down so that it touches the turret. If possible, zero the scale and then wind the rod back the desired amount, which in this case is ³/₁₆ in. (4 mm). Lock the rod in place and release the plunge lock so that the router returns to the top of its travel.

You are now ready to make the cut. Before you do so, set the variable speed control to maximum (because you are using a small-diameter cutter), and check that all the adjustment screws are tight on the fence and depth adjuster. Connect the power and dust extractor.

Position the router at the beginning of the cut. Make sure that the fence is tight against the side of the workpiece. Grip the handles and start the motor. When it is up to full speed, plunge the cutter into the workpiece and engage the plunge lock. Push the router forward, making sure that the side fence is still against the edge. It will now cut a straight groove.