A 20millionth use for a router??

[Sam Berlyn]

Hi,

I am wondering if as a cheap way of drilling a vertical hole, could I use my brand new router as it's plunge?

Ta

[Chuck Hoffman]

Yes. Use a spiral-cutting bit to remove the chips while boring. The downside: the variety of sizes of spiral-cutting router bits is limited compared to drill bit sizes.

Of course, the depth of the hole will be only equal to the travel of your router's plunge mechanism so you won't be drilling any through holes in thick material.

[max]

I made a jig from 1/2 inch aluminum stock to plunge rout adjustable shelf holes holes with a plunge router, a template guide and a 1/4 inch spiral up bit. I took a 4 foot piece of stock and laid out the holes on 1 1/4 inch centers. I drilled the holes 1/2 inch on the drill press. I then installed edge stops and a bottom tailpiece to index the start of the holes from the bottom edge of the board. I clamp the jig on to the wood and pluge rout the hole in whatever spacing I wanted. It is actually very quick. A 33 inch high cabinet can be done in under 5 minutes with very clean holes. max

[bridger]

of course you can. plunge routers can make very nice holes.

that is assuming you don't need holes deeper than the plunge depth of the router.

with some jigging up the plunge router is quite serviceable for making a bunch of holes all the same, like for the shelf support pegs for adjustable shelving.

[Andy Dingley]

No. Holes come in a range of diameters. A set of drill bits and a drill to use them are much cheaper than even a couple of router bits. Although it's deeply unfashionable these days, a hand drill or a brace is still a cheap and _very_controllable_ way to turn drill bits. A cheap cordless drill with trigger-controlled speed isn't expensive either .

Take your 40 quid "table saw fund" into B&Q and spend it on an own-brand "Performance Power" single-speed drill (no gearbox, no hammer, adjustable speed trigger), a box of drills up to 13mm (black in real HSS are better than gold) and a countersink bit.

Router bits won't drill either. Some will, but most have a "dead spot" in the centre where the flutes don't overlap. If you're moving them sideways this doesn't matter, but it stops them making round holes. It also helps to use spiral fluted router bits to clear chips, and these are really expensive.

You _can_ drill with a router, but it's an unpleasant job. They're just too fast - even when adjusted to their slowest speed. You're also using a cutter that wants nothing more than to cut sideways - this doesn't encourage accurate holes.

[Lobby Dosser]

Why don't you just use the drill press?

[SawDust]

Sam,

I thought of using the router for shelve pins. But trying to keep that router exactly in place without some form of jig when your trying to do the plunge, if you have a fairly stiff spring, it won't be easy to do. Some would say it's impossible.

I concluded I was better off buying an inexpensive drill press. A house brand table top model is $100 CDN on sale here. It's less expensive that having to replace whatever your working on.

Pat

[mare]

I recently had to drill a lot of holes for Euro style shelf supports. Around 10,000 of them. I thought about buying a Festool guide rail jig, but finally went for a Veritas jig from Lee Valley.

I had blisters on my thumb after I finished and the motion of moving the drill bit in and out the holes was really tiring. A really good way to get RSI.

So I might buy the Festool jig if I ever have to make a lot of holes again.

Speaking of Festool, I received my Festool plunge cut circular saw today and although it's probably the most expensive handsaw on the market it works so nice. I used to have one when I lived in Europe (a lot of professionals use Festool in Europe, although it's not that known in North America yet) but I had to sell it when I came to Canada because of the voltage difference. It is really a big difference compared to DeWalts and the like. It's also twice the price...

[Robert Galloway]

Never parted with a tool because of voltage. Transformers are so cheap. Used all my USA tools in West Germany and brought the West German tools back to the USA. Get a transformer.

bob g.

mare wrote:

[Mark & Juanita]

That's how I drilled the dog holes in my workbench. It's much easier to get perfectly vertical holes that way.

[max]

If you are working on larger panels it is easier to leave the panel on the bench and move the router. This jig also assures that every hole is spaced properly so that the shelves don't wobble. You can also use the jig to drill holes in a cabinet already assembled.

[Lobby Dosser]

Good point!

[Sam Berlyn]

Cheers Andy,

I already have a cheap drill from Argos, and I also have some bits, my Dad has a countersink, so it looks like i'm ready.. the only point it that in my post, I was talking about vertical holes, how do I hold my drill still enough?

Sam

[gandalf]

---------------- You can use one of these things...:

got mine from Screwfix (site unavailable at the moment so no link I'm afraid). Expect to pay around £26 for it. Note: It ONLY fits drills with a

43mm collar (most corded drills and no cordless drill that I've ever come across).

It's mucho handy.

[Andy Dingley]

Practice, and gluing a spirit level to the drill body can help. You can buy little plastic spirit level bubbles for this, but it's nearly as much trouble to stick them on accurately.

If you really needed to drill accurately square holes in the middle of a panel (so you can't use a drill press), then the router base might be useful (so long as you can get the speed down). Mainly though you just don't care - hole drilling rarely needs super-accuracy.

I made a couple of folding plywood stools yesterday, where the hinge pins are 5mm steel rod in drilled holes through 3/4" ply. All just hand-drilled holes held square by eye, yet the folding is free enough that they must have been reasonably accurate.

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 09:20:19 -0000, "Sam Berlyn" calmly ranted:

If you don't have a drill press, the second best thing is a combo of a drill guide and a brad point bit.

one's adjustable for angle. Mine isn't and was only $20 (almost

20 years ago. ;)

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 21:37:58 -0700, Mark & Juanita calmly ranted:

I used my humongous and expansive $40 HF drill press and an LVT forstner in the jarrah benchtop.

Hey, I finally finished the carving bench this morning, boys and girls. After only 2 (or was that 3?) years of planning.

Click the carving bench link or pic, both are hot.

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --

[mare]

The worst thing is that I found that I have 220 volt in my house since it is used for the stove. Nobody tells you these things. But this saw is mainly for use elsewhere and I don't want to lug a transformer with me. I was also told that using transformers for motors is not a good idea.

[Lawrence L'Hote]

"Larry Jaques" calmly ranted:

Mine took a morning +/- and it looks it.. Posted here a while backs. Not as nice as yours but I just don't have the space for another table so mine sits on the table saw extension. I use those Veritas dog hole screws too....they're good. Do you have any plans on increasing the mass of the top so when you whomp the tool with your mallet the carving doesn't bounce? I'm thinking of adding a shelf under the table top and putting some of those sand bags on it... Post your carving(non-turkey) pix when you get there.

Larry

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 18:36:38 GMT, "Lawrence L'Hote" calmly ranted:

No, just to the base shelf, unless practice indicates otherwise. And I haven't found my sheets of 1/16" rubber yet, but will put a couple thicknesses between the top and legs for the heavier downpounding cuts. I have one of those wonderful ShopFox urethane mallets which takes a lot of the bounce out and saves my wrists. The difference between those and wooden mallets is definitely night and day.

Will do. First up is a Mt. Fuji-esque picture similar to the one in Greene & Greene's Culbertson house, probably from my shot of our local Fuji, Mt. Laughlin. Something like this:

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --