Bushing question from rookie

I received some plastic bushings free with my Ryobi Router. I tried one out for the first time, ever, using a template for a handle I'll put on a tray. I used a 1/4 rabbit bit with the 5/16 inch bushing and a template. The bushing worked fine for a bit but as I went, it melted out to about 1/2 inch of the center. I don't have any smaller rabbit bits but I guess that's what I needed.

Are plastic bushings completely useless or was it just me?

Richard

Reply to
Richard A.
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"Richard A." wrote in news:9iP%c.55358$nk.46919@okepread05:

Even the really 'value-engineered', made-in-the-lowest-labor-cost-this- year-country are generally made of something that looks to be brass.

And if you consider the heat generated by spinning a bit through solid wood at, oh, 18,000 rpm, you'll understand that it wasn't likely your technique.

What's indicated, at least for now, is a visit to

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Then you can figure out what you should do next. Pat is a router guru of the first order, and writes well, too.

Cheer up, and chalk this one up to experience. Nobody bled, right?

Patriarch

Reply to
patriarch
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Get some decent aluminum or preferably brass ones, the plastic ones are only good for a very small job & do not stand up to heat for more than a few minutes at best.

Reply to
P©WÉ®T©©LMAN

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll go check out that site now.

Reply to
Richard A.

Maybe I didn't adequately understand the question. I have a Sears Craftsman router about 30 years old. The bushings (we're talking about base plate bushings that are used for template routing?) are some kind of fiber fill plastic. They aren't pretty to look at and my PC and Freud routers do have metal bushings but the last problem I've had with the old Sears bushings is melting. How do you get the bushings hot? They just rub against the template. Tell me I missed the whole point.

bob g.

Richard A. wrote:

Reply to
Robert Galloway

Maybe I didn't adequately understand the question. I have a Sears Craftsman router about 30 years old. The bushings (we're talking about base plate bushings that are used for template routing?) are some kind of fiber fill plastic. They aren't pretty to look at and my PC and Freud routers do have metal bushings but the last problem I've had with the old Sears bushings is melting. How do you get the bushings hot? They just rub against the template. Tell me I missed the whole point.

bob g.

Richard A. wrote:

Reply to
Robert Galloway

You're not the only one.

Reply to
George

If he got the bit hot enough to melt the bushing then either (a) it's a spectacularly crappy bushing or (b) there's something badly wrong with the router or (c) there's something important that he's not telling us.

The question that comes to my mind is why he was using a rabbet bit with a template and a bushing. And where he got a 1/4" diameter rabbet bit.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I'm new at the terms here. What I'm referring to is the guide bushing that you use with templates. I "mispoke" when I said rabbet bit (don't ask me why). I mean a simple 1/4 inch bit. The bit fit fine through the plastic guide bushing but was too neat of a fit I guess. Or it could be that I had the bit actually in part of the "bushing extension". In other words, the cutting part of the bit didn't extend all the way past the bushing center guide. It just melted away as I was working. I was using a 1/8" template which I have now figured out should probably be 1/4".

I went out and bought a decent set of brass guides today. FWIW, I intend to take the next Router class available at my local Woodcraft.

When looking for the brass guides. I also say the "roller bushings" that I think you thought I meant. I haven't figured out what those are for yet. So far I've made push sticks, push blocks, a feather board, and a hack job on a jewelry box.

Richard

Reply to
Richard A.

Reply to
nospambob

Even a simple block of wood like a 2 x 4 with some holes works. Make them a little over 1/2". If you go with 1/2" the shank will stick in the hole. (or so I'm told ;))

You really only need a couple of bits Yesterday, I counted 31 that I have.

90% of what I use a router for is three bits. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
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Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

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