I've been working on CNC lathes and mills < machining > for most of my life but don't know beans about wood. Two years ago my stepfather died and left me tons of wood working equipment ... I have used most of it with no problem but I can't figure out how to use the router. Can you plane the surface of wood or is it only good for bevels and edges.
I know it's dumb but I am really getting off working on wood.
Tom
To plane is to shear. You could plane the wood with a router, as far as the router bit can reach. You would need an edge guide and a shim. Look for router table designs. Some have them set up as 1" jointers.
As for planing the large surface of a board, I haven't seen any bit that wrap around the router so that you could plane, yet. The only option is to mill it.
A router is a poor man's mill...I sure could use a CNC mill to route designs > I've been working on CNC lathes and mills < machining > for most of my life
I've planed wood with a hand-held router; but there are usually better ways to get the job done. I clamped two strips of wood to the surface I wanted to flatten, then used them to support the base of the router as I hand guided it to cut the surface I wanted to plane.
I have a CNC router with a 48x96 table; and periodically make a light pass over the entire sacrificial MDF table top to ensure flatness. It's essentially the same operation except that the router is supported on a gantry and moved in x-, y-, and z-directions by motors.
(-:
A router is an enigma - it can do a huge range of things or practically nothing, depending on how you couple it with bits and jigs. By itself, its pretty mundane. Some of the major categories you might see it used for:
- decorative edging
- joinery (mortise and tenon, dovetail, locked miter, drawer lock)
- cutting precise holes and disks
- cutting various shaped slots
- cutting odd shapes to match a pattern
The router shapes wood very precisely and, in most cases, smoother than many other wood working machines. Its also slower.
If the router your grandfather left you is old, the chances are that it doesn't measure up to the routers sold today, in terms of power and flexibility. I recommend that you purchase a good book on routers to gain some insight into the broad range of capabilities.
Bob
Thanks for the replies. I'm on CNC News groups but the politics and infighting have all but ruined it .... looks like you guysare nice and mellow. Funny thing is when I work around wood that's how I get ...Hmmm
Tom
common side effect from the toxins released by the wood during tooling.. *eg*
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