Jointing sucess.... sort of

[stryped]

x-no-archive:yes

I got some wood jointed with my router table and shim... sort of. After alot of trial and error adjusting the one piece fence on my Ryobi table, I jointed two re oak boards about15 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. When I held the two boards togther and helt it up to the outside light while I was in a darker room, I could see light between them so I thought I had failed. But when I clamped them togther with clamps to see if that made a difference, they were perfect. (Or appeared that way).

Should I have been able to se elight this way between the board and if I have to joint more than 2 boards to form a bigger pannel will this still work or will adding additional boards make the joint fit worse?

Also, my fnce is about 2 feet long, one foot infeed side and one foot outfeed. Will I be able to successfully joint boards about 40 inches long with my set up if I am careful? I need to joint some wood to create a 13.5 inch wide pannel for a bookcase top.

Speaking of that, is there a rule of thumb to go by when glueing boards together to form a bigger pannel? I mean, if i need a 14 inch wide pannel, is it better to have two 7 inch wide boards jointed together or seven 2 inch wide boards togther?

[dadiOH]

No. Was the deficiency a mirror of what it was before joining? How many passes on the router table did each require? If you did additional passes would the edges be straight? ____________

That depends on many things but basically, you want the joints of each board touching without any help from the clamps. If you *have* to force them together with clamps it is best that the ends touch and any slight gaps be in the middle. ________________

Yes. Besides, as I've said before, you can always make your fence longer. Hell, you don't even have to use the fence that came with your table...a couple of pieces of 3/4 ply 2"-5" wide and whatever long with straight edges would work just fine. _________________

I like to use boards 3"-5" wide. That isn't written in stone however...I buy a lot of #1 common and often wind up with narrower boards.

Next in the stryped saga, "How do I get my glued up panels flat"? :)

[stryped]

x-no-archive:yes

How do I get those panels flat?

I am not sure if it was a mirror. How can I ensure I d>

[Toller]

I used to have a table top jointer. I rarely got my boards perfectly flat. I never liked doing it, but I was always able to get them together with enough clamping pressure. Years later nothing has failed. If you are close (and all the errors aren't in the same direction) you ought to be okay, but no promises; I might just have been lucky.

In principle your fences are long enough; rule of thumb is boards can be twice the table length, but much depends on the user's skill. Assuming your set up is precisely right (probably not true...) and your fences are rigid and securely fastened, the problem is that is it much more difficult to run a board against a fence evenly than it is to push it down against a jointer. I often have to run a board through my router table more than once to get the cut even; you can't do that when jointing on it because the errors just compound.

As long as your boards are flat and straight, it doesn't really matter. You usually go for 7" because of the problems with matching grain and the amount of work. Some would say that 2" is more stable; but grain is generally more of an issue than stability.

[cselby]

On short pieces - 2-3ft, this seems to work OK for me. When I tried longer lengths it never seemed to come out right. It always bowed out the ends. I never tried longer fence pieces and maybe should have tried that. I went with a sled that runs in my mitre slot. I clamp the work to the sled and slowly run that through. With this set up, I have done 5ft pieces. The same sled works on the tables saw.

Pete

[stryped]

[Locutus]

Why don't you want your posts archived? Will you ever answer this question?

[boorite]

There's no caul for that!

[stryped]

[cselby]

My router table has an aluminum miter slot in the table top, just like on a table saw. I use a 3/4x3/8 T-track in it - 4ft long. I laid a strip or two of masking tape in the slot to tighten up the slop between the slot and the T-track. The 48" T-track is screwed into the bottom of 3/8 plywood 12"x 48" positioned so that the plywood will be slightly cut by the router bit. After assembing the sled, I chuck up the bit I want to use for edging a board and I run the sled through the bit. This gets the edge of the sled straight and parrallel to the bit and helps when positioning the board overhang for jointing a straight edge. I use 2 toggle clamps on top the sled to lock the board into place with about 1/8 -1/4 of the board overhanging the routed edge of the sled. Because the routed edge of the sled glides so close to the bit, you can easily eyeball the amount of wood the route off.

Always push the sled/board at the same speed and with the same downward pressure. Engage the sled into the slot before the bit and run the sled past the bit before lifting it out of the slot.

You will have an exposed bit spinning so be aware of where your body parts are relative to the bit. Personally, I never watch my hands. I always keep an eye on the bit and it's imaginary 3" danger zone. I am convinced that spinning objects create a 3" gravity well that will suck your hand into it. If you don't believe me, call NASA. Think about a guard system.

I have a simular sled without the miter slot T-track for the tablesaw. This uses the tablesaw fence. Clamp the board to the sled, set the fence to take off 1/8-1/4 of the board and run the sled/board through. This works faster than the router table when doing multiple boards of the same width. A good ripping blade in the saw gives a nice glue edge.

Pete

[dadiOH]

For the 2^8 time, you can use *anything* that is flat, straight and thick/wide enough not to bend under whatever pressure you apply to it - which needn't be much..