After 'jointing' one edge of a piece of wood on a router table is there any reason not to set the table up as a 'thicknesser' and pass the wood between the fence and cutter (suitably guarded and in the right direction)?
You want to make a 3/4" planer?
Well, if you do, make sure nothing is to the right to of the router table; and wear leather gloves so it doesn't rip any skin off when it goes.
No reason whatsoever. Do observe the direction, as you suggested. Push your work into the rotation. I do this operation daily as I thickness solid surface edges. The operation joints the piece at the same as it thicknesses it. You are, of course, limites to the height of your router bit. I have found that the bigger the diameter of the bit is, the better the finish. Use a slower speed on bits bigger than 3/4" diameter. Take a little at the time. Make sure the bit is very sharp.
Material should never go between fence and router bit. At best, you are limited to a 1" wide board. Use the tablesaw for better results.
It sounds smart and under guarded conditions it is. Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. When the work is trapped between the fence and the cutter it has no place to go but into the cutter in the event of accident. Like driving in tough road construction areas with tight crash barriers on both sides of your car, screw up, and into the barrier you go. Moreover, if your fence deflects or the first edge on the work is crooked you're at risk for a kickback, a broken cutter or an ER visit if you're really unlucky.
Think baseball pitching machine or hockey puck shooter.
A fixed fence + spinning wheel, with an object trapped between them = high speed projectile.
Barry
Others have beat me to the punch. Have you got some sort of disfigurement wish? SIGH. Don't trap the work between the fence and the bit, as others have already mentioned...
To joint properly, adjust the outfeed table flush with the cutter. Recess the infeed table by the amount you wish to take off. (another big sigh)
Dave
John wrote:
I don't quite see what all the sighing is for. I had looked in a couple of router books before posting. Isn't this what newsgroups are for - surely a better use of space than a lot of the crap that goes on the group and on-topic too!
Thanks to all who replied. It's quite clear to me now the main reason for the danger is that there's nothing to stop the workpiece being pulled further into the cutter than the depth of cut intended - hence kickback. Things are often stated to be dangerous but often the reason is not stated. Knowing the reason I find helps to drive the point home without having to do it and find out the hard way.
A planer has a powered infeed roller that's going to keep the wood going where you want it to go. When things go wrong you don't have to be anywhere near the output, which would be back, towards you, or, lacking a steel shroud, almost anywhere. Our first day in Industrial Arts class, the teacher showed us what happens when you use a board that's too short for the thickness planer. The infeed could no longer grab it, and it fired back at very high speed. Unless you're going to equip your router table with all the fixin's that a planer has, you're asking for trouble.
There's nothing stopping you from planing it on the outside, is there? Same as jointing it, only at 90 degrees to the original joint.
- Owen -
:) The sighing was because you could hardly come up with a worse scenario for jointing a board if you'd spent months contemplating it! Kickbacks are no fun, as my occasionally battered body can attest to, but not from the router table--my snafus occurred at the table saw. Why risk it, John? You should be thankful others are looking out for your safety.
Dave
John wrote:
That has everything to do with the direction of feed, and the amount of cut you're taking. With a finger board, this can be done safely. You just have to be cool about it. Feed it against the rotation of the bit, not with it. I wouldn't attempt it with oak, mind you. Then again, I also climb-cut most of my routered edges.
I climb cut as well, even handheld.
But, the work BETWEEN the router bit and a fence? Only time will tell.
Hockey puck shooter... Remember that.
The bottom line is WHY?
Barry
This thread has gotten hung up on a false premise. Jointing is making one edge flat in preparation for jointing it to another. It can be done perfectly well on a jointer table, or with a hand-held router with a flat reference. Before I got a jointer, I did it all the time on my router table with a jointer fence that I made. Works fine, but isn't as easy to adjust or as easily adjusted as a jointer. Doesn't require running stock between the bit and the fence.
Steve
Read it again. You didn't catch it the first time.
The others have already pointed out the obvious danger of using the router the way you're describing it. If you're just trying to plane the surface of narrow stock and don't want to buy a jointer, you can set up the table saw to work as a narrow jointer by making a jig that attaches to the rip fence. Basically, you set it up so that there is no space between the blade and the jig on the right-hand side of the cut, and a shim that is shaped like a riving knige behind the blade that lines up with the left edge of the blade's teeth (The shim should extend to the far end of the fence or beyond). When you cut, the waste is entirely sawn (nothing left on the right hand side) and the shim on the back side supports the freshly cut edge so that you get a straight joint. Obviously, make sure the wood you use for all parts of the jig are very straight.
You get a lot more capacity with this method, and it's a whole lot less dangerous. Or, you could go out and get a planer (thicknesser) if you're doing a lot of this- it sure is a lot easier!
Lee Valley Tools' method with shims always interested me. Has anyone tried this?
A MUCH better way of going about the subject than trapping the work.
I use shop-made shims all the time with edge forming bits that need them. The LV kit looks like a nice commercial solution.
Hobby shops that cater to model builders sell styrene sheets in .005+ thicknesses. "Evergreen" is one brand name. The thin stuff is easily cut with an Xacto knife or scissors, the thicker sheets can be coped or scroll sawn. Too lazy to cut it? Evergreen even makes precut strips!
The "Odds & Ends" bag will probably have everything a woodworker might need.
Barry
Jointing the first edge with the cutter and fence in the normal position is fine. But how to ensure repeatable width when jointing the second edge so as to end up with say for example's sake four identical pieces exactly 2" wide (say 1" thick stock with two good faces)?
With a table saw and a thickness planer. :-)
Joint one face straight and flat. Joint one edge straight, flat, and square to the jointed face. Use table saw to rip the opposite edge parallel to the jointed edge. Use planer to make the opposite face parallel to the jointed face. Done.
Succinct. :)
Dave
Doug Miller wrote:
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