Router speed for raised panels

[B a r r y]

It also depends on what profile you'd like the panel to have. It's kind of hard to cut an ogee with a straight blade.

Barry

[Mike Gerdts]

This begs the question: why would one choose a standard raised panel bit over a vertical raised panel bit? Yeah, you have to put the wood through on edge, but I would think that a decent fence should make that a wash. It seems as though the same profiles are available in either standard (or are they called horizontal?) or verticle bits.

I am missing something here, not having used either style.

Mike

[Micro*]

I put a little different spin (pun intended) on this by mounting the router horizontally on the back of the table and built a jig to raise and lower the router, the verticle bit lay in a groove in the table top. lay the panel on its face and route away, small bites and removing most of the wood on the TS worked great on hard maple with a PC690 and a speed control.

-- "Shut up and keep diggen" Jerry

[bridger]

you are correct. the diameter is less, so the tip speed is less. another plus is that there is less variation in the tip speed from one end of the cutter to the other. vertical panel bits have a lot lower pucker factor for _me_.

I run mine full speed. I also run it in a horizontal router table so I can have the panels flat on the table, rather than trying to run them through on edge.

[bridger]

sez who?

[David]

Kinda hard to raise a panel that has an arch! :) Using a TS is fine if all you are gonna do is rectangular door inserts.

David

Elwood Dowd wrote:

[Leon]

Many pieces or doors with raised panels also have decorative curves. These curves can only be done with a horizontal bit

[Leon]

;~) Ok, I'll bite. How can this be done?

[Leon]

Maybe I said that wrong and maybe you misunderstood my comment. What I was trying to indicate was that you cannot use a vertical bit on an end or side of a board that may curve in or out. If you can do this yourself, would you care to explain how this is done?

[bridger]

to have the bearing to follow a curved edge.

there are other ways to raise a curved panel, but the bearing on the panel raising cutter is probably the easiest.

[bridger]

I think I understand you... you're just wrong is all . just to be clear as mud here, we're talking about an arched rather than a bowed panel..... the panel is a flat plane, but it's edges aren't straight.

inside curves are harder than outside curves, especially if the curve is tight- at some point you cannot extend the bit far enough from the base of the router- but-

for serpentine curves make a follower bearing that is positioned above the base of the cutter (pin router style), with the cutter in a horizontal router table.

for single radius curves make a curved fence, again in the horizontal table.

both of these take more setup time than a bearing guided horizontal bit in a vertical table, and may have no benefit over that approach. or, they might. I'll make *that* decision when I'm planning the setup...

for bowed panels, you'd be making a curved *table*....

[Upscale]

I sort of understand what you're saying, but it would help tremendously if you could give a link to a picture of the type of setup you're describing.

[Leon]

Do you have any pictures of that set up? I still cannot imagine how that would work.

[Pat Barber]

[bridger]

I don't have shots of that kind of setup. mebbe when the table is freed up I'll set one up.

note that what I'm describing is not necessarily "better" than doing it with a horizontal bit with a bearing... just pointing out that it is certainly possible to do with a vertical bit.

nowhere is it written that we must limit ourselves to tooling configurations that someone else thought up. get in the habit of making your own jigs and it'll be a lot easier to think your way through oddball setups.

[Sean]

OK, I think I got the point that 15,000 rpm is way too fast. Just to answer some of the questions raised in the postings: it is a horizontal bit, mounted in a router table with a variable speed router. The problem is the min speed on the router is 15,000 rpm. I think maybe the best thing to do is but myself the Hitach M12 or Freud

3+ HP router and then do it with a vertical bit or my horizontal bit with a speed of 8000 rpm. Both of these routers have this low speed, I think.

I guess the other option would be to buy a door, but there isn't much fun or creative energy put into that! LOL

Thanks a million for all your help

Sean

[Tom Watson]

Let's say you have a curved-top panel (or a piece of radiused window casing - that sorta thing) that you want to raise and you want to use a vertically oriented cutter.

(this also works for things like quirk and bead cutters that only come oriented to the vertical)

You cut your panel out in the flat and you take a piece of mdf or ply and cut a radius in it to match the outside radius of the curved part of the panel. This saddle should be no thicker than the minimum finished thickness of the piece that you will sit on it.

Screw on another piece of mdf or ply onto the back of this curved saddle. This provides a backstop so the piece has something to register to. I also put some braces on to give the thing some rigidity.

Clamp this contraption to the fence, or, what I usually do, add a piece of mdf or ply at a ninety on the bottom and clamp the whole thing to the top - and let the fence go visit its relatives for a spell.

Now you raise your cutter to the appropriate height and set the contraption up so that you will take a very light pass when the curved top slides past the cutter in the curved saddle.

Fire up the machine and feed the curved piece into it slowly - making sure to keep it pressed tight to the backer piece that you screwed to the saddle.

Work your way in until your at the full depth of cut.

BTW - I usually hot melt on a couple of blocks to the face of the panel, so as to have a good grip on things. Also, do your curved part before shaping the straight parts - as the failure rate is highest at the curve and it will piss you off less than having to throw away a bad curve after making perfect straights. Then too, I always do the biggest panels first, so that I can cut them into smaller useable panels if I screw them up.

That's about it.

Good Luck.

Regards, Tom.

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Cromwell]

[Leon]

Thank you Tom, you and Bridger have attempted to explain the error of my thinking and with Bridger's start and your finish I believe I see the light.

Oh, and uh er uh... since you left, the wreck has been much more enjoyable... Not because YOU left but because of those that left just after you did. :~)

[David]

And the reason for going to all this trouble instead of just using a horizontal bit is ...?

David

Tom Wats> >