Stile and rail help

[Bill Stock]

Tried out my Lee Valley Stile/Rail bit today. Results were awful. The cut was uneven top to bottom, as if the wood was twisting as it passed the bit. I was using some scrap pieces of finger jointed pine, as it's nice and soft. Bit seems fine, so I know it's my technique.

I noticed that the instructions mention that the bearing should be flush with the fence. Since I have the wood between the fence and the bearing I suspect some binding may be occurring. (Not to mention dangerous). So apart from fixing my fence (Ryobi BT3100), what else will help. Should I attach the work to a larger panel to help keep it steady, as the fence does not have any hold downs. Will taking several passes help? Although work seems to cut fine with a single pass.

Tips appreciated.

[Pounds on Wood]

Yowee, that sounds dangerous. Yes, bury the bit in the fence. Yes, multiple passes are usually a good idea, although if you did not get any burning then you might be okay with one pass in pine. I always do two or more passes. I did some doors yesterday in hard maple and had a lot of problems with burning. I ended up using about 4 passes I think with the panel raising bit. My set is CMT, and I did a whole bunch of MDF doors recently and I know my carbide suffered.

Feather boards are necessary as well IMHO. It sounds like that was part of your problem as well.

[patriarch]

"Bill Stock" wrote in news:eb13d.55$ [e-mail]:

We are talking about a router bit Rail & Stile bit? NEVER run the piece between the fence and the cutter, for exactly the reasons you describe, and more.

The cutters are designed to be buried in the (split) fence on a router table. That doesn't happen easily if you are using the table saw fence with your routing operation. You're going to need to make a simple fence to use these cutters safely with your machinery. The good news is that the materials will be cheap. The bad news is that I don't have the website to show you how to do it.

has lots of information on routing procedure, safety, and tooling. It's well worth a visit.

This fellow is showing how he made a fence for a similar operation. You'll need to do some extrapolation for your setup, but that's the direction I think I'd go... You don't need to make the fence hollow, or work out chip collection. A 2x4 and a 2x6, ripped and jointed flat will suffice.

Good luck, and experiment safely.

Patriarch

[TDUP]

Never put the stock between the fence and the bit. When they say the bearing should be flush with the fence, that is what they mean. The stock should be riding on the fence past the bit. Not between the bit and the fence. You have a very dangerous situation and no control, or not much. It's a accident going to happen!

[Bill Stock]

"patriarch [e-mail]" "Bill Stock" wrote in

I scrapped the Ryobi fence a while ago, as it was two pieces. So the piece would catch on the second half the fence as it went through. I made a quick and dirty one piece fence, but it wasn't designed to work on the other side of the TS fence. I fixed that tonight by cutting a second notch, so I can reverse the fence. It definately improved the work, but it still needs improvement.

extrapolation

Thanks for the link, I still need a better fence.

[Bill Stock]

It was, dangerous that is. I fixed my fence so that it's reversible now (Can sit on either side of the TS fence). This made a big improvement in the cut and safety. I think I'll have to build a real fence before I play with any hardwood. I suspect you're right about the multiple passes in harder woods.