Question about using a router

[PoP]

This might be elementary stuff, but I thought I'd ask for opinions from others who regularly use a router. This is a question based entirely on curiousity about how others use their router - the true answer might well be "use whichever is best for the job in hand!".

I have a Trend T9. Lovely piece of kit, very happy with it. However I'm wondering if all is well in terms of the sole plate or whether it's just me.

In use the on/off switch is on my right hand, and the depth stop on the left. Both switch and depth stop are on the far side of the router, away from me, operated by my fingers. It doesn't work for me to have these on my side of the router as my thumbs aren't comfortable holding the switch in or setting the depth stop.

Now, the question is how to guide the router along a straight edge. Are you supposed to run the router against the guide on the circular side of the sole plate, or using that flat spot that is provided on the sole plate?

I suppose my being left handed might be causing me a bit of a problem, but what I keep finding is that the flat edge of the sole plate just feels to be 180 degrees wrong - I'm running the circular part of the sole plate along the straight edge.

Just questioning whether others have an opinion about which part of the sole plate one should use for straight edge work! For some reason I'm inclined to want to use the flat portion of the sole plate for running along a straight edge, but using the circular side of the sole plate means that the router doesn't have to be lined up to the straight edge, any reasonable angle will do.

BTW - this has nothing to do with the direction of cut, I understand all about the need to operate the router against the direction of rotation.

PoP

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[Andy Hall]

I have a DeWalt 625 which is quite similar and even has some parts in common.

For that application I don't think that it matters a great deal. If you look at some of the American routers such as Porter Cable, they have circular bases.

I tend to orient the router based on what is convenient for what I am doing.

There are instances, for example with some templates and jigs where using the flat side is useful since the cutter is then closer.

.andy

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[Witchy]

I ain't got a router, but I'm left handed too (for writing - I'm largely ambidextrous for everything else) and according to tests wot I've done I'm left brained too, as opposed to the more normal right hand/left brain setup. Sometimes I wonder if this is why I make mistakes!

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Andy Dingley]

Well there's your problem, isn't it. A non-locking switch is enough to stop me buying any router with one.

It depends. You might also find the fence useful, or even putting in a guide bush. It all depends on which is the most stable way to support the base, and the sideways location is then usually quite easy. Think too about how it will slip, and which way it slips. Where's the best place to put the guide bar ? Is it time to fool around with double-sided fencing, or even do it on a table.

If I'm trenching in the middle of a huge piece, I'd probably do it with a narrow cutter and run the flat side of the base against a bar clamped to the side I'm cutting. That way any wobble against the bar leaves a lump, not a divot. A 3/4" dado gets cut in 3 passes with a

1/2" cutter. This is obviously slow, mainly because it needs 3 setups with the guide bar. However it also means that the first rough cut (the double sided one) isn't important if it wobbles, and both of the neat finished edges are cut in the divot-free mode. I can probably feed the router faster than I could with a single pass of a 3/4" anyway.

-- Smert' spamionam