Torus Router

[Arthur]

Hi all. I think cutting my own oak skirting will be a lot cheaper than buying it. Does anyone know if a Torus router is available in the UK or overseas?

Thanks.

Arthur

[George]

You mean router bit,this the type you're after?

try

[George]

A fancier bits.

[Andy Hall]

You can certainly buy router bits to do this profile - Trend, Freud and CMT make them. Suppliers can easily be found using Google, but Axminster Power Tools is a good start.

However....... If you are going to cut the typical 22-25mm radius skirting profile the cutter is pretty large and you will either need one with a ball race or the router will need to be mounted in a router table. In the case of a bearing guided setup you may need to fit a different diameter ball race to get the desired depth of cut.

The second point is that you will need a substantial and powerful

12.7mm router.

A proper setup to do all of this complete with router table would not leave much change out of £250-300. Even with budget tools it would probably add up to £150.

If you have the router and or table already, a decent cutter should be around £30 or thereabouts.

Also, otherwise if you are olanning other similar work, the investment is worth it.

OTOH, this size is getting towards spindle moulder territory anyway, and tooling for spindle moulders is pretty cheap for short runs - £20 -

2. It may be more economically viable to find a joinery shop, take along your wood, pay for the tooling and get them to run it on the spindle for you. This is not a profile requiring a lot of fiddling around with set up. I've done several lots of oak skirting on mine and it was a pretty quick procedure.

[Arthur]

I've been looking at these cutters as I have this seller on my fav sellers list. Thanks.

Arthur

[George]

Bought a dozen cutters of him last year,saved me £££'s from buying in the UK on saying that not all the cutters are available in the UK.

[Arthur]

I've considered building a router table. Would a 40mm thick piece of kitchen worktop be a good start? And constructing a base using cls 70 x 45mm ?

Arthur

[Andy Hall]

Yes, that should be quite reasonable. The commercial ones are either metal (aluminium casting with flutes) or some kind of laminated board.

You then need a fence with space in the middle for the cutters and a means to mount the router.

Axminster sell these bits as well.

You can buy quite nice router mounting and lifting mechanisms like the Routalift, but this is the best part of £200. They do a basic plate for under £20. The thing is to allow sufficient access to get a spanner onto the collet without having to unmount the router.

Likewise fences. They do one with guards and all the rest of it for just under £100, or you can buy slotted T-track for under £20 and make your own fences.

One technique that can be useful with larger cutters is to make sacrificial fences for MDF that are attached to the main fence. These can be made from a blank, routed through. You then have a fence that is exactly matched to that cutter profile and work can be passed by the cutter very smoothly.

Feather boards or their equivalent as a means of exerting even force to the work to push it against the cutter from the side are a good idea. Apart from helping to make an even cut, you are less likely to be tempted to put your fingers near the business area.

Workpiece support is also important. If you are making your own table, then you don't have to necessarily go for a small size like most commercial tables. For example, you could make a longer bench out of this or come up with an arrangement to make detachable extensions out of more worktop.

Some means to extract dust and chips. You can get plastic hood shaped adaptors that will fit on the back of the fence and connect to a workshop vacuum cleaner. These can also be made from some plywood with an adaptor made from wastepipe fitted in the back. For the skirting exercise, you will get a fair amount of debris and you would otherwise be stopping every 200mm to clear it - risk of burn marks and dings.

On the point about a base, yes definitely something sturdy.