Hang on to that sucker!!

That's a good one, but April Fool's day was yesterday.

I was thinking of setting the bit at the finished height. Using a fence, and moving the fence away, say 1/8" or 1/4" per pass. I was using a starter pin, but not a good idea! Man! That router has some power! After I did make a pass or two I was still suprised how much pull it had on the stock! It swings that 3-1/2" bit through the red oak like nothing! Greg

Don't know what the idea of raising the bit each time is?

Set the cutter to finished hight, I normally take 3 occasionally 4 passes moving the fence in each time. If you are making arched doors, do the bottom and left edge (with the panel in the cutting position), remove the right half of the fence then do the arch, the crown to the fence and the undercut left side allows the bearing to reach the curve safetly and prevents grabbing.

Bernard R

Yeah, well...it's false rating to call it 3+ HP, more likely a real 1-1/2, but if you think you can outgrip or outpull 1-1/2 horses, take a trip to a draft horse pull some time and see if someone will let you hold the reins as one of those immense animals plods away with many hundreds of pounds on a sleigh or stone boat.

Any time you're around something that size, you are glad they were born gentle!

Treat that router table with respect. Next time, the fingers could get chewed up or broken.

Starter pins are great for smaller edging cuts in arcs and circles. They're not for the immense full cuts with the big bits, IMO. Keep it to no more than 1/8" or 1/4", as you note, if you're doing cathedral pattern panel raising. And I'd edge up on 1/4" because hand strength varies widely.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

One of the original definitions for 1 horsepower was the energy required to raise 1 US Ton 1000 feet high in one hour.

has an interesting history of the definition. The one I used above is from a book I read years ago that had a series of memory aids to help remember units, most of them silly, but they got the job done.

Plan A, Plan B. The basic idea is to remove a little material each pass, not all at once. My set up doesn't allow for a super adjustable fence. So, up the bit goes 'til final height. YMMV, there is no single way to do a job, etc, etc. And that, my friend, is the idea of "raising the bit each time."

Greg,

instead of moving and resetting the fence each pass..set your bit to the finished height...place two 1/4" pieces of plywood about 3 x 16 over the router bit and fence...make the first pass....remove one piece of plywwod...make the second pass...remove the second piece of ply and then finish the cut...this way you are not moving the fence taking a chance of not setting the fence correctly and each panel will all be perfect and the right size...... good luck, Mike from American Sycamorer

Yes, I realize PC is using "Sears" HP rating this animal!! Pretty typical for router HP. Greg

The bit has a pilot bearing, so I was not concerned about the final position of the fence. Still not a bad idea. Greg

It was not intended as a criticsm, I take it you are using a bit without a backcutter?? Though I'm using the CMT set which is about 3 1/2" dia I have found that accurate fence setting isn't necessary, even on the final cut as long as the fence is behind the bearing. In my own case I don't have a 3

Bernard R

Use the fence and some longer stock for your test piece please!

Sounds as if you had some assistance from the router bit. Were you feeding the piece the same direction as the bit was turning or against the rotation of the bit ?

Greg O wrote:

Against rotation. Since my first post I whipped togather a fence from some scrap 3/4" melamine. World of differance! Greg