Here's why you don't put your fingers above the router bit

J. Clarke · 2007-01-20T02:41:14+00:00

Was cutting a 3/16" wide dado in a piece of Lyptus using an Amanaupcut spiral bit. Was cutting 3/16 deep in half inch stock. Routeris a Porter-Cable 7518 in a lift.All was going well, when, after cutting four pieces, on the fifth oneI'm about three inches along and all of a sudden the bit comes rightthrough the top--it's still cutting just decided to pull out of theend of the collet. So I put it back, socked it down hard, andcontinued the cut and three inches along it did it _again_.This time I pulled the bit and the collet and cleaned both withlacquer thinner and got a lot of black crud off both, but I'm prettysure I didn't get it all out of the collet. Whether the problem isfixed I don't know--I only had two short cuts after that.If I had been holding the piece above the bit then it would have goneright through my fingers. The notion that there's wood between youand the bit is false security.