Panel raising bit: Update

[SonomaProducts.com]

I tried using spacers in front of the fence and doing multiple passes with my 3 1/4" panel raising bit in my shaper. The cutting was so clean and easy during testing I tried just powering through a full depth cut in a single pass (Pine). I ended up cutting all 24 panels this way and felt totally safe.

The only issue was a slight bit of fuzzing on the cross cut with the sharp edge at the face of the panel and a slight brush with some 100 sandpaper cleaned it up easy.

I suppose holding off 1/8" on the first pass and doing a clean up pass would have mayde for a little smoother surface but for this rustic project it was more than smooth enough.

[dpb]

That's the advantage of the shaper vis a vis the router -- power and mass. If the cutters are good quality and sharp, you'll be amazed at the cleanliness of the cuts you get in moderately hard woods like walnut and soft maple.

Oak cuts easily enough (particularly white) but may want to chip out a little more; cherry is, of course, notorious for burning but even there a good cutting speed can hog a lot of material. There's where a little experimentation and a power feeder shows its mettle for sure.

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[WW]

Thanks for that idea. I never would of thought of that. WW

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------- Glad to see everything worked out.

If the material had been say hickory or hard maple rather than pine, would you have approached the task differently?

Lew

[SonomaProducts.com]

It cut so easy I think I would just us some 1/8" hardboard as a spacer on the fence for the first pass and do a second to clean it up for hardwoods.

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------- I keep a brown pair of pants for use with LARGE bits.

Lew

[Lobby Dosser]

Body armor would be more useful. Though I can't recall a case of large bit failure causing injury.

[krw]

I haven't used a panel-raising bit, yet. What about a 1/8" hardboard spacer on the table?

[Leon]

It has a back cutter, soooo you have to go horizonally into the bit.

[krw]

Why, yes it would rather mess things up. ;-) Sorry, I forgot that part (I remember now that it was mentioned).

[Leon]

Yeah I missed it the first time too.

[SonomaProducts.com]

As others mentioned I had a back cutter for this op but the idea would be exactly that, get the bit setup exactly as I want it and then add

1/8 hardboard to the fence(s) for the first pass during production.