I had some work to do for someone. They have these dollies for AV equipment, and he wanted new handles routed into the dollies.... simple right.
Well when I saw them, I knew I had to remove the wheels, and somehow needed to round over the topside which has doublers. I don't have a trim router so how was I going to do it.
Well the first problem wound up being that after removing the bolts the wheels would not come off at all. I suspect they painted them and put them on too soon. A stiff putty knife was not able to break the bond. I was just digging into the paint and wood deeper and deeper as it dove under.
So a simple project was turning into a bit of a challenge. I had made a template to route the shape, but w/o removing the wheels, I was not able to clamp it. The router did not fit between the wheels with a solid base, so I switched to my plunge base and do to the flat on one side was just able to fit. But I still could not shape it w/o clamps. And I did not want to tape it on for fear of pulling the finish off.
My sabre saw didn't fit between the wheels either. So I drilled the ends using a 1.5 fostener, then used the sabre saw standing like a plunge cut.. (kept catching on the wheels).
For the top side, I mounted a router bit in my drill press and set the speed to the fastest speed. I used my DRO to lower the bit to the same height every time then locked it in.
Sometimes a piece of cake job, can be a real challenge.
about 2 hours and glad it's over.