RouterForums.com - 2008 Holiday Contest

Pagan Wizard

Getting a straight cut is easy without a table saw. Whether you have either a circular saw or a jig saw, you can clamp your favorite straight edge onto the piece you're cutting, (my fav is my 4 foot level) and guide your saw along the straight edge for a perfectly straight cut every time.

While this does sound elementary, I did read a thread where someone said they couldn't get a straight cut because he was only using a jig saw.

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Mark

New entires updated.

Keep'em coming!

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pemdas86

Last year I purchased the Sears craftsman interchangeable router set that has a fixed base and plunge base. The core houses the motor of the router and it's very easy to swap between bases. I also have the router table by Sears. All for about $225.

My thought was that I will use the plunge base for all my freehand work and keep the fixed base attached up under the table. Switching the interchangeable core is easier than having to attatch and un-attach the base to the router table every time. Now I can freehand having the convience of the plunge feature (which by the way, is excellent in the "up" position when you just need to rest the router without worrying about hitting the bit on something), and then just pull out the core and slip it into the fixed base already mounted under the router table and it's ready to go. I can switch between the 2 setups in about 1 minute.

I don't have a lot of room to work in my shop or for storage, and I deliberated whether I wanted fixed or plunge capabilities. All problems solved. This setup made perfect sense for my needs at a nice price, and it has been working out great in practice ever since.

Mark

Thanks for the entry, it's been added. Keep'em coming guys!

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TwoLeftHands

Never power up your router in the swimming pool. It makes the water messy.

loninappleton

I was stumped when trying to use a trammel I made consisting of a plastic base and a couple of oak runners to keep it flat to the table. I learned how to use a v-groove bit as a centering pin and was able to make the correct screw placements to get the new base attached. But....

When it came time to set up the circle I wanted to route I found the diameter was under the router base. This means an adjustment for the centering pin would be needed under the surface of any trammel purchased or made.

I examined the router base and guessed which machining would be close to the right one. I then drove a drill the size of the machining in the center of the workpiece and used
the smooth end of the drill as the centering pin. This gave a good result. Small variations in cutout size could then be made with straight drill bits of narrow to wider dimension.

This was a quick fix. It's a technique I've used elsewhere but never before on a router. The router is new and I'm still learning.

Cave Dweller

Something brief with the first two subjects covered in one, a story and tip. I wanted my first router a couple years back. Without taking my time to learn about routers, I bought the first that came along. It was a used one I bought from my neighbor. I soon discovered I bought an old model (in new condition) at the same price I could have spent on a new one with more features. I didn't do my homework. I now am the proud owner of two routers. I justify it by leaving one mounted on a router table. The other, newer, with the features I really wanted, is in the cabinet ready to plunge, rout, and anything else it's designed to do. Live and learn. Thanks.

thewoodennewfie

Thx for this great contest. Not only a way to win something nice but a great way to get some stories/reviews that we can definitely use. Nothing like real life experiences to learn from.

My review is of the Husky 50" Clamp and Cutting Guide. I picked up my at Home Depot for approx $30. Something that I would suggest you have in your shop. But here are my pros and cons for you to consider:

Pros
1. ability to span widths up to 50" which makes cutting/routing wide sheets simple.
2. locking mechanism provides a good solid tight grip. Once the lever is pushed all the way down and is locked in place, the clamp isn't going to shift.

Cons
1. although the locking mechanism provides a tight grip on the work piece, if the clamp is used on pieces over 40" in length, you may get slight lateral flex of the clamp in the middle as you run the saw/router by the clamp depending on the pressure used to hold the saw/router against the edge.
2. Because of the design of the clamping mechanism on the bottom side of the clamp (the jaws are about 1.5" high), you need to elevate the work piece off of your workbench if the work piece is not as thick as the height of the jaws. So for example, if the stock is 1" thick, then you're going to need to put 0.5" blocks under the stock to raise it up off your workbench. in order to get the straight edge of the clamp to be flat against the top part of your work piece.

Cheers!

kefjens

I recently started woodworking and purchased a Wilton 12 1/2" planer with a metal stand. Upon assembling the stand and placing the planer on the stand I noticed the rubber feet supplied with the planer would not contact the stand. The stand was too narrow for the feet to make contact. The planer mounted perfectly on the stand though I though the feet may have helped reduce vibration if necessary.

I then set about checking the infeed, bed, and outfeed tables for flatness. Both the infeed and outfeed tables were disparagingly out of vertical alignment with the bed. It took a while to get them adjusted.

Then I checked the knives to make sure they were secure and flat as well. It was difficult to check the knives for parallel to the bed but they seemed secure.

I ran some strips of douglas fir that I ripped and jointed to make a laminated workbench top. To the best of my knowledge the planer ran as intended, I didn't detect any snipe but I was only planing some common douglas fir at the time.

Pros:
Low cost <$100 on sale
Does the job

Cons:
Infeed/outfeed table alignment from the factory
Weak instruction manual
No indicator for contact with the workpiece

All-in-all, for the every other weekend warrior such as myself, the Wilton planer does the job with no frills. The design appears very similar to the Jet and Grizzly planers of the same size. A google search shows that Jet is owned by the same parent group as Wilton. I plan to add a digital gauge and will make a setup block for calibration to speed up the operation.

mademperor

My safety story...

One day I was installing some new wood trip on the top of my walls. The trim was going to cover some speaker wire that ran along the top edge of the wall that powered my surround speakers.

Well, I didn't think to turn off my receiver while doing this. hehe bad move

I started taping a bit of wire that was low with a flat head screw driver to get it under the wood panel, thinking nothing of it really. All the sudden I got thrown off my step latter and got a jolt of a lifetime lol.

The shock put a huge notch in my flathead screw driver. I would say over 1/8" inch of metal was just gone! I didn't even know electricity could do such a thing.

Well needless to say I learned my lesson all those years ago. The moral of the story is to always cut the power when working near power cords (even speaker wire!)

I think this applies to all do it yourself jobs, not just woodworking =P