RouterForums.com - 2008 Holiday Contest

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timrsimpson

My last electric guitar I built has two truss rods. I used a 1/4" fluting bit and used my Sears adjustable guide. I ran two channels down the neck wood while it was still square. I put in my 1/2" 45 degree bit it my old Rockwell and rounded off the back of the neck. The rest of the body and the head got the same treatment. I laid the waxed all-thread in the channels and glued the finger board on. I routed out a slot at the top of the neck just behind and parallel to the nut from behind. I put in a piece of 1/4" brass that I had threaded two holes in. I screwed the rods into this. At the tail piece a block of brass has had a bridge assembly screwed to it. I drilled two holes from front to back to accept the rods. Then I put cap screws on the ends sticking out of the bridge block. They adjust the neck tension.

Skyglider

I debated whether to submit this as an entry for the contest since it is a bit gruesome. But then it might save someone from getting a similar injury as it has saved me all these years.

Prior to my career in computers, I worked in carpentry for two years. One day I was running some stock on the jointer and a co-worker was running some 2x4 door jams over a 3/4" dado blade on the table saw. He had a lot of wood to groove so was working rapidly. I just happened to look at him when the door jam header was flung by the dado blade and his right hand went into the blade. There was a 3/4" dado in the heel portion of the palm of his hand.

When we analyzed what happened later by examining the piece he was grooving plus his comments, we deduced that the wood had a knot in it which caught on the dado blade and flung the 2x4. He was pressing down on the 2x4 and pushing it over the blade. Naturally, when the 2x4 was flung, his hand went into the blade. There was no blade guard.

The lesson learned from this mistake, aside from use of blade guards, is to never, ever apply pressure on the work piece over any moving blade be it a tablesaw, jointer, router table or anything else. I see videos on the web where the person is applying pressure with his hand while pushing the work over the blade, knives or bit. Especially over jointer knives and router table bits. Pushing work over a saw blade or router table bit that is set lower than the thickness of the work can give the woodworker a false sense of security since the blade is completely covered by the work. You may have seen this yourself. If the work ever catches on a knot or even a hidden nail in used lumber, that person's hand could be toast.

Since witnessing that accident, I never, never, ever push work where my hand could possibly go into the blade if the work is flung away. I won't even do it using push blocks (the flat bottom type with handles on top) where the blocks "should" go into the blade instead of my hand. I figure that the block could also be flung away and my hand go into the blade, knives or bit with a rotary motion. I hope anyone reading this never does it either.
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Mike

Many guys had their first wood working experience building a Pinewood Derby car in Cub Scouts. I built two cars myself and when it was time for my son to build one I was determined to make sure he had fun and did everything by himself. When I built my car I had a coping saw and a jack knife to work with and it was no fun at all. My son had a slight advantage of using a band saw and a belt/disc sander so the tough stuff was easy. He traced the block shape onto paper and drew his body profile, then copied it to the wood. I showed him how to safely cut the wood by using a scrap piece and to pay attention to the grain direction. As the car took shape his interest grew, and even during the hand sanding he took great care and worked diligently. The end result was a car that looked a great deal like a Trans Am. He was very proud as we walked in for the race. I will remind everyone that I live just outside of Detroit, and this cub scout troop is based in Warren, MI... the home of GM's Tech Center. It was painfully obvious that some of the dad's had spent hours "assisting" their sons on the cars. Talk about a bunch of cut throats! Some of the cars looked like prototypes for new vehicles. I told my son in a loud voice how proud I was that he had done all the work on his car. The judges were not fooled by the "helpful fathers" and my son won the award for styling. All in all it was a great experience for him and he enjoys any time we get to spend in the shop together. (He is 18 and girls tend to occupy his free time) I hope others get the chance to do this with their kids, it makes for very good memories.

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johnsmagic

Use an old table saw stand or other tool stand for a great router table.

30 years ago, at 18 years of age I bought my first 10 "table saw with my 3rd or 4th pay. This first saw was not the best, stamped steel top, cheep fence, but it did it's job. About 20 years ago I was given an old Delta table saw that needed a motor, so I took the motor and top off my old table saw, put the motor on the Delta, and then used the old table saw stand as the base for my new router table.
For the router table top I used 3/4" plywood (reinforced to keep straight and level) covered with arborite. (2'X4' off cut sheets can be found for as little as $2.00) Arborite makes an nice smooth surface for sliding your material across, and best of all it doesn't rust. I then cut out an insert for my router for easy bit changes and router mounting. With a couple pieces of plywood strips I fashioned an L shaped fence again laminated with arborite. The fence is kept in place with 2 C Clamps. I have used this table for 20 years and the top is still level and very usable, the only change has been the fence which is now made out of 1" mdf covered with arborite.

Total cost of the above router top and fence, less than $20.00
Today I would probable go for 1" - 1 1/4" Mdf, instead of plywood. again with the top covered with Arborite, and the rest (bottom and sides sealed to help prevent any possible humidity damage.

John Blyth.

bob e

I recently completed a 42 x 42'"entrance sign for our town. I used two 2 x 8' planks of western red cedar. I carefully selected each plank for lack of any loose knots and for lack of any warping. The boards felt dry to the touch and not moist like a lot lumber feels when purxchased. I cut the planks into 42" sections and glued then together on edge after drilling each board so I could run two sections of all thread thru. Shortly I began to notice that 3 of the boards where starting to curl quite badly across the 8" width. I was forced to glue and screw two 2 x 6" strips on the back to control the warping. The other 3 boards remained flat with no warping. After some carefully looking it dawned on me the grain was different in the two planks. The plank that warped was cut from heart wood as evidenced by the half moon growth rings visable at each end. The one that did not warp was cut from sap wood as evidence by the flat growth rings when viewed from the ends. I don't know if this holds true for other woods but I intend to check this in the next western red cedar sign I build.

Mark

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