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How long can you run a router?

4K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  Mike 
#1 ·
It's a 2 1/4 HP Freud, mounted in an open table. I'm milling a 45 degree angle on either 3 or 4 sides of pieces that are roughly 3" square.

So, since this is a production kind of thing and I have all the pieces cut already, I can see myself running too long and burning it up. Definitely something I don't want to do.

Any suggestions?
 
#3 ·
i think i would have used a table saw, then cut them to length. that is if im understanding you right.

i guess that would only work on part of it?
 
#4 ·
The wood is 3/8" thick and I'm putting a 45 degree bevel on it, full thickness.

And I was a bit nervous about having the blade that close to my hand - for some reason the bit doesn't bother me even though I know it's rotating faster than the blade.
 
#5 ·
I would think that it would run a long time unless you are taxing it too much. What kind of wood is another factor. If a hard wood and you are concerned take it down in two steps. You should be able to tell how hard it is working by the sound to some degree. I put a 45 bevel and took off 1/2" on several pieces of oak and mine was just fine, I think I could have done a lot more without overheating the router. If you think it might be getting too hot just feel it from time to time,
 
#6 ·
Freud seems to have a pretty good reputation, 3 inch pieces, 3/8 thick. I seriously doubt you will tax it very much. It will be cooling some while you change stock. I suspect you will putter out before it does. I know I would
 
#7 ·
I'm building 50 boxes, the bottoms are 3" square and get all 4 sides beveled and the sides are 2 5/8x3 and get the both 2 5/8 sides and one 3" side beveled.

I'll post up some pictures when I get them done (I say "I", but I'm doing the cutting, my wife is doing the finishing on this set.) Once they're cut, it's glue and blue tape to put them together.

Thanks for the advice - and after what happened on the table saw I see the utility in taking a break every now and then.
 
#8 ·
Ken, like a table saw the router can cause serious damage to body parts. Since you are doing a "production run" be sure to set up a finger board to hold the wood to the fence and another to hold the wood down to the table over the bit. By all means use a push stick. This type of simple job is what dulls the senses... and thats when accidents happen. In the future you might consider running long sections through the router table and then cutting them to length.
 
#9 ·
I fear more for your fingers than I do your router. Those pieces are way too small to be pushing through the router without putting them into some kind of handling fixture first. A 2 screw woodworkers clamp would do it, and your fingers would be much farther away from that spinny thing. Next time plan on putting as many bevels as possible on long boards and then cutting them to length before making the remaining bevel cuts, or do as much of the waste removal as possible on a saw before finishing the cut with the router. Always devise a way of keeping your fingers 3" or more away from saw blades or router bits while they are cutting/running. I think your router will handle this fine if you remove the material in several passes or remove the bulk of the material with the table saw. Making the full cut will likely cause the parts to be pulled from your fingers and both your fingers and your parts may be damaged. A for light cuts your router will likely run for hours without overheating.

CharleyL
 
#10 ·
So I finished beveling the box parts and didn't have any safety issues. Since I had a sacrificial board on the miter slide I'm not sure how I could have used any finger boards. I did the pieces over 3 or 4 days, probably about 4 hours total router work.

Yes, I could have done one or two edges (depending on whether it was a side or bottom piece while the stock was still longer but I have a couple of questions/comments about that. My stock was about 8 to 10 feet long and that seems to me to be too long for a "normal" router table. I could have cut the pieces shorter, but when I was cutting to length I had to cut out knots and such and didn't want to waste wood.

Yes, that could have been penny wise and pound foolish.

Maybe the scary part of this is that it worked and there weren't any scary moments. I did run the pieces in batches of 15 to 20 and I would stop in between batches to stack the beveled pieces in the box, take the next set and sort out which sides would show and stack them all in the same direction, grab a drink of water, put the mask back on, etc - so it wasn't a single session of just slamming pieces through the router.

I had a couple of minor incidents when I was cutting to size on the table saw (which was done in a more sustained manner) and decided that when my fingers were closer I needed to change the way I worked.

I appreciate all your advice and concern. Just for the record, I realize that whether it's a blade with teeth or one with a cutter head they spin very fast and flesh is very fragile. It just seemed safer and more accurate to do this on the router once the pieces were cut to size.

I will look in to how to do it differently as this certainly won't be the last time I'm building boxes like this.

Thank you.
 
#11 ·
Ken, please consider that our comments or suggestions are not meant as criticism but as alternatives. This is the really great part of the forums. Everyone sees things differently. If you asked Bob or Rick Rosendahl, Patrick Spiellman and Bill Hylton to cut these pieces odds are you would see three different methods and set ups.(Norm would use his table saw followed by his sliding compound miter saw and "secure the pieces with some glue and a few brads...") <--NYW humor at no charge.
 
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