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 For most of us, the router already holds the
workshop MVP award. It’s hard to imagine
that the tool you’re trusting to shape edges,
cut mortises, dovetails, identical parts, etc., is
capable of doing that much more. Believe it or
not, it probably can…and a little faster, safer, and
more cleanly than you might expect.
Each year, hundreds of routers, bits, and
accessories come and go. The major difference
between a shelf-sitter and smart buy is just how
well it solves a real shop problem. Here’s a list
of top router-related problems and our editors’
choice store-bought solutions to those problems.
Editor’s Note: To put my money where my mouth
is, here’s my list of the items that I’ve bought for my
own shop. If you have any favorites that you think
deserve a place in my shop, send me an email at
joe_hurst@woodcraftmagazine.com.
(All items mentioned are available at Woodcraft stores,
woodcraft.com or by calling (800) 255-1153). |
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Want to know
why a good
bit goes bad? If you don’t
regularly look at your bits,
then you need to look in
the mirror. In truth, router
bits give plenty of warning
before they give up the
ghost. ...
A few bucks worth
of |
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prevention is worth many bits’ worth of
cure. At the end of the day, make a habit of wiping down the bits
you’ve used with a blade and bit cleaner. Every other time, give
bearings a spritz of a lubricant. As an added benefit, the cleaner
leaves a film that helps keep rust from getting a toehold. |
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Considering that radius bits are used for miles of
edge work, it makes sense to invest in a bit designed
to shave the time you’ll spend with a sander. These bits
employ four cutting edges: two larger cutting edges that
do most of the shaping with an up-cut, and two smaller
cutters angled down to shear off the fuzz left by the first
set. The extra cutting edges result in a smooth, sand-free
cut along both edge and end grain. |
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This $30 bit serves as a handy backup for my $200 dado set. Instead of switching out my sawblade, I set my router table
to rabbet the end of a board or panel. The rabbet bit isn’t a perfect replacement, but the rabbets and dados within the
bit’s reach are clean and square. A rabbet bit can reach where you can’t go with a table saw,
like the inside lip of a finished box (don’t forget to use an offset base). |
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Template routing is the easiest and most accurate way
to shape identical parts. Cut one hardboard pattern,
and you’re halfway to the finish line. Unfortunately,
when the grain reverses, such as when routing the
curved legs on Scott Phillips' two-part chair in the April/
May 2008 issue, you’ve got trouble. To avoid tear-out,
you had two solutions: carefully reattach the template
onto the opposite face of your work, then continue
routing; or buy a pattern-cutting and template bit.
For the cost of one good bit, the over-under is like
the two-bit solution only you don’t need to switch bits
or have a second router on standby. |
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Adj.
tongue-and-groove
bit set
Freud #825745, $79.99 |
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Like
the rabbet bit, the tongue
and-
groove set earns its keep
when
doing projects that might
otherwise
require switching back and forth from
the sawblade to dado cutter. Like the
rabbeting set, they can be employed for
cutting rabbets and dadoes, but the real value
comes from setting the matching bits to cut half lap or tongue-and-groove joints
in stock from
1/2" to 1-1/4" thick. (If you have a spare router you |
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might consider knocking
together an extra router
table, thereby allowing
you the flexibility to rout
two different setups,
and still use your table
saw for ripping and
crosscutting.)
Having owned home with ailing heartpine
floors, I wish I had |
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A one-handed
quick-change artist.
Eliminator RC Quick Change Chuck (#140368,
$64.99) The price of a quick-change chuck is a bit steep
to retrofit on every router in my shop, but for my
router table, the convenience of one-handed
10-second bit switches makes it |
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| this set for a few
patch jobs. ... |
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a steal. Tighten
the chuck onto your router’s collet and put your big wrench away. To change
bits, all you need is a hex drive wrench. Depending on your work, the chuck
saves as much time as having a
second router table. ... |
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Ask around, and you’ll be surprised to learn how many
woodworkers already have this solution tucked into the pocket
of their shop apron. This 5-piece set will set you back just a
few bucks more than a tape measure, but these brass bars hit
sub-inch measurements much more accurately than a loose tipped
tape.
I use my set for setting bit height and fence depth.
Combine the 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bars to obtain different
measurements outside of the 5-piece set, then hang one over
the edge to serve as a can’t miss stop bar. I appreciate the fact
that brass won’t ding my carbide-tipped bits. |
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TurnLock Universal
Baseplate (#148724, $19.99)If routing, switching, setting, switching,
setting,
routing doesn’t sound tedious, then you haven’t tried
to cut a dovetailed groove in the side of a case. Screw
two identical bases on any two routers, and your jigs
won’t know the difference. (For an exact match, look
for a base that comes with a centering pin. That way,
you can be sure that the distance from the bit to the
edge of the baseplate is exactly equal.)
Besides saving time, you may find that identical
baseplates save plywood. ... |
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Straight fences don’t offer
much help when routing outside curves, and get in the way when routing
inside curves. The temptation is to remove the fence (and guard)
and place your trust in a good pushpad and steady hand. There’s a better way.
This offset guard keeps dust from flying up, and, most importantly, fingers from
touching
down onto the spinning bit. The plywood edge of the guard doubles as a pivot
point to help feed your work. The biggest plus is the easy-on/easy-off convenience.
The
guard quickly attaches to any Pinnacle Router Plate with two knobs. ...
(I’m sending this guard to my father-in-law, a hard-core wind chime and whirligig
woodworker. ... |
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The Pinnacle insert plate seemed a bit pricey, until I put one to use and
calculated the time and money spent making my own inserts. You can make decent inserts from acrylic or plywood scraps;
however, they start to sag from the weight of a larger-horsed router. Pinnacle’s phenolic base is stiffer and slicker than my old
acrylic base. (At one time I might have tried making phenolic plates for myself, had I found a phenolic supplier. I’ve since learned
that it’s expensive and nasty to machine. Save yourself the hassle and buy a pre-made plate.)
The predrilled Pinnacle comes with a few handy features you won’t find on most homemade plates. The eight set screws
made leveling a snap. And I really liked the way that the two side-squeezing plungers pressed the plate into the opening
so that it could not shift in use. Unlike my single-holed inserts that get chewed up when used in a big panel-raising bit, the
twist-in insert rings now enable me to adjust the opening size without sacrificing the plate. (Woodcraft sells an extra 8-ring
set: #834122, $64.99.) This may be the last plate until it’s time to retire the router it’s attached to. |
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I didn’t think I needed another router, until I
did
the math. Router lifts start at around
$190;
an extra $20 buys me a Triton 2-1/4
HP router with built-in lift. With
the
included winding handle I
can
easily
adjust the bit in 1/128"
increments. (Granted, the
Triton’s
lift thread isn’t as fine
as the
Mast-R-Lift–that lift can
adjusts
with 1/512" precision–
but it’s good
enough for me.)
Here’s why the Triton’s my
favorite. The rack-and-pinion height
adjustment works smoothly, but
holds tightly enough for most cuts.
(For heavy cuts, you should engage
the motor lock.) With a one-wrench bit
changing and a collet that extends past the base,
switching bits is a breeze. Last but not least, the
plastic shroud surrounding the base catches dust
almost as well as a boxed-in router. The bits, bushings,
dust port, and baseplates that come standard with the
Triton make the deal even sweeter. |
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A few extra inches of acrylic
can shift the router’s
center of balance in your favor. Keeping one hand on
the offset knob and the other on the router is a sure-fire
tip-stopping solution.
In my shop, I keep an offset base attached to
my go-to router. This simple switch eliminated the
time-saving temptation of not reattaching it, and then tipping the
router and ruining the edge. Think of the number of
times you’ve used your router to finish an edge with a
roundover, chamfer, or cove, and you can immediately
appreciate this affordable upgrade. |
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