I came across the shaping clips available at http://www.harboursurfshop.com/ and I really like the idea of being able to route out my templates, quickly and much more accurately than I could ever achieve with a saw. Where can I get a router bit like the one below? It looks like a 1/4" shank, but I haven’t been able to find any long bits at that dia. Also, is the bearing something that can be added to any bit or are the bit and bearing one? Thanks guys.
yeah the router idea seems to be better becasue you will get a straight cut, something i dont always seem to get with a saw. but a router can sometimes get away from you and then you might take out a chunk of unwanted foam.
part of me wonders if you could take a regualr drill with bit a larger shank and put it in there. also you could take a regualr old metal tube of a decent diameter and cut a little slit-opening on one side.
this could be total crap but if anyone has any better ideas or knows where i could find one i would be interested as well
Ive been using a router for about a year and its is the best $200 i could have spent i use a two handle porta cable router i use a 2 3/4 with a 1/8 inch spacer to take up for the template you have to grind down to spacer to the correct size then use two clamps to hold the template.Just make sure u use 1/8 hard board and that the templete is flawless.And always pull the router towards you you can really screw a templete/blank up, oh yeah got all my stuff from homedepot. pm and i will give the the item numbers to help you find what you need.
yep.
rout rout rout
get the bits
like the twisty sucker
for sheetrock cutouts
spiral,runnit on the shaft
the shaft is long
got two lately an thats
one with a bearing and another thats got the cutout bit
I cut a shallow >1’’
an’then the deeper2’'+
even is better on the template
but I have found
template mini warbles
come out fast when You can depend on the cut being perfectly
VERTICAL,somthing I have not yet accumulated the hand saw skills to achieve with the regularity I get from the router
one of my routers is about thirty years old and little and light and i gotta put oil in it
the other is a makita that cost 110$ from fillmore hardware in the MO in like 1980 somthing
get a light one its easier to control…
…ambrose…
yep masonite ‘hardboard’
is the fav
if you gouge it patch it with
q-cell if its longer than 8’
glass a scab to increase length
I’ve made 12’ers
half templates
make it real easy
quick,and accurate.
I have had good luck using 1/4" thick templates and a Porter Cable router guide for 1/4" bits. I use a tungsten carbide end mill instead of a router bit, they are available in long lengths. You can buy them from M S C Industrial Supply or Enco Supply. It is not necessary to cut all the way through the blank, the uncut portion can be cut with a saw. The nice thing is if you have a good half board template and cut one side and the flop it over and do the other side you are starting out with a symmetrical plan shape.
I put a bunch of stuff about router templating in the archives, check that out. But templates should be made with 1/8 masonite, don’t use the 1/4 stuff, doesn’t bend well in the nose. Get a porter cable 690 router with the guide set up. Grind the 1/4 dia, with the 1/32 thickness down to 1 /16 or so. Use a Eager Beaver multi-directional bit. You can also use mill ends in a Hi-Helix format, but these should only be used if they are a 1/2 dia. if you use a 1/4 dia, and you go larger than 5 in, it will wobble and break off. Most likely it will end up stuck in you chest, and probably lodged in your heart.
Nice ting about full templates is that you get a perfect symetrical cut in each side, and you don’t need to true up the shape (if your template is perfect) Bad thing is that you need to make a full template, and store the thing. And you can get almost the same results, using a saw.
One more ting, you can use a roto-zip or a laminate trim router if you scared of the big router units…but you’ll get better results with a bigger router. I think the drill idea would be a FUBAR waiting to happen, also the key to getting good cuts is in the direction of the routers chuck rotation. If you let the router spin clockwise, and pull the machine towards you, you’ll always get clean cuts. The router is pulling itself along, your not fighting it. Just go slow and let the machine do the work. Perfect clean cuts, that don’t need any truing up. The only time you’ll need to touch the outline is when your sanding that last little square edge on the rail, on the final sand.
-jay
Thanks for all the advice. Unfortunately I don’t have the diposable income to go buy a real router right now, so I’m stuck with my ryobi lam trimmer that I use for fin installs. The rpm on that baby is fixed at 23K. I’d prefer to have a clean cut out in a single pass – what’s the longest I can safely go at those speeds? (I’m also limited to a 1/4" shank)
first let me say that I’m no electrician so can’t guarantee that this won’t eventually burn out your trimmer, but for small laminate trimmers (less than 4 amps) you can use a 500 watt halogen dimmer to slow the speed down. I don’t think this would be good for full day in day out production, but for the occassional templating it works. Make sure you check the amps on your trimmer so you don’t overload the dimmer. amps x volts = total watts. Crank the dimmer all the way up when starting the trimmer, then back it down for slower speed.
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1286172
Uhmmmm- as long as you can find, though go with as small a diameter as you can. 1/4" would be ideal, maybe spiral up-cutting. Won’t be easy to find
The thing is, you are looking for what ya might call ‘edge speed’ or cutter speed: how fast the cutting edge travels, which increases ( linearly ) with the diameter, a 1/2" diameter bit will maybe burn out or become uncontrollable, bigger will do so even faster. And why most laminate trimmers use very small diameter bits, preferably nothing bigger than 1/2".
hope that’s of use
doc
I go back to my original post, Get the Egar Beaver or the Ryobi multi directional cutting bit. it fits in a 1/4 chuck. its a Gold Bit that looks like a wood rasp, with a small drill bit in the end. Also if you go to Harbor Freight you can buy a variable speed reostat for about 12 bucks, i know you can scrounge up 12 bucks.
Don’t go shoving a big ol 1/4 x 8 in mill end into you laminate trimmer…It will break, and you will die a slow death by bleeding to death in the middle of your garage floor. Then some wierd TV CSI type thing will link me to your death, and i’ll have a bunch of explaining to do.
Reostat, slow the trimmer or router down.
Longer bits, need bigger diameter.
shorter bits at 1/4 you can get away with at about 4 in of cutting surfaces. But heck your supposed to be skinning your blanks to the plan shape before templating any way. So how long of a bit are you looking for? 3 in max cutting surface right!!
“i know you can scrounge up 12 bucks.”
That I can do, and there’s a Harbor Freight not too far from here.
I’m having trouble finding anything on the eager beaver bit. The rasp-like bit sounds like the type of bit I’m looking for, but I guess I just don’t know the right terms to use to find one on google. One with a 3" cutting length would be perfect, but anything in the 2" to 2.5" range would work just fine also.
resinhead, I searched the web high and low for an eager beaver link to post for Losos, but all I can find for eager beaver is auger drill bits. Can you post a link for one or a company/part no.?
Ozzy
Losos, have a look at this link:http://www.vermontamerican.com/products/productdetail.htm?G=120086&GRP=167801, I think it may help.
Home Depot has these available, only online, item #4211678 (Vermont American Drillsaw Bit)$8.99.
Thanks. I found exactly the bit I am looking for http://www.shapers.com.au/category1_1.htm (the pencil router)… but it’s a bit pricey. Can anyone offer up a link to a similar bit that’s not quite so expensive?
I saw this today at Walmart for $4.69 (labeled ‘new item’ – Black&Decker brand)
Titanium Nitride Coated Saw Bit
1/4" shaft, 1 3/4" of spiral + 3/4" of tip.
HarborFreight has it for $3.99 (+shipping)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=38904
Btw, I think it’s made for a drill, (but I’m not sure) so you’d definitely want to use a reostat and crank it down to 1000rpm max. in a lam. trimmer/router like the Ryobi that comes in a Futures install kit.
did that one in my router an it broke.
too bad gold looks cool
and cheep too.
spiral cutter is the bees Knees…
not that much money…she-go
aloha from waipouli…
…ambrose…
Just an opinion, I hope it doesn’t come too late
Amana router bits are the best around, hands down, and they do not cost a fortune but they aren’t the cheapest either. They are the only router bits, saw blades etc. that I use, been using them for years
Hope this helps,
Rolly
All those bits will work fine, you just want the multi directional. The Vermont American one will work fine, just use a speed controler, and go slow.
I router template cut a board yesterday, the cool thing was that it is a template that i have been using for a few boards. I’m going to the islands for a few days and i thought i’d bring a new board, but the board needed to be a smidge more pulled in. So instead of inventing a whole new shape, I just clamped the template 1/16 of an inch to the inside of the stringer. That distance plus the 1/4 of the stringer gave me a nice 7’9 x 12 x 20 3/8 x 13 board.
-Jay