dadiOH wrote:
gerry wrote:
GarageWoodworks wrote:
"gerry" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I am fairly new to woodworking and am trying to aquire some new
skills... I am in the middle of making an oak framed mirror, I
have the timber thicknessed and planed and am about to embark on
cutting the miters! I dont have access to a table saw, however I
do have a router and a flush cutting bit (the type with the
bearing at the bottom). I was planning to make a 45' jig from
18mm ply that I could clamp my frames to and then run the flush
cutting bit over it with the bearing running across the ply to
hopefully create the perfect 45' angles!!! Does this sound like a
reasonable idea? Do any of you have a plan for such a jig?
Hope you can help as I dont want to end up with some really
pretty firewood 
Gerry
Sounds like a bad idea.
You would have to make the cut in one pass at the
max depth (with bearing on the bottom) with the bit cutting on
both sides.
I was planning on rough cutting the miter and truing up with this
method so that the bit would only be removing around 1mm or so of
stock. Can you elaborate on why you think this is a bad idea please
- remember im a noob! Thanks.
1. You'll blow out (splinter) the exit side. Avoidable but you're a
noob
2. Superfluous. If you can make the 45 degree cut on the ply to
make your jig you could make a 45 degree cut directly on the frame
members. __________________
Let me add a bit...
More than accurate 45 degree angles go into making a frame...the cuts
need to be vertical...the stock needs to be the same width...the
lengths of opposing pieces needs to be the same.
IME, that last one is the one that people tend to have trouble with.
One reason is that any rotating cutting device tries to pull (or push)
the stock along the fence when cutting at other than 90 degrees. That
includes router bits. And the harder the wood the more the cutting
device tries to pull it. OK, you could clamp your stock on your jig,
problem solved if it is clamped firmly enough.
You didn't say how wide your stock was but keep in mind that the
router has to rest on something while you cut and if the stock is
narrow the router may rock. Even if the stock is wide, there isn't a
whole lot of router base plate on it at start and finish. The
solution here is to use other pieces of your stock along the sides of
the one being cut so they can provide a running surface for the base
plate. Another solution is a bit with the bearing on top so that jig
can be wide and clamped on top of stock.
All in all, it is just a lot easier and probably more accurate to use
a miter box rather than a router. Especially a hand held one.
Good luck with the frame.
--
dadiOH
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