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Bernard Randall
 
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Default Router table for raised panels

David,

Having just completed a bunch of doors and having the same problem this was
my solution.

First you should not have any problems with the bit moving in the collet if
you fit and tighten it properly. The problem you may have is getting the
bit properly seated, my CMT panel set shank was quite short and there was
only about 0.020" clearance once the bit was properly tightened. The
difficulty you will have is that the bit will be too low and the resulting
cut is too deep into the panel; to overcome this you need to raise the bit
relative to the wood and this is where your ply comes in. However, do not
fix the fence to the ply as you need to move the ply to adjust the amount of
cut.

The procedure I used was.
First make a test piece using all the steps below and ensure that the test
piece is correct height relative to the rebates in the rails and stiles.

Move the fence to the position where you want to take the first pass. You
will probably need to add pieces to the front of the fence.
Place the plywood in place and mark out the overlap of the cutter and trim
that out + clearance.
Cut the arc out and then fix the ply to the table, I used small fixing
nails.
Take you cuts then move the fence back for the next.
In all I took about 3 passes.

As I wrote in another post, the things you need to watch out for are 1) get
the stock as flat as possible, 2) the table needs to be very sturdy. The
reason for these comments is that the only downward pressure you can apply
is by hand and as you move your hand the pressure varies, the result is that
you get less than perfect miters at the corners; also if you are using a
back cutter the wood rises as the pressure varies and this reflects in
variations of thickness which shows on the back face.

Bernard R


"David C. Yale" wrote in message
om...
I got the Jesada Bits, and a new 3.5hp router (a craftsman, but I got
the $259 model for $125 in an open box). The problem now is that the
hole in the router table attachment on my table saw is smaller than
the raised panel bit.

My thought was to take a piece of luan superply, make a hole about
1/4" bigger than the bit, and permanently fasten a wooden fence to the
luan. This could be clamped/bolted/whatever to the metal fence.

The bit would be above the metal table and if if the router ever slips
down while running it will be interesting, but short of building or
buying a whole new router table I'm not sure what else to do.

Has anyone else ever succesfully negotiated this problem?