A few months ago someone asked about routing a 3/8" deep 1/4" slot. A
number of replies were that it was too deep and risked breaking the bit.

I said I had done it plenty of times and never broken anything.
Well, today I broke a brand new Freud doing a 7/16" slot. Got about 8"
across some luan and the darn thing twisted off.

So, I was wrong. (well, still never broke it on 3/8") Fortunately I just
bought a dozen of them at an auction for $4 each.

If you are doing a 3/8" deep plunge with a small bit, on one pass, you might
risk breakage. Hope you wear face protection.

RonB

"RonB" wrote in message
news:ldPHe.111660$oK.16597@okepread02...
If you are doing a 3/8" deep plunge with a small bit, on one pass, you
might risk breakage. Hope you wear face protection.

In a router table. Not much can happen.
I always wonder on a cut like that if it safe to have my hand directly over
the bit. Unless the wood simply disintegrated it should be safe; but I
don't do it anyhow.

toller wrote:


In a router table. Not much can happen.


Not much can happen?? yah, sure, you BETCHA!

Dave

"toller" wrote in
:


In a router table. Not much can happen.

You're a braver man than I!

over the bit. Unless the wood simply disintegrated it should be safe;
but I don't do it anyhow.


I recall recently reading some Jointer injury posts where the wood
disintegrated. Different machine, lots'a other differences but still not
something I would have expected.

Every day, it seems like, I come up with another reason to move the fingers
farther away from the cutters...

There was jointer on Ebay this week--the seller said he lost half a
finger to it, and decided he didn't want to try using it again.

Ouch!

--Steve

Patrick Conroy wrote:

I recall recently reading some Jointer injury posts where the wood
disintegrated. Different machine, lots'a other differences but still not
something I would have expected.

No, it's not safe to have your hand directly over the bit. I have a Hitachi
3HP router and if you go with 1/4" bits (which I quit using), the collet
doesn't hold the 1/4" bit very well. Had a bit loosen a while back and
climb out through the top of my wood. I always use push blocks and felt it
hit the bottom of the block. Glad it wasn't my hand!

"toller" wrote in message
...

"RonB" wrote in message
news:ldPHe.111660$oK.16597@okepread02...
If you are doing a 3/8" deep plunge with a small bit, on one pass, you
might risk breakage. Hope you wear face protection.

In a router table. Not much can happen.
I always wonder on a cut like that if it safe to have my hand directly
over the bit. Unless the wood simply disintegrated it should be safe; but
I don't do it anyhow.

I recall recently reading some Jointer injury posts where the wood
disintegrated. Different machine, lots'a other differences but still not
something I would have expected.

Was it posted here? I went back 4 months without finding it.
Do you recall what happened?

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 19:10:47 GMT, "toller" wrote:


"RonB" wrote in message
news:ldPHe.111660$oK.16597@okepread02...
If you are doing a 3/8" deep plunge with a small bit, on one pass, you
might risk breakage. Hope you wear face protection.

In a router table. Not much can happen.
I always wonder on a cut like that if it safe to have my hand directly over
the bit. Unless the wood simply disintegrated it should be safe; but I
don't do it anyhow.

Depends on your router- I've had bits walk up in the cut because the
collet sucked, and come right though the top of the wood when dadoing.
Don't get too cavilier with your tools, or they'll remind you about
safety in a nasty way. The router table can also kick back like a
mule, if you're not careful.

D Steck (in ) said:

| No, it's not safe to have your hand directly over the bit. I have
| a Hitachi 3HP router and if you go with 1/4" bits (which I quit
| using), the collet doesn't hold the 1/4" bit very well. Had a bit
| loosen a while back and climb out through the top of my wood. I
| always use push blocks and felt it hit the bottom of the block.
| Glad it wasn't my hand!

It's not just 1/4" bits - I had a 1/2" bit crawl out of an ER25 collet
at 18000 RPM yesterday morning. Destroyed a 6/4 x 14 x 54" maple
panel, chewed up the bit shank, and left serious marks on the collet
itself.

Definitely not a pleasant experience.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html

in 1223945 20050802 201047 "toller" wrote:
"RonB" wrote in message
news:ldPHe.111660$oK.16597@okepread02...
If you are doing a 3/8" deep plunge with a small bit, on one pass, you
might risk breakage. Hope you wear face protection.

In a router table. Not much can happen.

I was routing a 1/4 inch slot in softwood last week, about 3mm at a time, when it
stopped cutting. When I removed the wood the entire business end of the bit had
disappeared. I still haven't found it despite a careful search.

Patrick Conroy wrote:

"toller" wrote in
:


In a router table. Not much can happen.


You're a braver man than I!


over the bit. Unless the wood simply disintegrated it should be safe;
but I don't do it anyhow.



I recall recently reading some Jointer injury posts where the wood
disintegrated. Different machine, lots'a other differences but still not
something I would have expected.

Every day, it seems like, I come up with another reason to move the fingers
farther away from the cutters...

Isn't that the reason God invented push sticks?

Glen

Don't get too cavilier with your tools, or they'll remind you about
safety in a nasty way. The router table can also kick back like a
mule, if you're not careful.


I can second that. The first time I ever used a router table for freehand
routing, I was a little too gentle in moving the wood into the cut - the bit
caught the wood and threw it back so hard it almost broke my finger. This
was a 3hp Hitachi M12V. Kick like a mule is a good description.

I learned from that without injury - that's a good thing.

Vic