Mods to Woodrat (already!!)

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Anonymous

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Rat owners might find this rather long post of interest

Yep, as I posted earlier, I am very impressed with the Woodrat but think it is lacking an important component - graduated scales.

I really don't want to make little bits of wood to place between stops and cut bits out of plastic before the wood :roll:

The requirements for longitudinal scale is easily solved with an old (horrible) aluminium ruler that has been in the workshop for ages and cost very little from B&Q. I cut it on the bandsaw, glued it to a piece of ply and fitted it underneath as the T-track is there but also as it allows me to use the rear edge of the clamp black as a 'pointer' where it overhangs the ruler.

The requirement for the crosswise scale is for it to be easily 'zeroed' in different places to make cuts easy to set up.

For instance, for a tenon, I simply subtract the tenon width from the wood width, halve this, and that is the setting I need.
I push the stationary router bit up against the rear of the wood, zero the scale, wind the wood away from the cutter, and then use the scale to set the cut to my calculated value and take the cut.
I then push the stationary router bit up against the front of the wood, zero it, wind wood out of the way, and then push the router away from me until it reaches (minus) the value I calculated and then take the cut.
This takes less time than it took to type or for you to read it. I can easily set the router to a position within 0.1mm which is more than adequate.


Longitudinal scale

First, I ripped the 'orrible ruler.


Cut_ruler.jpg



Then I glued it to some ply - finally, those car boot sale clamps come in useful :D


Finally_use_clamps.jpg



I drilled 4 holes for the 8mm bolts to fit in the T-track with wing nuts for easy adjustment.


Drill_lower_scale.jpg



In place - note that the clamp overlaps the scale providing a ready pointer for positioning accurately. Despite how the picture looks, the ruler face is flush with the front of the rat.


Lower_scale_in_place.jpg



Crosswise scale

I considered a standard vernier but decided against it as Axminster sell a vernier for the job for a couple of quid more than the standard vernier costs and to be honest, using a standard vernier looks like a bit of a bodge to me.

However, the bracket supplied by Axminster did not fit and I had to re-drill the holes. Also, the supplied screws were too long and I had to grind them down :roll:


Base_dont_fit.jpg



I used the DW625 guide fence rail and ground a small flat on it before drilling 3.2mm and tapping 4mm


Tap_4mm.jpg



I decided against mounting it on the ali guide rails as I want space for stops etc. and so mounted it on the Phenolic plate. This is slippery, so centre punch first.


Centre_punch_plate.jpg



I had to cut down some 4mm bolts for mounting to the plate


Bolts_too_long.jpg



Here it is mounted with the cut-off 4mm bolts. I needed to place two 4mm washers between the rod and the vernier's bracket to give nice alignment and smooth movement.


Full_Travel_Far.jpg



And at the other end of the travel


Full_Travel_Near.jpg



To cut full width trenches etc., I will simply remove the bolt holding the bracket to the rod - 10 second job :wink:
 
Nice one Tony, there's no holding you back now. On the side lines for a number of years, to a fully paid up member of the 'Rat Pack' Old Blue Eyes and co would be proud of you :wink: Well done mate.

Cheers

Mike
 
Nice work Tony, from a non Rat owner I cannot understand why this sort of mod is not standard. It would surely only add a few bob to the price of the thing.

Andy
 
Always knew you were a natural for the 'Rat - bearly out of the box and already drilling extra holes in the poor thing. :lol: Must be an even quicker way to connect and disconnect the router with the north/south vernier though surely? :wink:

Cheers, Alf
 
Very nice, Tony.
Have had mine for nearly two years and been thinking about doing what you've done for almost as long!
Stewart
 
Well done, looks really good. I was looking at one of those 'orrible long rules the orther day and noticed that it was out by a full 1mm from almost the start, I checked it with a second tape too. I take it yours does not suffer from the same.
 
judder":16d1qb8q said:
Well done, looks really good. I was looking at one of those 'orrible long rules the orther day and noticed that it was out by a full 1mm from almost the start, I checked it with a second tape too. I take it yours does not suffer from the same.

:-k To say I had checked it would be a lie right now but a truth in 1/2 an hour :wink:
 
Nice job Tony. I have a similar sort of scale on the bottom of my Rat although I used one of the extra scales from my Incra tablesaw fence. I slipped it into a shallow groove plowed into the length with a dovetail bit.

I really like your caliper modification. It looks very professional.
 
Wow!

From being anti-'Rat to a full member of the tweak, jig and mod a WoodRat group in such a short time. Now that is impressive!! :D
Welcome Tony. I look forward to your next ideas. Don't forget to post on the WoodRat Forum too.

Looking forward to your next mods as there surely will be some, regards,

Aldel
 
dedee":1hdqcyz2 said:
I cannot understand why this sort of mod is not standard. It would surely only add a few bob to the price of the thing.

I don't think they need to add any more bob to the price of the thing Andy! :wink:
 
Bean":1tuyvgzi said:
Did it come with a new nail brush ????

Bean

Cleans all nine nails up a treat - Rat has not got dirty enough for me to use the brush on it yet :wink:
 
Alf":dsrgphaj said:
Always knew you were a natural for the 'Rat - bearly out of the box and already drilling extra holes in the poor thing. :lol: Must be an even quicker way to connect and disconnect the router with the north/south vernier though surely? :wink:

Cheers, Alf

Of course :)

I had considered a quicker release mechanism such as a pin mounted on the rod engaging in a slot in the vernier bracket. Simply undo the thumb screw in router base and then disengage - like this

Rat_Bracket.jpg


However, the time to remove the bolt is well under a minute and I don't think I will be doing this very often as I tend to use the table or my dado jig for the kind of cuts where I might want to.
Also, it would be hard to get a perfect fit without lateral play once engaged, yet easy to engage, unless I messed a fair bit with the bracket's slot.
 
Will the router base take round rod, rather than hexagonal or whatever? If so, couldn't you taper just the end of the rod and just drill the bracket just right for the main rod diameter, so it kind of located itself.
 
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