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MattMoore

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I'm a bit stuck with sourcing router cutters at the moment,
and i wondered if any of you folks could help me out
My dad and i have recieved an order for 3 of 1000mm by 1000mm 38mm marine ply boards faced with 1.2mm formika, with a series of holes in each piece, its for a sattelite company, and the holes need to be exact, there is no tollerances, jus for example, 2 of the holes have to be 659.7mm apart, now, the problem i am having is the holes need to be 6.4mm diamater, 8.5mm diameter, and 16mm diameter,
the 16mm diameter we already have, but the other 2 we dont, also, they need to be around 50mm long blades to go full the whole depth,
i have tried looking on the trend website, but i cant seem to find either of the sizes, i know they do an order service,
but they have to be done by the end of next week,
so do any of you know where i can get these made,
or any where that stocks such sizes??

Cheers, Matt
 
Matt,

NLS Tools in Waltham Cross may be able to help

Station Approach, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire EN8 7LZ

Tel: 01992 710888

Signal
 
Matt
I hope you are charging an arm and a leg for these!
It is quite unreasonable for a designer to specify that something has no tolerances. I'm not an engineer, but even my O-level tech drawing is enough to know that there is no such thing as exact. The designer should specify the tolerances as +/- such-and-such, ot +0,-0.1 or whatever it is. What if they are 659.662mm apart? Is that out of limits? I'd be surprised if marine ply could hold that level of precision on a cut face anyway.

Can you do it with standard size cutters and various bushes?

Cheers
Steve
 
thats what my thoughts are steve, but thats the spec they have asked for, so thats what they will be getting, whether it is right or wrong,
we havebeen given via a shet metal company who are making the metal tables for these to be fixed to
the metal company is making a template so we can simply plunge a router through, using a 30mm guide pin and relevant cutter,
this with the trend sub-base more or less guarantees the hole will be in the right place,
so if it isnt accurate enough, it isnt on our backs as we are following the template.
i think a 1/4 inch cutter is going to be used for the 6.4mm hole, but the 8mm seems to be posing the biggest problem, also the length of the cutter might be problematic, as the formika'd ply top, is 38mm, plus 12mm for the template and guide pin, so realistically the cutter is going to be in excess of 60mm
 
Matt
What about Wealdan? I believe they will make anything you want,and their prices are very fair.
hope this is of help
Philly :D
 
Ridiculous tolerances for timber based material :roll:
6.4mm is ¼", so Trend cutter S3/21 should do the trick. It says 6.3mm, but I'm very sure it cuts ¼" which is 6.35mm - any good? I bet that leaves a 6.4mm hole in ply anyway :wink:
It is 63mm in length overall, so should be able to plunge down 50mm.

Good luck with the 8.5mm cutter! Haven't seen one of those before. Maybe use an 8mm and get the template hole for the guide bush enlarged by 0.5mm :?: :?: :?:
 
the wealden tool company seems to have everything :D thanks for the suggestion philly, i think its gotta be a 1/4 inch cutter for the 6.4
they also have the 8.5 which suprised me alot!! do you happen to know if they are all in stock or are made to order?
 
Matt,
Just had a look throughthe Wealden Catologue.
"95% of everything inthe catologue is in stock at any onetime"
So, should be a go-er!
Glad I could help,
Philly :D
 
Hi Matt

This is probably a bit late now, but if you get the engineering company to enlarge the holes to allow for a guide bush (OD/ID), any shortfall in the size of cutter is allowed for by the engineering company when cutting their hole.

Trend do a complete set of metal guide bushes and using them the job should become much simpler.

Cheers
Neil
 
Not to rain on the parade but I doubt that the accuracy in the relationship between guide bush and cutter is anything like what you are seeking. It is common to find noticeable eccentricity in the bush/cutter axes and all the books warn about this when discussing template routing etc.
 
Hi Chris

Perhaps I've been lucky, but I've not knowingly encountered eccentricity in the bush/cutter axes.

I'll have to do some research.

Cheers
Neil
 
2 of the holes have to be 659.7mm apart,

Don't tell me! - it's a CAD drawing... from an American company?

659.7mm is a round 26" in old money! :wink: Should have a tolerancve though. Is there a general "unless otherwise stated" tolerance given?

Ike
 
Neil,

Eccentricity is not something you would necessarily notice - depending how much the error is and what you are trying to do. Use if a jig like a dovetail jig will often expose it if you rotate the router at all whilst cutting a joint - there will be gaps in the joints that you can't account for - often on one side of a pin only.

Poor fits for inlays is another way you can see it.

But - as you say, maybe you have been lucky. The use of a device like Tony's can help ensure the necessary luck!
 
Steve wrote
It is quite unreasonable for a designer to specify that something has no tolerances. I'm not an engineer

But I am :lol: whoever said the these dimensions have to be exact with no tolerance is no engineer. I would make sure that it is completely clear with your customer that the hole centres are down to the supplied template and you can not be held responsible for any errors. I don't know how accurate routed holes are in plywood are or what tolerances there are on router cutters. To avoid any misunderstanding wth your customer it may be worth routing some holes in a piece if scrap first and getting confirmation that the diameters are OK. Why aren't the engineering company that are making the templates making the holes in the plywood? Doesn't give you the business but removes one stage in the process reducing the scope for errrors.

John
 
How about getting a returnable copy of the equipment that is going to be affixed to the plate - it'll be clear how much tolerance there will be. Also how is whatever these holes are for going to be fixed in the holes? Bolts/ screws etc all have variations and tolerances - you need to be sure that you are not going to cop the blame should the engineering company be slightly out or the fixing slightly off or the satellite company's equipment being variable.

If the measurements you are being given are already converted from imperial to metric as I think correctly suggested by Ike then you and the engineering company would be better off working to these - conversion factors always produce discrepancies


I understand what you mean when you say that that’s what they asked for so that’s what they'll get but there are things that you can't control - hence the reason why tolerances exist!

Good luck

Tim
 
Hi Chris

waterhead37":n7o2v0gh said:
But - as you say, maybe you have been lucky. The use of a device like Tony's can help ensure the necessary luck!

Ah, you mean something like the one that came with my T9? :wink:

Cheers
Neil
 
Newbie_Neil":3ondj0x3 said:
Hi Chris

waterhead37":3ondj0x3 said:
But - as you say, maybe you have been lucky. The use of a device like Tony's can help ensure the necessary luck!

Ah, you mean something like the one that came with my T9? :wink:

Cheers
Neil
Have Trend stolen my idea? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :wink:
 
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