router depth stop

[Paddy Roxburgh]

I have a 071 router that I use all the time, recently I have been thinking that it would be nice to have 2 so I can leave one at final depth for batch work whilst the other I take down in increments. I have been quite shocked at the price they seem to be fetching on ebay, with many of the buy it nows advertised at more than a new Veritas or Lie Nielsen. I can't remember how long ago I bought mine, maybe three years ago and they were regularly going for around £20.
So my question is how does the depth stop, which I have in a box somewhere, work? It's never really made any sense to me. It appears to be a rod that pokes down, it seems to be almost the opposite of a depth stop as it prevents you from cutting until you are at a certain depth.
Paddy

 

[Droogs]

Hi Paddy,
Here is a pdf version of the manual which explains its use:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... UJFBiNhFsg

Its purpose seems to be more to act like the front of a plane mouth than a stop. IE it is meant to prevent the wood ahead of the cutter from splitting along the direction of travel

 

[custard]

I seem to recall using the rod upside down (with the shoe uppermost) and leaving it loose in the mount but setting it so that when it bottomed out against the collar you were at full depth. Sorry I can't be more precise, I was an early convert to the LN router so that was a long time ago!

 

[Billy Flitch]

Hi Paddy the router you have is called a open throat router it was made like this to release the shavings and let you see what is going on, but Stanley realized they had made a mistake by opening the mouth up. When you want to use the router on a piece that is narrower than the throat there is no sole at the front of the router so you have no control over the front of the router and it can dip down at the front and start to gouge the work.

So to get over this just as Droogs said they supplied a bar with a detachable foot on it so you can close the throat and give the plane a sole at the front of the plane.
This bar and foot can be used in a different way as a depth gauge and here is how you do it you take the bar out of the plane an detach the foot, if the depth of the groove is marked out on the work piece you slide the router over to the edge of the piece place the bar back in the plane and set it to the depth that you want fasten it with the screw on the body of the plane to hold it in place. Now place the foot on the top of the bar with the sole uppermost fasten it on the bar with the screw and release the bottom screw on the body of the plane, the bar now moves freely up and down.
When you router the waist out of the groove the bar drops down and when the foot hits the plane body you can see you have the correct depth. The bottom of the bar can also act as a bearing against the walls of the groove. Its as easy as that really.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Thanks for replies. I get the foot for closing up the mouth, although I never really use the router along the grain on narrow boards, my filister does that job. I think I get what you are saying Billy, when I get to work tomorrow I'm going to have little play, I've got a 50ft boat roof to sand tomorrow, a pretty tedious day, so I'll be happy for a little distraction.
Paddy

 

[Droogs]

could be worse Paddy, you could be using a card scraper :twisted:

 

[DTR]

So to get over this just as Droogs said they supplied a bar with a detachable foot on it so you can close the throat and give the plane a sole at the front of the plane.

+1, I don't think I've moved the foot on my 071 since I got it.

I believe one of the currently produced router incarnations has a stop that fits on the shank of the blade itself. It is simply a ring with a screw through it to grip against the blade. Once the blade reaches the target depth, the ring bottoms out on the top of the router casting. Hope that makes sense :?