Being quite a fan of the mitre lock type cutters I have struggled in the past to use them without much temper fraying.
A number of problems become evident the moment you attempt to use one. Mounted in a normal router table the first requirement shows up as the need for a tall fence.
The next problem is that the smallest dia cutters need a gap in the fence of about 38 mill, this immediately sets a limit on the minimum width of timber that can be machined.
The mitre, whether conventional or lock type will finish with a feather edge, if this breaks away at all the finishing cut will be mis-shapen as the feather edge is running against the fence.
Then there's the problem of setting the cutter height above the table! And it is a real problem. The conventional method is trial and error, with a hell of lot of both I have found.
Finally I sat down and decided to see if there was a method of measuring the desired height above the table, then having established a working method for that the design of the table was the next problem.
The fence has to be adjustable back and forth, I decided to make mine adjustable by pivoting. This immediately created its own problem as I wanted a sled to attach the timber to as a means of preventing chimbling of the feather edge.
As the fence pivots it would need to move a channel with it to locate the sled, this would result in a lot of over hang with the cutter. Not good!
Below is my solution...
The three pics above show the fence adjuster being machined on my overhead router, the material is one centimetre Paxolin.
This pic shows the cutter sticking up through the table with the tall fence above...
This shows the finished assembly from the rear of the fence and set up for use by mounting in my bench vise...
This is the view below the table with the home made raiser fitted...
..and here setting the height of the cutter above the table...
These two pics show my solution to the sled problem, a piece of 6 mill Polycarb stuck to the timber with DS tape. Any width can now be machined in this manner...
...and finally, the finished result.
Roy.
A number of problems become evident the moment you attempt to use one. Mounted in a normal router table the first requirement shows up as the need for a tall fence.
The next problem is that the smallest dia cutters need a gap in the fence of about 38 mill, this immediately sets a limit on the minimum width of timber that can be machined.
The mitre, whether conventional or lock type will finish with a feather edge, if this breaks away at all the finishing cut will be mis-shapen as the feather edge is running against the fence.
Then there's the problem of setting the cutter height above the table! And it is a real problem. The conventional method is trial and error, with a hell of lot of both I have found.
Finally I sat down and decided to see if there was a method of measuring the desired height above the table, then having established a working method for that the design of the table was the next problem.
The fence has to be adjustable back and forth, I decided to make mine adjustable by pivoting. This immediately created its own problem as I wanted a sled to attach the timber to as a means of preventing chimbling of the feather edge.
As the fence pivots it would need to move a channel with it to locate the sled, this would result in a lot of over hang with the cutter. Not good!
Below is my solution...
The three pics above show the fence adjuster being machined on my overhead router, the material is one centimetre Paxolin.
This pic shows the cutter sticking up through the table with the tall fence above...
This shows the finished assembly from the rear of the fence and set up for use by mounting in my bench vise...
This is the view below the table with the home made raiser fitted...
..and here setting the height of the cutter above the table...
These two pics show my solution to the sled problem, a piece of 6 mill Polycarb stuck to the timber with DS tape. Any width can now be machined in this manner...
...and finally, the finished result.
Roy.
