Routing Grooves

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SteveF

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i have a friend that has thrown me a small job
mdf 18mm
wants it grooved 3mm deep x 10mm wide x 10mm spacing between each groove
how would you do quickly? accurately? Safely?
assuming you had any equipment apart from cnc

Steve
 
Single pass with a router using a 10mm cutter - though this is an unusual size, so I don't know if they exist.

Then the key to doing these quickly is to be able to reference the next pass off the previous one, so some sort of custom guide that has a 10mm x 3mm key to sit in the groove and position the router where the next groove goes.

Might not even need the guide clamping in place, which would save some time. If it does, fix the clamp(s) to the guide so that they are quick to reset.
 
depends how many groves, if it's 10 max I'd measure and mark then reference of 1 face.
if it's 50 across an entire face I'd make a fence which references of the last groove. as said though, if it's a rounded bottom I'd make the reference 1mmx10 so it sits down but doesn't interfere to much, you can always trim the edge if needed.

oh, I'd also use the edge of the base plate for reference not the cutter. :)
 
sunnybob":1x0xuxtw said:
marcros":1x0xuxtw said:
ah, i never thought of rounded bottoms.

Strange, i rarely think of any thing else.

Beat me to it Bob. ;)

This is easy to do with just a straight edge clamped to the workpeice. Work out the offset from router base edge to cutter and use this dimension to find your first mark, mark both edges at 20mm intervals from your first then just move the straight edge one mark at a time. Done in no time once you've got your 10mm cutter
 
Thankyou all

I think the straight edge and 20mm intervals will do for this job
and flat bottoms
Steve
 
novocaine":28z945uy said:
if it's 50 across an entire face I'd make a fence which references of the last groove.

Do you not get a sort of Chinese whispers effect ? If you have any slop, is groove 50 likely to still be straight ?
 
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