Small rant

[Richard D]

I'd just like to say how much I hate the manual that comes with the Woodrat.

I had the day off, spent the morning buying some wood and cutting and planing it to size to make a box. This was going to be my first attempt at dovetails on the Woodrat (I've got box joints down pat, but they get no kudos points around here). The afternoon was spent looking after the rugrats (so much for a day off), leaving this evening to get the box done.

So now I'm sitting here, with some perfectly cut tails and perfectly cut pins, that are neatly off-set by half the width of the joint's interval.. Fantastic. What I have, then, is firewood. Argh!

It would help no end if the Woodrat manual actually explained everything, and gave me some pointers to common mistakes. But I have no idea why this has happened. Is the router correctly located, north-south wise, on the router plate? Dis I get the spirals or centre button wrong? When I cut the pins and moved the work-piece east-west, was I right to line up the cuts with the mark I'd made when cutting the tails? No sodding idea.

All I know right now is that I want to kill someone. I'm not going to let it beat me. But with absolutely no clue what I did wrong, I'm disinclined to start again tonight (especially as getting the saw out again is a PITA).

 

[Mooeee]

Hi

Try downloading the Router Boss machine manual and see if there is anything on how/what you did wrong, same sort of machine but better made and a far better manual.
I know a guy who used to demo the Woodrat.

Hope the Rouer Boss manual helps.

Cheers

 

[Richard D]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately the RB is different enough for the manual not to be of much help here (which is a lot like the Woodrat manual on the topic, to be frank).

 

[Richard D]

I've calmed sown a bit now I still have no idea what was going wrong - the pins fit with the tails, but all offset by 10mm. Still, at least I am actually looking forward to having another go at it - hopefully tomorrow.

 

[devonwoody]

Best of luck Richard with your learning process. You are lucky, these days if I learn anything three months later I have forgotten the lesson. :wink:

 

[Richard D]

I think that I've worked it out, now. I think I was cutting the pins, then mowing them off again, before moving to the next one, and it was only by chance that what I was left with *also* happened to fit the tails (albeit offset). I blame the rather obtuse instructions. I will have another go tonight. With some new wood, obviously.

 

[dannykaye]

when I got a jig I made a box, started with the sides quite long and gradually they got shorter as I tried to get the joints right. once they were ok I made the top and bottom. Then I went back to cutting dovetails by hand and gave the damn thing away. My friend makes really nice joints with it...

 

[maltrout512]

Richard, don't get me wrong but to think that you can produce perfect dovetails first time ever (even reading what there is in the manual) is pushing it a bit. I have had the machine for over eight years now and it was only three years ago that I started using it for dovetails. I watched the dvd several times and then watched it again just to refresh on one or two points, well most of them. Anyway you will get there, it just takes time. Have a look on my web site under gallery 1 second picture shows you what can be done.
If you do have some questions pm me.

All the best.

 

[Richard D]

I managed to get box joints almost instantly (well, one test piece then I was away). I'd tried the dovetails over and over and over yesterday afternoon, and couldn't for the life of me see what I was doing wrong. Now I think that I can - and hopefully will prove it to myself in the next hour or two (as soon as I've sawn some more wood). I'm used to getting things right on the first or second attempt. Overall I've found the Woodrat to be a fantastic bit of kit, probably the most useful woodworking tool I have (or is it the table saw? It'd be a close-run thing between the two of them), capable of doing an awful lot of the jobs *I* need it to do.

 

[Benchwayze]

I sold on a woodrat on too.
Most of the things it could do, I already did with a hand-held router anyhow.
But there is a woodrat forum.. If I can find the url.
And Adel is your man for ironing out troubles.


John

 

[Richard D]

Cracked it - it was as I had thought, simply a case of my mowing the pins off as soon as they were made (just because the router is free to move left or right doesn't mean that you should move it that way, apparently.

I've managed to make a little box carcase using dovetails. They were less than perfect, but I suspect that all of the problems with the joints now I've managed to cut them in the right places were due to sloppy marking up and cutting the tails in a batch, when there was obviously some play somewhere. But most of the inaccuracies were solved with a rather brutal couple of passes over Mr. Planing Machine (probably something else best done by hand TBH).

Now I need to make some grooves for sliding lid and base - which will all be done on Mr. Woodrat without problems (as I've already managed to do that on other bits and bobs).

Thanks for the words of encouragement.