What did I do wrong? (Router table template cutting)

[transatlantic]

As you can see, I'm using a template cutter to follow a template I attached to some pine. To avoid that sharp corner (on the left of image 2), I decided to start in the middle of the curve and move the workpiece right. At which point there was a MASSIVE bang .. and .. yeah.

So the title of this post maybe a little misleading, as I know what I did wrong. I was routing in the wrong direction. I should have been moving the workpiece to the left. However, I thought this would just be like a climb cut, where the router can get away from you. I didn't however expect this to happen.

What is the correct way to have approached this?

 

[Inspector]

As seen in the middle picture. Start at the tip at the top right corner and then go to the lower right. All cutting would be away from the grain direction and not grab. It would also help if the pattern was a little longer than the cut length to minimize the cutter grabbing when you start because the bearing is in contact with the pattern when you start to engage the wood. More control.

Pete

 

[Sideways]

Well, I'll throw my ten pennorth in absolutely no offense intended...

The reason you had this accident is down to three different factors all at once :

You're doing the job upside down on a router table so you can't see what the cutter is doing.
There is a lot of waste to be removed before you reach the edge of the template and nothing to stop the router bit grabbing all of that at once.
You are taking a full depth cut on your router cutter - something that doesn't work for me unless I can control the job to take only a shallow pass.

Any of those three would work against you. All three at once and sorry but you were asking for it.

I doubt that i'd have tried to do this on a table. I'd have used my (good) 1/4" handheld plungs router to do it handheld around the template. The work is big enough that I could hold the router flat without problem, the controls are in my hands so it is fast and easy to increase the plunge in 3 or 4 steps, and I would be able to see how aggresively I was working in towards the edge of the template.

Thanks for being brave enough to share and give us a fun topic to argue over

 

[sunnybob]

I do a LOT of router table template cutting.
you should use a bandsaw or jigsaw to remove almost all waste. right down to a 16th" if possible.
The very most ever to cut using a template is 1/3rd of the cutter width, and thats an absolute maximum. I usually leave a maximum of an 1/8th"

Move the wood from right to left if it is in front of the cutter, and left to right if it is behind the cutter.
NEVER start in the end grain area. Start at the longest grain section of the wood.

If youre new to router table work, use a starting pin to ease the wood into the cutter. If you dont have a starting pin, move the fence forward and rest the piece against the fence, and then pivot the piece slowly into the cutter keeping a firm grip on the fence end.
Your picture shows a top mounted bearing, which on a table becomes a bottom mounted, which means you cant see nuffin :shock: .
Get a bottom mounted bearing cutter. On a table that means the bearing is at the top and you can see what happens when the bearing starts to cut the wood.

 

[transatlantic]

Thanks for the replies.

There is a lot of waste to be removed before you reach the edge of the template and nothing to stop the router bit grabbing all of that at once.

There is only 2-3mm of material to be removed, is that really too much?

You are taking a full depth cut on your router cutter - something that doesn't work for me unless I can control the job to take only a shallow pass.

Do you mean buying trimmers of different heights? The material is 20mm

I doubt that i'd have tried to do this on a table. I'd have used my (good) 1/4" handheld plungs router to do it handheld around the template. The work is big enough that I could hold the router flat without problem, the controls are in my hands so it is fast and easy to increase the plunge in 3 or 4 steps, and I would be able to see how aggresively I was working in towards the edge of the template.

Not sure I follow. How can I plunge to multiple depths and the bearing still following the template?

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi -

I think you dodged a bullet here. It would have been extremely easy - when you lost control of the workpiece - for your fingers to be brought into contact with the cutter. I'm assuming the pictures you've posted have not had "guarding removed for clarity".

There is nothing quite like the sound of bits of your own flesh hitting the router table fence.

I would strongly recommend one of these: https://www.shopwoodpeckers.com/woodpec ... guard-fhg/
or a shop-made equivalent - so that you cannot get a body part into contact with the cutter under any normal OR abnormal circumstance. Also: https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworkin ... hout-fence

I would also second/third? the recommendation for a starting pin. It's also very wise to have a lead-in and lead-out section at each end of the template.

The standard technique is to use a cutter with a bearing at top AND bottom - and to raise/lower it to ride the template whether the template is on top, or, after you've flipped it over, on the bottom. This way, you can always arrange to rout downhill (to avoid the situation you've encountered) by flipping at the appropriate part of each curve - based on grain orientation.

This - with the exception of having no guarding (!!!) - is a pretty good explanation of what/how/why to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzDWHcqgdbE

Cheers, W2S

 

[transatlantic]

Hi -

I think you dodged a bullet here. It would have been extremely easy - when you lost control of the workpiece - for your fingers to be brought into contact with the cutter. I'm assuming the pictures you've posted have not had "guarding removed for clarity".

There is nothing quite like the sound of bits of your own flesh hitting the router table fence.

I would strongly recommend one of these: https://www.shopwoodpeckers.com/woodpec ... guard-fhg/
or a shop-made equivalent - so that you cannot get a body part into contact with the cutter under any normal OR abnormal circumstance. Also: https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworkin ... hout-fence

I would also second/third? the recommendation for a starting pin. It's also very wise to have a lead-in and lead-out section at each end of the template.

The standard technique is to use a cutter with a bearing at top AND bottom - and to raise/lower it to ride the template whether the template is on top, or, after you've flipped it over, on the bottom. This way, you can always arrange to rout downhill (to avoid the situation you've encountered) by flipping at the appropriate part of each curve - based on grain orientation.

This - with the exception of having no guarding (!!!) - is a pretty good explanation of what/how/why to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzDWHcqgdbE

Cheers, W2S

Thanks, that guard looks great. I shall be investing in one of those, when I find a UK equivalent. Having watched several videos last night after the incident (somthing I should have done first), I now see I was doing two things wrong.

- moving the workpiece to the right
- routing against the grain

I don't know why I made the first mistake. I know I am supposed to be moving the workpiece to the left.

I have also ordered a double bearing bit.