What is all this for?

Penfold4140 · #1 22nd Feb 2012, 09:55 AM

Hey all,
I've recently acquired a bucket of bits with my purchase of a Makita 3600 router, but I've no idea what half of them are for. Thought some of you might be able to help? I've attached a few pics.
I think there's a straight edge guide for a different 3600 Model, but it doesn't fit mine, and there's a sharpening kit and a few blades for a TOWA planer, but I don't have the planer to go with it

Thanks in advance!!

munruben · #2 22nd Feb 2012, 10:25 AM

Picture 1 and 5 are just ordinary router or circular saw guides to keep the router or saw in a straight line using the right angle piece over the edge of the timber to keep the distant constant to the router bit.
Not sure about the other pics. I'm sure someone will know.

munruben · #3 22nd Feb 2012, 10:26 AM

The bottom item in picture 5 looks like its a circle cutting guide.

issatree · #4 22nd Feb 2012, 10:53 AM

Hi Penfold4140,
In the 1st. Photo, that is a Guide for a Router of some kind.

Photo 4 is a Sharpening Device for doing TOWA ELECTRIC PLANER BLADES.
You remove the casing where the Belt is, & take the Belt from the Motor to that Pulley on that Piece. The Blades are beside the Sharpening Device. Blade is put on the Angled Slide, & you wind the Black Nut to the correct setting to Sharpen your Blades.

The Aluminum Piece with th 2 Wing Nuts ( should be 4) are for Honing 2 Blades at a time, on a Stone after Sharpening.

How do I know, because I have them.

Hope this Helps.

Wizened of Oz · #5 22nd Feb 2012, 03:11 PM

Photo 6 is an edge planing guide for the electric planer. It keeps the planer square or at a set angle when planing a narrow edge.
What looks like a frame in Photos 7 and 8 is a swingdown leg for the planer. When swung down it keeps the spinning blades off the surface so you can put the planer down before it completely stops. Bit of a PITA, I found.

malb · #6 22nd Feb 2012, 05:15 PM

I have had a Mak 3600BR router from new. Item in Pic 1 is the same as the guide that came with mine. The bars fit into holes in the sides of the cast router subbase and lock with thumb screws from above. The fence guide can be removed from the bridging casting (lower end of pic 1) and replaced with a roller guide unit that was also supplied, but whicj I don't se in you pic collection.

Coarse adjustment of either guide is via position of the rods in the base, and fine adjustment is achieved by loosening the retaining screw that holds the fence/roller guide, and adjusting the screw in the bridging casting facing down in pic 1.

No ideas about other stuff.

Crunchie · #7 22nd Feb 2012, 06:04 PM

Item 3 (with the roller) is one that was always in the boxes of routers we had in schools. They were supposed to be for following odd shaped items / templates, but I never used it and certainly didn't let my students use it.

woodie one · #8 22nd Feb 2012, 11:02 PM

It looks like you've got accessories from several power tools.

In addition to what everyone has identified above, picture 2 is an adjustable fence for a hand-held electric planer. I have attached two pics of the one on my Makita 1100 (I think all Makita planes and most others of this vintage had a similar arrangement). The two rods fit into transverse holes in the planer body, and the fence can be locked in position with the black knobbed screw at the front of the plane. The tongue in the middle covers the rotating cutters, so that only the parts of the cutters that are working are exposed. This is a really neat safety feature, as the plane and fence can then be held safely and used to cut a rebate along a board. The depth of the rebate is set by the black metal depth stop at the front of the plane. The width of the rebate is set by the position of the fence.

In the second pic you can see a tapped hole in the side of the plane body, surrounded by a small raised square section. This is one of the mounting points for the side fence in your pic 6 (the other is just visible on the rear side of the plane). The adjustable fence described above was removed from the plane, and when this longer side fence was attached to it with two screws the small square raised sections offset the fence from the body of the plane to enable the front sole to be adjusted for the depth of the planing cut without distorting the side fence. This was very handy for planing a chamfer on the edge of a board, or, if set at 90 degrees, getting a square edge on a board.

I hope this helps,

Cheerio

Penfold4140 · #9 23rd Feb 2012, 09:50 AM

Thanks alot folks. It would appear that pretty much all of these are no use to me yet, as I didn't get a planer, and the straight guide for the makita doesn't fit mine, although I did get a couple of others which do fit. It's a simpler version of the straight guide, and the roller guide which Malb mentioned.

Looks like a planer is next on the wishlist!!!

malb · #10 23rd Feb 2012, 07:15 PM

Can you put up a photo of the router to verify style etc? The roller guide in the last pic appears to be the same as mine, but the fence guide seems alien. I know that a few other brands/models from that era used similar guides to the first pic, but could not guarantee that they have the same diameter/spacing for the mounting rods as the Mak. Also not sure about differences between 3600 model and 3600BR model, so a pic would help.

Mal

woodie one · #11 23rd Feb 2012, 09:00 PM

Good idea MalB.

The router guide shown in the original pic 1 looks identical to the guide for my Hitachi TR12 router, but measurements might show that it is for something else.

Cheerio

Penfold4140 · #12 24th Feb 2012, 09:36 AM

Here's a couple of pics of the router, and with the straight guide fitted. The router looks like it's seen a fair bit of work, but it fires up and sounds ok. What can I expect for the bargain price of 10 GBP!!!(Including the box of random powertool attachments shown above, and a bunch of bits)
On looking again, I don't think the roller guide fits my router either. I think the original guide from pic 1 and the roller are both for a 3600BR.
Never mind, ordered a template bit for the router today, also a spokeshave, and a neck for the guitar. Figured I'd break myself in gently with just a body to make this time

malb · #13 24th Feb 2012, 09:28 PM

Definitely a very different beast to the 3600BR plunge router that I have.

If you need to do a bit of template work, you can get substitute bases set up to take template guides etc which gives you a lot more flexibility in regard to bits and guides etc, but you then need to take offsets into account.

Bob Winter · #14 1st Mar 2012, 08:24 PM

How old do you think the router is? I have never seen one like it before.