Thread: First cut with a router --Success!!!

Good on you Gerry. You are now on the road to a life of fun with wood. It would be good to see a photo of your jig.

Sounds great Gerry.

Couple of things -
- stick to quality bits, not all that cheap but cut better, last longer and I feel that they are safer.
- drop an "O" ring down the shaft to prevent the bit bottoming out and becoming stuck when tightening the collet.

Hi Gerry

Well done! I also switched my router on for the first time yesterday. Mine is crappy $10 bargain I found at Mitre 10 ages ago. 1/4 collet, Mech Pro brand. Paid less for the router than the bits. I need to route some slots in melamine for the outfeed on my table saw and also some hinge pockets soon too. Then I will try to build it into the bench as a router table.

I discovered very quickly that there is a learning curve to using these things! I only had 20 minutes to play so am looking forward to spending more time learning how to use it.

Danny

Originally Posted by Gerryattrick

My wife looked at it and was suitably impressed- not sure if it was the finished product or that fact there was no blood evident and I still had all my appendages.

OK I know its no big deal for most guys here but I have never done any woodwork, other than building fences, in the last 60 years and to me it was all the encouragement I need to take things further for a hobby in my retirement.

If you get "SWMBO approval" you're doing something incredible and rare!! Good on you fella, and keep at it...take the good with the bad and simply have yourself a metric buttload of fun with your new toy.

Originally Posted by Bob38S

Sounds great Gerry.

Couple of things -
- stick to quality bits, not all that cheap but cut better, last longer and I feel that they are safer.
- drop an "O" ring down the shaft to prevent the bit bottoming out and becoming stuck when tightening the collet.

This is probably a naive statement but as I don't see me buying lots of bits I will go for decent quality which is one reason for not buying a set and just get the ones I need as required. The one bit I used cost me an eye watering $48 from Carbatech.

I do have one cheaper imperial bit coming from USA (Yonica??) bought mainly to use for practice. Its also imperial so probably not something I would use on a regular basis as we have seen the light and gone metric .

Thanks for the tip re the o-ring. I have a bundle of them I bought at the local $2 shop so I'll drop one of those in before I use the router again.

Originally Posted by Gerryattrick

The one bit I used cost me an eye watering $48 from Carbatech.

That $48 might get you half a bit from Festool! But half a bit it useless so you need to lay out twice as much.

Originally Posted by Gerryattrick

.... I don't see me buying lots of bits I will go for decent quality which is one reason for not buying a set and just get the ones I need as required. ....

Good idea purchase the bits as you require. No point in getting a set of bits to find out that you are not using them.

I once had a router given to me along with a set of bits. I mounted one in the router where the router was in the table. I starting the router and was just about to push the timber through I noticed that the top of the bit had disappeared. I stopped router to find that this had broken off. I had dust extraction running so it went into the dust extractor. I thought how lucky I was if dust extraction was not running, I then gathered all the crappy bits and placed them in the bin.

Originally Posted by Christos

Good idea purchase the bits as you require. No point in getting a set of bits to find out that you are not using them.

I once had a router given to me along with a set of bits. I mounted one in the router where the router was in the table. I starting the router and was just about to push the timber through I noticed that the top of the bit had disappeared. I stopped router to find that this had broken off. I had dust extraction running so it went into the dust extractor. I thought how lucky I was if dust extraction was not running, I then gathered all the crappy bits and placed them in the bin.

Totally agree with the last bit [no pun intended].

One thing to check with all new bits is that the bearing guide ball race runs freely and that the small grub screw is in fact tight. Have never had a personal issue but have heard that sometimes the grub screw may not be as tight as it should be.