Thread: Need help with routing a groove.

12mm x 12mm is really small for a square piece but I am thinking you might be saying 120mm x 120mm square.

One idea that comes to my mind is to use double sided tape on the piece attached to a longer piece which is then clamped securely. Then setup a fixed piece of wood on top of the panel to act like a fence for the router to run along.

The double sided tape needs to be the very thin type not the one with the padded foam.


Just thought of something else,

You could route out a hollow in the piece of wood so that the frame sits in the hollow, once again secured with double sided tape and fence would than sit flush on the piece of wood.

Hi Jaff,

So, what are the frames for? Are they picture frames? If so, I would think that you would want to rebate rather than cut a groove. But either way, life will be much easier if you have a router table and a 4mm slot cutter bit. Do you know anyone who has such a table? Maybe someone on these forums who lives in the 'Gong could help you out. It's only about half an hours work from go to whoa.
If you want to use a hand held router, then I suggest you get a slot cutter with a bearing above the cutter which will set the depth of cut for you. Then you can mount the frame onto a board and use the router that way. You may need to do two runs on each length, as you may have a clamp at one end for each run. Using the right sized spacer (bearing) will set the depth and allow you to hold the router steady as you move along the frame.
You could also use a Dado plane to cut the groove. But that raises other issues!

Regards,

Rob

@ Christos Yea, I like your second idea with the hollow/fence. Although, instead of just a fence, I thought maybe a router sled would be accurate, and placing a hollow inside so the piece is secure. I'm not sure about the double sided tape, it seems to me that the movement is pretty intense and would loosen it up.

@ LGS, yep, they're picture frames. Ah yea, wishing right now I had a router table, but unfortunately I don't have the cash for it (or the skill to build one). I haven't really posted or commented before, so I don't know anyone on here from the good ole gong. I think i'll just have to keep trying and figure out a jig of some sort.

Thanks for the help! I've got a way better idea on how to approach this now

Knock up a quick router table, Just a top say 500 x 300 hole in the top, legs just long enough to fit the router under the top.
Something along these lines
Regards
Harold

Use two boards of 12mm thick stock, even MDF will do, to sandwhich the 12x12mm material and clamp down the boards to your work table/bench. This will give you a wider flat horizontal surface to run the router over. Clamp down another guide/fence the required offset and run the router along that. Slow to set up for each piece but workable & safe. If you have problems with the square wanting to move just glue some strips of sandpaper to the retainer boards edge.

Far better routing the groves in the stock before running through the saw though.

Hey all,

Thanks for all the replies, there were some useful ideas that I gave a go. But as it turns out the answer was sitting in front of me the whole time: the table saw. What I used was some MDF on the table top, to ensure that the 12mmx12mm pieces didn't fall through the gap. The blade was 3mm in thickness, then adjusted the fence another mil for the second pass. They came out very accurate

The ideas put forward will be pretty useful for further routing projects, until, of course, I get myself a routing table