Thread: Ozito router table and featherboards

Make a sacrificial fence to attach to the existing fence with a slot routed in to it for a T track.

Some ideas here and elsewhere on the net

3 Free DIY Router Table Plans Perfect for Any Purpose

In the short term you could clamp a feather board to the fence, but a permanent fix as suggested by Big Shed is the way to go.

If you were doing an operation on your router table which required a fence, what exactly did you do to have the timber fly off the table? I ask because featherboards won't make the situation any better, and more likely make the situation worse by keeping the timber on the router bit allowing the timber to accelerate up to the full tip speed of the bit.

Thanks BigShed.

The third option suits and so I have a trip to the green shed very soon.

Aldav, the standard plastic fence is quite low and not much room for clamping.

Cheers

Hi Kuffy.

I was just grooving a final 2mm depth in a piece of hardwood and it just kept 'taking off' on me which never normally happens. It was my understanding that the function of a featherboard on the exit side was to stop that happening?

Separate question for anyone: I have a variable speed router and I read that one should run them at the top end of the scale for the sake of the bit. If that is the case when would you need a slow speed?

Do you know the difference between climb cutting and conventional cutting? I am guessing you were climb cutting.

if you face the router table, the fence behind the router bit. You should move the workpiece from right to left. This is conventional cutting. the cutting action will pull the timber into the fence, and your pushing force will be in opposition to the rotation of the router bit.

If you move the workpiece from left to right, you are now climb cutting. A very advanced technique. The cutting action will push the timber away from the fence, and the rotation of the bit will want to pull the workpiece away from you which in turn gives the cutter more material to grab on to and pull more and more until it has reached 200mph (which only takes a nano second).

The other thing that may have happened if you were grooving on a router table in multiple passes is...You make your first passes all well and good. Then raise the bit up higher. If the router spindle isn't perpendicular to the table, or you bumped your fence closer to the router bit, there is a possibility that you are now slightly climb cutting the already cut sides of the groove.

The main function of the feather board is to keep the workpiece against the fence or your table top depending whether they are horizontal or vertical. They will create a little bit of drag if the workpiece is moved in the opposite direction to which you are supposed to be going, but certainly won't act as a brake.
I think Kuffy may be on the money and you were climb cutting if the piece took off in the direction you were feeding it. This can be very dangerous if you are not experienced and is only used sometimes for very light finishing cuts if routing in the correct direction is giving you tear out or burning.