Thread: Making a Router Sled

Wot he said, pretty much.

I use a few wedges in the gaps so it stops wobbling, then a few other scraps of wood and wedges to position it firmly between the side rails. Then just a clamp at one end. Once I've done as much as I can without hitting the clamp, I move it to the section I've just planed.

Depth of cut as per above...

I thought this thread could do with some pics of the output.

This is a 2100x270x50mm piece of American Oak that I did today:

DSC_7950.jpgDSC_7949.jpgDSC_7951.jpg

The tool marks certainly aren't that deep, and this would take me perhaps 5 minutes to finish off with a handplane.

Beautifully done, Stu, congratulations

I am copying your design, have done the base and the sides using 16mm x300 mm melamine and 70 x 35 dressed pine rails, and I am now up to the stage of getting the aluminium angle.

Hoping you can assist with the following questions, please :

Q1. What thickness Al angle did you use on the rails and on the cross slide?
Q2. Did you glue the Al angle to the timber rails?
Q3. How does the cross slide cope with the weight of the router, any problems?
Q4. Finally, did you modify the router base (Teflon?) to run across the Al angle smoothly?

Dengue,

Here is mine.

It will accommodate a slab 1m x 3m. I have adjustment blocks that sit under the cross supports for thicker slabs.

Without the adjustment blocks it will do a 90mm thick slab.

You make a cross path the move the slde up by less than the planer bit widith (38mm in mine) then make another pass and continue.

Yes there will be planer marks but a quick going over with a number 7 will fix that.

When I did my bench top, the actual top only needed a sand (80 120 then 240) but the underside needed the No 7 treatment.

See thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/a...85/index3.html

Originally Posted by Dengue

Beautifully done, Stu, congratulations

I am copying your design, have done the base and the sides using 16mm x300 mm melamine and 70 x 35 dressed pine rails, and I am now up to the stage of getting the aluminium angle.

Hoping you can assist with the following questions, please :

Q1. What thickness Al angle did you use on the rails and on the cross slide?
Q2. Did you glue the Al angle to the timber rails?
Q3. How does the cross slide cope with the weight of the router, any problems?
Q4. Finally, did you modify the router base (Teflon?) to run across the Al angle smoothly?

Thanks!

1.) I used 40x40x3mm section.
2.) I attached the aluminium to the side rails using well countersunk screws through the the sides. Glue would work, but it would make it harder to change the wooden rails if they get damaged etc.
3.) It seems to be stiff enough - I get no noticeable deflection with my Hitachi M12V in the middle of the cross slide. As you can see from the pics, there's no dish in middle of the dressed board.
4.) I haven't done anything to the base of the router. It has plastic on the bottom anyway, but it doesn't slide very easily on the AL. This is actually a good thing as it helps keep the router in place as I take long cuts along the length of the piece.

The router bits I use are these ones: 2 Pcs CNC Router Bottom Cleaning Bits 1 2" 1 1 2" | eBay

I thought I'd take a punt on them as they were a lot less spendy than the CMT or Carbatec ones, but they are actually rather good. And cheap enough that it doesn't matter if they don't last very long (although I certainly don't see any sign of premature dulling so far - the one I'm using is holding up very well).

Thanks for this info, Stu, much appreciated. Will chase up some 3mm aluminium section this week.

I have ordered this bit on eBay, be interesting to see how it goes. In case the link doesn't work, it is eBay Item # 130819139452

All, I just had a flash on what is one of my many weak points, sanding! This would be a perfect jig to replace the drum sander that I cannot afford (old retired Wisconsin boy). Off to the shop.

Bruce