Is this router table method safe?

[Dengue]

I have some small very hard old blackbean boards which are almost the same 70mm width, and wish to trim them a millimetre or less to get them all exactly the same width for box making. This timber is scarce, and I don't want to take too much off.

I have been thinking of reversing the fence on the router table, so that the timber passes between the bit and the fence, as shown in the attached picture below. That way the boards would all end up the same width.

Can anyone advise is this is a safe procedure, and what are the things that could go wrong? I would be using a push block on the workpiece, and a feather board to keep the workpiece against the fence.

326038

[cadas]

No it's not very safe, apart from the exposed cutter, if anything binds or goes wrong you will get a bad kick back.

The safer way I'd to set up your fence with a zero clearance sacrificial fence, allow a mm of cutter to protrude and add a mm of something to the out feed side of the fence. Effectively making a planer but tipped on its side.

The other safe way is to use a bearing guided bit and fix an mdf template or edge to the wood and rout to that. Does mean fixing holes in timber.

[BobL]

I agree it's not very safe but how long are the BB boards?

If they are not too long you could make a long inverted T shaped cross section push board that is longer and slightly narrower than any of the BB boards.

The push board would sit on top of the BB board, and have a back stop that would hook onto back of the BB board, and a dedicated handle that runs the full length of and sits atop the push board. You could even cut hand size holes in the handles for better grip. Then you could hand over hand the push board handle with the BB board underneath past the router bit. You could even incorporate a safety guard onto the push board. Personally I'd prefer to see what is going on and not use a guard unless it was transparent.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=326047&stc=1

It's not ideal but it would be much safer than using push sticks.

[Dengue]

Thanks BobL and cadas for your helpful replies, much appreciated. The boards are 300mm long.


The other safe way is to use a bearing guided bit and fix an mdf template or edge to the wood and rout to that

This suggestion put me on the right track, thanks cadas. Make an mdf template with a fixed full length raised edge set to give the required width, and use toggle clamps screwed to the raised edge to hold the workpiece to the template i.e., just two pieces of, say, 320mm long MDF boards screwed to each other, but offset by the required width of the workpiece

[derekcohen]

Thanks BobL and cadas for your helpful replies, much appreciated. The boards are 300mm long.



This suggestion put me on the right track, thanks cadas. Make an mdf template with a fixed full length raised edge set to give the required width, and use toggle clamps to hold the workpiece to the template


..... or, use a handplane.

If you are only planning on a mm or less, then a handplane is safer.

Place a board flat on your bench, raised up about 12 - 18mm (by MDF), and shoot it with the handplane lying on its side. This way you get a perfectly square edge. Plane down to the line you mark.

Regards from Perth

Derek (who owns a router table and 5 routers ...)

[nrb]

If you can get hold of a Triton router table hand book there is a set up that is quite safe,I did it quite a lot some years ago but sold my Triton for a cast iron base unit.
Am sorry that I didn't make a copy of the jig as I could of used it on my new unit.

[Shutterbug]

The other safe way is to use a bearing guided bit and fix an mdf template or edge to the wood and rout to that. Does mean fixing holes in timber.[/QUOTE]

Use double sided tape. No need for fixing holes.