Angle question for Woodrat users

[Des.K.]

I'm thinking of buying a Woodrat when I return to Australia in April next year, and I have a few queries for the Woodrat experts here.

I want to cut trenches at an angle to the work piece (blue), as shown in the diagram. The cut angle needs to be around the 30° line (red line), and I’m looking at work pieces at most around 150mm wide.

Firstly, can the centre plate and spirals be adjusted to allow a 30° cut rather than just the shallower dovetail angles?

The manual I downloaded from the Woodrat website and the brochure I received with the DVD says that pieces up to 2” (51mm) wide can be cut. I assume an angle cut in stock wider than this would chew into the narrow central slot in the base plate. Is it possible to make this slot wider to allow the greater angle? If so, buying an additional base plate would be an option. Another option would be to make up my own base plate to make this specific cut (within a range of about 28°-33°). Would this be feasible?

Obviously, making a jig to hold the work piece itself at a slight angle in the mortice rail is another option, but I would prefer to do this only as a last resort.

I hope I’ve made myself clear. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Des

[QC Inspector]

Des.K.

As far as I know the Woodrat won't cut a 30 degree angle perpendicular to the rail without modifications.

There is a new machine called the Router Boss that has just come out by a former Rat supplier to the USA (Craftsman Gallery). That machine can cut the 30 degrees you are looking for out of the box. It is reputed to be an improvement on the Rat and if you look at Aldel's site he has some first impressions that a user supplied. There is already someone in Tasmania that just got one direct from the US and he has posted on the forum at Craftsman Gallery (bottom right corner of the home page). I have a Rat but haven't hung it up as yet but if I were going to do it again I would probably go for the Router Boss even though it costs more. You have lots of time to consider it and/or other options, and arrange for it to be shipped to meet you when you get to Australia.

Out of curiosity, what do you want to make that needs the angled cuts?

http://www.chipsfly.com/

http://www.thecraftsmangallery.com/phpBB2/index.php

http://www.aldel.co.uk/

[Des.K.]

Thanks very much for that QC. I was pretty sure that I'd have to make a few modifications to the base plate.

I've been keeping a close eye on the Router Boss, and following the thread at the Craftsman Gallery forum. The only problem I can see with the RB is that the base plate is made of aluminium (I believe), so modifying it would involve a lot more than modifying a spare WoodRat base plate. Both seem to have only a limited amount of angled travel in the general north-south axis, so either way, substantial base plate hacking and slashing would probably be needed.

I was thinking of using it primarily to cut the angled half-lap joints needed in making the diamond-shaped kumiko pattern in shoji (as well as other joints when I feel too lazy to do them by hand). It may or may not work, and I still might end up having to make all the kumiko cuts by hand. As you said, there's still plenty of time before we land back in Australia, and more time for additional reviews to appear on the RB.

Thanks.

Regards
Des

[Rattrap]

Hi des, the router boss can cut up to 10deg either way out of the box using the green guild rails. With all the guide rails off u can get 30deg but only around 80mm of travel, i just checked. You'd need to also make up some new guides but that would be no problem, 12mm mdf would do the job fine. Its probably not the easiest way to do the job u want to.

[Des.K.]

Thanks for checking for me Rattrap.

Either way I go, I think a fair few "alterations" to the basic set-up will be required. By their very nature, the joints have very tight tolerances, and I was thinking the Woodrat (or the RB) would be the only pieces of kit that could come close to providing the extreme accuracy and repeatability needed (other than the machinery used by the kumiko craftsmen up here). I may still end up continuing to cut them by hand.

Look forward to seeing more of your reviews on the Craftsman Gallery website.

Regards
Des