Thread: Router tabel bit guard

Originally Posted by JillB

Hi , I have a rather large router table fence that has a horizontal track located 125mm above the table. I takes 5/16 " track bolts.

My local perspex supplier wants $82 to make one that is 130mm tall

Ouch, that's highway robbery.
Do you have a drawing of what you want?
Might be able to help you out.
My perspex guy in Cairns is a sweetheart.
Cheers
Wolffie

If what you're talking about is the orange bit in this pic, it looks easy enough to make yourself.

5mm perspex cuts pretty nicely with my simple 80 tooth CMT table saw blade. With the blade only a whisker higher than the material I get good cuts and no chips even without a zero clearance insert. Just a little sanding or filing afterwards takes the marks out of the edges for a nice smooth finish just for aesthetics.

A word of warning though, sometimes when trimming the ends of "not very wide" pieces using the mitre gauge I can muck up the entry feed rate or not holding the piece down firmly enough and when a blade tooth hits the square edge of the perspex, it hits HARD and the perspex can crack, bump, jump, bend and break with quite a shock. Feeding small pieces (palm sized) through against the main fence is pretty easy going if you start gently and smoothly, but not so slow that you're melting the perspex.

I can't comment on routing out the slots as I haven't done that before. I've been able to route PVC with no hassles in the past (and it flies off the bit like a snow storm, which is cute) but that's a completely different kind of plastic.

I can't make out whether that guard has the horizontal piece bent over in a single continuous piece from the vertical or if it's another piece just glued or screwed on.

Either way, perspex is easy to heat up and manipulate if you're careful. Fumes and over-heating/fire are the main, avoidable, issues. With a hot air gun (or maybe even a hair dryer) you gently and evenly heat the perspex in the area you want to bend until it's pliable then back the heat off (still keeping it warm) and gently bend it into shape - sometimes using an edge for tight bends. I keep a spray bottle of water handy to help cool it quickly while I hold the bend in position. It might take a little practice, but think of all the other nifty things you could make if you got it down.

If you're feeling game, I'm pretty sure you've got the skills And if you're not, it's given me something to do since I seem to have woken up at a stupid hour of the morning

One suggestion is to use a piece of 16mm or 18mm MDFas the mounting block, and screw an acrylic 'half moon' to that as the guard. The MDF is slotted for the T track bolts, to provide horizontal and vertical positioning adjustment. See the last page here.

I cut up a clear U shaped acrylic book stand for mine. Just routed a couple of slots and added the nuts and knobs into it and it was way cheaper than $82. Think I paid $5 and I still have the other half.

Hi Jill

I do quite a bit of work with perspex on my CNC machine and bending it is not hard. If you want to PM me a drawing of what you want with some dimensions and the location of the slots, I'll happily machine it up for you. I've got plenty of perspex so it won't cost you.

Cheers
Geoff