Thread: My mini overhead router sled

That looks fantastic Paul, almost as good as your boxes Those linear bearings are great to build anything with that needs precision and ease of movement. Did you just buy them off Ebay or similar?
How well does the dust extraction work? Is the carriage made from Perspex or Polycarbonate? Looks like it's about 10mm thick.
Sorry for all the questions but I just appreciate all the work you have put into it.

Hi and thanks Dallas. I forgot to mention the timber in this box is,........in the lid some offcuts from an old slab of Huon Pine. In the box the blonde timber is Jacaranda milled from a tree planted in 1932. Given to me from a bowling mate from Brisbane who visits my Club regularly. I wish I had more of it, lovely to work with. Also some very old Rosewood. And the hinges are from Aldav.

The dust extraction, it works ok, not brilliant. It's just a cheapie Ryobi vac system from Bunnings. I removed the bag from it and it goes direct into the vac. I also hook it up to my De Walt table saw. Just so happened the nozzle fitted perfectly onto the De Walt Router. I can then just remove the nozzle and turn the vac on and suck up all the dust around the job.

The carriage I made from 10mm polycarbonate. I used 5 minute epoxy glue to do the butt joints and later put some nice screws into each joint to try and make it as solid as I possibly can.

Paul

Great sled AND great box, Paul. I can see this saving you a huge amount of time. Sounds like you have lots of orders in the pipeline

Brian

Hello Paul. I really like your sled and the product!!! Very nice.
I see some great uses. I have googled linear slides and come up with heaps of places to buy, sizes etc.
Would you be willing to let me know what sizes you used, and what do you call the end stops (end stops???)
There is a place close-ish to me, Beresfield out from Newcastle, that might have those linear bearing and slides. But if you could tell me the specific names and lengths, that'd help me enormously.
Can I print out a photo of your sled to show them what I want to make?
The sizes you used enable you to dress it looks like about A4 size, ( 210mm x 300mm) is that right. Do you add 'runners' along the length if you want to size thicker material.
Thanks in advance
Lyle.

Hi Lyle and thanks, Sure you can print out a copy of my sled and show it to your local shop. There are probably others on here that have already started to think about making one. As you say there are heaps of places that sell these linear rails. The ends are called stop collars and they would be available from wherever you decide to buy your rails from. Mine are the 20mm size, meaning the circular rail on top is 20mm diam. They do come in smaller sizes.

I made mine for a specific purpose, only to do my resin/timber lids. My largest size is for my large boxes, the size being 320mm x 190mm coming out of the mold. Gives me a few mm for trimming for a finished box size of 315mm x 185mm. I do have various size molds made for smaller than that. That's where my clamping system comes in and the length of timber (chipboard) on the inside of the tracks to lock it all in.

I have a lid out of the mold waiting for me to work on. It is 16.2mm thick. I want to get it down to about 11 to 12mm. I did another two pours yesterday. I can have lids made before I even think about starting the box.

Not sure what you mean by "add runners along the length". You can't add runners to lift the height of the rails as they are screwed to the base. You could add say a wide piece of timber under the job to lift it up, but that is the opposite to what your getting at. I guess you could add a removable piece of timber between where you screw the rails on and the main base,...!!!

The depth of the base of the carriage where the router is mounted is critical as you are already losing 10mm for the router bit to protrude though prior to it touching your job. So you cant have too much distance between the underneath of the carriage and your job.

The good thing about that new De Walt combination router is that the plunge base stays mounted to the carriage all the time. You just flick a little lever and the inner slips out and goes into a fixed base.

Good luck,

Paul

Thanks Paul.
Understand what you've said.
I'll start my research.
Lyle

Hello again Paul.
Fleabay has the linear bearings but I'm not too sure of the lengths to get. I am thinking one pair at 800mm and one pair at 1000mm. These are what I'm looking at
Is that what you used? 2X SBR20 Linear Rail Guide Slide Shaft Rod 200-1500mm + 4X SBR20UU Bearing Block | eBay
Lyle

Hi Lyle,

I used the 20mm ones. They look exactly the same as the ones in your ebay link. I originally went 600mm x 500mm, but that was a bit too short. I had to buy another set of 200mm ones and extend my 600mm to 800mm. It was hard to work out exactly what the traverse measurement would be before I had built the cradle for my De Walt router.

So my measurements are now 800mm x 500mm with the 20mm ones. I only want this for my box lids which are molded to 320mm x 190mm. Gives me a finished area of 315mm x 185mm. You may want to be routering something much larger and hence would have to allow for that.

My outfit is screwed onto 12mm whiteboard and with the router sitting on it, it is rather weighty for me to lift onto my router table. I dont have a dedicated bench for this, it sits on a couple of old bedside cupboards and I keep lifting it when needed. I only have a double garage, no dedicated shed. Have to drive the car out most times when working.

I must say I love that that dual purpose fixed/plunge De Walt router. The base for the plunge can be left fixed to my cradle and I just remove the inner section, slip it into the fixed base in one minute and off you go. The router is getting a fair bit of fixed use at present on a guitar body I am making. (over in the musical instrument section).

Good luck,
Paul

Thanks very much Paul.
Have taken your advice and info and placed my orders (fleabay!).
Got some polycarbonate yesterday and some M4 screws etc to start the build when the slides come in.
I got 600mm and 1000mm slides, with stop blocks to suit.
Now just waiting to see when they all get here, with the Christmas postal surge....
Last questions....
What router bit do you use?
Does router speed affect the cut, I am assuming you just do light skims/passes. And do you take slow passes?
Thnks
Lyle.

Hi Lyle, that is a pretty heavy/large outfit your going to make. But if you have a dedicated table/bench for it, should be fine. It's a lot bigger than my outfit.

Like all routers use your highest speed. I go steady with mine, dont go too deep in one go, but having said that maybe at times I might take off 2 or 3 mm in one hit.

This is the router bit I use, I also have another very similar bit to this one. But this one I bought recently when I made the outfit.

Freud 16-106 1-1/4-Inch Diameter by 1/4-Inch Mortising Router Bit : Amazon.com.au: Home Improvement

Good luck,
Paul

Paul, a big thanks for your help and advice.
Finished my copy of your overhead router. The dimensions allow me to do about an A3 size job.
Have yet to use it in anger, as I'm waiting for a router bit.
Not glued together yet as I'm waiting to see if I need to make any adjustments to the side pieces of the "cradle".

Lyle

Hi Lyle, Wow, well done. That looks pretty impressive I must say. You have done a very neat job on your cradle also, looks super.

Good luck with it when your router bit arrives.

I've been away for about ten days, over to Central Western NSW and seeing the devastation after the floods, some very sad cases of people who have lost everything.

I'll get back into a couple of my projects shortly myself.

Paul