Thread: Catchin the Rat........An Introduction to the Woodrat Joinery System

Fantastic thread Lou

Keep up the good work you are doing great.

Its off back to work for me again on Tuesday and will be away for at least 28 days.

Looking forward to getting home and hopefully will see the rat at the wood show.

Good input as well Doug This thread needs to be saved in the best of the best and if enough support in its own catagoury

Cheers Sam

Wow Lou!

I haven't looked into this thread for a while and really missed a lot!

The Rat really is a better machine than some people think. By the time I made a little wall mounted cabinet to keep the bits n' bobs in, it seemed pretty old hat, really.

You've gotten on well. Congrats.

Take care, Mike
who will look in more often

G'day Lou,

You seem to be making some very good progress with the Rat - big greenie launched. It is a cleverly designed and conceived machine, and if I were to go into production I would likely buy another, but for just hobby stuff, I still like the quiet smoothness of a good set of planes and chisels

Gidday

As mentioned I have begun my Rat Journey studying mortice and tenons. Essentially my goal is to become quick and efficient at making tenons & mortises.

As most of us are aware great Joinery Systems provide accurate repeatability. AT first I must admit that I was a bit stumpted. How was I going to get accurate EAST/WEST (Meaning left/right) repeatability on the RAT. NORTH/SOUTH (Meaning Foward/BAck) Is taken care of by T -Track in the Aluminium Guide Rails

My previous experience on the RAT showed its ability for precision cuts. As mentioned earlier in TEST CUTS I was accurately shaving bits off my markup line.

However no matter how good I think I am an inevitable mistake would occur if I relied on my markouts to guide cuts alone!!!

WHat to do???

:confused::confused::confused:

I scoured my Library of RAt Resources and came across reference at ALDEL's website:

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

to T-Track on the underside of the RAT. I didn't recall seeing reference to T-Track in the manuals or noticing it myself when setting up my RAT NEST.

I had to rush to the shed to investigate and low and behold there she was T-TRACK on the underside of the RAT!!!................I lit up like a X-MAs tree as I knew my prayers had been answered.

As some of you already know I love using T-TRACK and luckily for me I had recently stocked up on some goodies from professional woodworkers supplies!!

I've been saving these flip stops for my soon to be constructed Drill Press TAble but now had a better Idea for them. I'd be able to use them as Stops for East/West repeatability on the RAT.

After a bit of mucking around I came up with a configeration that worked well on the flip stops. Now I have an accurate repeatable system that simply folds outta harms way when not in use.

I'll keep interested ratters informed of how well they stack up to real world ratting........................initial tests appear promising indeed.

REgards Lou

Keep up the posts Lou all good stuff.

As I’ve said before I’ve had my Rat for some time and as this is a popular ratter thread at the moment I thought I'd ask a question.

After much use and frequent use of a pencil and eraser to mark off on the aluminum, It has become very stained and the are a few pencil marks that won’t come off at all.

Any ideas on how to remove them?

Cheers


Dave

Gidday Davo

Check out the Newbie tips al AlDel's Website:

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

Probably the most important thing to consider is not to use any Silicone based products because if it gets on your stock it can cause havoc with your Finishing!

REgards Lou

Gidday

Well I got to admit tenoning is a breeze on the RAT & I'll post a few PICS of what I have been up to in the near future.

Today I had my first crack at doing some mortises. As you can see in the PIC I have slighty modified the T-Track stops I've been using as my prototype was to fiddly and prone to loosening.

So far this setup has been rock solid and reliable for use as an EAST/WEST stop.

I began by marking out and squaring up my stock. It goes without saying that your stock needs to be the same to get the best outta the RAT. Rest easy knowing that you can use the RAT to dimension or trim stock as required (I used my SCMS)

The mortises I attempted are 1/2 inch. I deliberately pick a cutter a tad smaller than the 1/2 inch mortise.

Set her up in the mortise rail, adjust my East/West stops then adjust my North/South stop in the aluminium guide rail then off I go

Once again please bear in mind that this is the first time ever that I have done mortises on the RAT!!!

I think the results speak for themselves I can't get over the ease that I can achieve hairline accuracy.

TOP STUFF!!!

REgards LOU

Originally Posted by NewLou

Probably the most important thing to consider is not to use any Silicone based products because if it gets on your stock it can cause havoc with your Finishing!

My woodrat came with a small bottle of silicon lubricant but i quickly removedthat from the workshop area for that very reason!

Lou, which version of the mortise rail do you have and did you make it yourself or did it come with the "rat?

Gidday Doug

Without giving the old Basoon to much of a wrap I was very Lucky Steve gave me a great deal that included The RAT, Mitre Box, Mortise Rail and cutters......................hes a real gentleman!!!!

I bet part of him is still kicking himself for selling it to me.....................ON YA STEVE

That is until he picks up his LN No4 Smoother n Chisels :eek:

Regardless theres pleanty a plans for making this stuff in the links posted throughout this thread. Oh yeah I think that its the latest version of the mortise rail that I've got.

More exciting though is that I recently noticed Godfrey himself advertising that he has developed a new Jig/Method of rounding tenons..................I can't find anything on the net about it yet BUT have noticed it advertised in some of the subscriptions I get ...............WATCH OUT FOR THIS ONE IN THE NEAR FUTURE!!!!

PS: When you gonna start posting Doug???....................

REgards Lou

Originally Posted by NewLou

PS: When you gonna start posting Doug???........

Ive nearly finished making my version of the new mortise rail. actually i started making the mitre box but i discovered that i can make the mitre box easier if i had a mortise rail.

I learned a lot while making the mortise rail. i went to great pains to make sure that the beds onthe top and bottom to which you clamp the timber were dead straight and square, meaning a lot of time on attention to detail. once i had it all dry-assembled it occured to me that the better way to do it would have been to cut every part of the beds 1-2 mm oversize cam the mortise rail into the 'rat and trim them flat and square using the 'rat. all i really needed to do was concentrate on keeping the vertical corners square. would have saved me a lot of messing around time

I think the mortise rail ive built is smaller than the standard one (it just fits between the right hand fence and the outermost cam position, and i intend to make a large version of the old style mortise rail for larger work.

Sorry no digital camera till Jools gets back from comm games

NewLou,Doug

Well Done. I found your threads and have been enthralled by the reading. I bought myself a 'RAT some 6 months ago and have been using it ever since I . I am in no way an expert at it but as the manual even states, you sit there, stand there, scratching your head, thinking that you wasted your time, thinking of way to explain to SWMBO why the expensive piece of kit you purchased is not being used as promised then it all becomes clear. I unfortunately did not track my learning curve in any way. I will be taking a couple od pics of a crib I just finished for my unborn son using mostly M&T's made on the woodrat.

I built the quick and nasty mounting plate described in the manual which has served me well but now I see a need for adjustable height as I am building a loft bed for my son. The dust collection on the mounting I built does not work too well either and that is definately a huge hindrance. I have also found that having good lighting is a requirement.

I also think the 'RAT deserves its own section in the forum as the possibilities in using it are endless.

Through DT's are a cinch once you get the hang of the esat-west registration. Waiting for the delivery of the HSS bits so that I can finish a chest of drawers, also for my son/wife.

I have the big triton router but was thinking of buying another for use in the 'RAT as removing the TRITON from the table all the time is becoming a bit of a shchlep. Any views on a good router to use in the 'RAT besides the DeWalt?

Cheers,

Christo