Stanley No 71 Hand Router
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- This topic has 80 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 11 months ago by Dave Ring.
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Know what else you could use? A plastic cutting board. I’m spacing out on what the stuff is called. HDPE? That’s what is used for many plastic cutting boards. Take a ruler to the hardware store or yard sale, test for a flat one (bet most are good enough), and there you go.
My only concern with acrylic and the HDPE is the fastener. I think a self-tapping screw or wood screw will be fine in the HDPE if you drill a pilot hole first.
Yes, I was wondering and had a bit of concern with screwing into the acrylic. Plus as Harry said, it’s going to be the more expensive option. But then, this is reasonably priced:
http://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/clear-acrylic-sheeting/clear-perspex-acrylic/
I got it down to Ā£7.31 for 270mm x 120mm x 12mm with rounded (2mm) corners.
15mm thick is Ā£8.51
EDIT: And Ā£13 for delivery. That’s incredible.
7 September 2018 at 4:14 pm #550995You can get a 12 x 12 x 1/2″ piece of high density polyethylene (HDPE) on Amazon for about $14 if you want to go that way. No matter what you use, it doesn’t have to be attached with a wood screw or self threading screw. You can drill and countersink the bottom of the table (don’t know what else to call it) and as long as the countersink is deep enough to keep the head below the surface, you can run flat head machine screws up from the bottom with a washer and nut on top. HDPE or acrylic are both pretty easy to work with though, and putting a self tapping screw in it should work fine.
7 September 2018 at 4:56 pm #550996Phenolic plywood (form plywood) is very flat and has low friction. If you have a timber merchant nearby, there’s a fair chance you can have a scrap piece, and probably also cut, for free. As the centre of the piece will be screwed to the base of the router with perhaps 10 cm (4″) protruding on each side, I believe 9 mm thickness would have sufficient stability and the 12 mm definitely so. The 9 mm one puts a limit to the heights of the heads of the machine screws.
From the look of it, Mr. P. Sellers’ shooting board is made from phenolic plywood, and it is overall good for making jigs and fixtures.
Best
Sven-Olof7 September 2018 at 6:14 pm #550999Couldn’t agree more, but encouraging the use of latin names probably takes it a tad too far.
The extending parts can of course be shorter, all depending on the tasks ahead. I mainly wanted to point out the stiffness of phenolic plywood. Sorry for any confusion.
There is, though, one situation where long protrusions are welcome: the long through tenons of workbenches and some table frames. When routing them it’s often convenient to have a long support that allows a firm rest while using arcing movements of the plane over the tenon.
An alternative approach can be to let the tenon start as two dados. The tail bit left “fat” then serves as a second support for the router, and is sawn off when one is done, leaving the tenon. There should be some recent videos showing this technique.
Sven-Olof
Yet another approach is to remove the bulk with a chisel, use a router plane to flatten from the shoulder to as far out as you can reach without rocking the router, and then do the very end with your #4 bench plane. You can go back and forth between the router and bench plane. As long as the router is taking care of the area near the shoulder, the bench plane won’t get hung up from the closed portion of its mouth. You really don’t even need the router and can use a chisel to carefully get the last 1/4″ to 1/2″ near the shoulder and use the plane to level everything to that. If you have a rabbet plane, that’s another option. This is a method Paul taught us amongst others. The router plane is really nice, but it is dispensable. You need to watch your lines with these methods since you don’t have the router machining the face for you.
7 September 2018 at 7:41 pm #551001Another product to research is acetal plastic ( Delrin ) it machines well even if tough on hand tools ( think ivory tough) and is very low friction. Itās is often used for bearing slides. Iāve used a piece for a table saw fence for 30 years. It will tap nicely for screws.
Itās usually machined with carbide tools, but a hacksaw and sanding will work.
Around here, itās about $5 a sqft, and the local store will cut rectangular shapes for free. Radius corners are a small fee.
They will also CNC cut special shapes, again, fairly reasonably.
The only downside is that it is nearly impossible to glue. It comes in stark white, ivory, and black. Blocks of the ivory colored are used for scrimshaw work.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Larry Geib.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Larry Geib.
7 September 2018 at 9:48 pm #551004Amazing isn’t it! Micarta is another one that’s been around foreverš
7 September 2018 at 9:59 pm #551005“An alternative approach can be to let the tenon start as two dados. The tail bit left āfatā then serves as a second support for the router, and is sawn off when one is done, leaving the tenon. There should be some recent videos showing this technique.”
Paul has used that method a couple of times I think. I tried it and it works very well but what I don’t like is the fact that it eliminates the possibility of splitting or sawing the tenon faces so it’s more time consuming. On the workbench, Paul simply uses a bench plane on the outer area of the tenon which is the way I learned to do it and that is very quick. The router only needs to do a narrow strip at the shoulder line as relief for the edge of the bench plane.
If you really want to do it right you could make a subbase out of 1/4″/6mm steel or aluminimum plate with drilled and tapped attachment holes.
Seriously though, in the time it takes to read this whole thread , you probably could have found a piece of wood, “wood product” or plastic of appropriate dimensions in your basement/garage/rubbish bin and actually built the damn thing. If it breaks, wears out or proves unsatisfactory in a few years, make a better one!
Dave
I’ve done a bit of searching, and the best I can come up with is kiln dried oak (planed) at: 900mm x 150mm x 18mm
Cost: Ā£4.44 inc
The first two are not a problem because I can cut to size, but is the 18mm too thick?
EDIT: Just found out about ‘re-sawing’, and it could be the solution I need.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzCXwwOF30
He also shows you how to make a ‘kerfing’ saw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EILSfPAWkQ
- This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Mark68.
10 September 2018 at 8:34 pm #55109918mm is a little thick, but it would work. If you want it thinner, simply plane it down just like you would to thickness any board. Resawing (especially if you have a bandsaw) works fine but you’re not going to take that much off and you have to leave a little allowance for planing anyway. It’s your call – whatever you feel most comfortable doing. There’s enough material there to make 3 or 4 of them. If you thin it down though, you have to keep the board a uniform thickness or the base can tilt the cutter relative to the work surface.
I need to buy a junior hacksaw for cutting off the protruding screws when I make the sub-base for my hand router.
A website I was reading says the following: “Generally, blades with 18 teeth per inch or less, will be more suitable for cutting plastic and soft metal. Blades with 20-32 teeth per inch will be more suitable for cutting steel.”
Are screws uniformly soft metal, or will I need a blade with 20-32 tpi for cutting steel?
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