Router table safety

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PeteQuad

New User
Peter
Hi guys. I am pretty new to this stuff and still learning a lot of lessons. Today I was doing some flush trimming on my benchtop router table. I have some 1/4" ply templates and some cheap pine roughly cut to shape with a jigsaw.

I've done this before, but haven't gotten the technique and safety rules down I think. The reason I say this is that I got some nasty router kickback that pushed the wood quite hard back into my hand. It's not bad, just scraped barely enough to draw blood, but enough to make me stop and think what I need to be doing to make this safer. Also, I ruined 2 pieces of wood (it's ok, it was cheap stuff).

Are there some push sticks or hold downs someone can recommend? Also, what's the best way to go about this? The problem seems to occur when I start trimming into the grain - it will begin to chip out the wood and push back at me.

Thanks for any comments.
 

Ken Massingale

New User
Ken
How much material did you leave to be trimmed, Pete? I shoot for no more than 1/8". Routing against the grain is called climb cutting and can have a pucker factor on a table mounted router. Are the pieces large enough to use the pattern bit in a hand held router?
Instead of repeating excellent information check Tom's information at http://www.newwoodworker.com/clmbcuttng.html

ken
 
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Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
What Ken said. Taking off a little bit of material at a time is key.

As for safety equipment, I recently got a pair of Grr rippers. These work really well on the table saw, for routing they're OK but not spectacular. The simplest hold down is a block of wood (1" thick) with some non-slip material glued to the bottom. Some people use old mouse mats for this, or those things for opening jars. Drill two 3/4" holes into the block of wood, about an 1/2" deep. Epoxy in two short pieces of dowel, about 5" long. This gives you very study handles to hold the block. You can make the block a normal shape, e.g. a rectangle, or make it to fit your workpiece.

Remember - this is only to compensate for minor kickback. In head-to-head matches, the router always wins!
 

PeteQuad

New User
Peter
Thanks guys for the tips, and the link to that excellent article. I think I am going to try to install the template upside down when I have longer runs of climb cuts, and trim very very close if I have a short run.
 

Jim Murphy

New User
Fern HollowMan
ped·ant –noun 1.a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. 2.a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details. 3.a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense. 4.Obsolete. a schoolmaster.

Okay, I confess, in addition to being a quartersawn snob, I am also a pedant.

Climb cutting is routing in a direction where the rotation of the router bit tends to spit the material out instead of drawing it in. Grain can wreak havoc whether you are climb-cutting or not, although grain can exacerbate the effects of climb-cuts. Click on Ken's link to Tom's site for a more detailed explanation.
<pedant mode off>
 

Sully

New User
jay
You can also hot glue some larger hand holds directly on either the workpiece or the template. The glue will hold tight, but can be easily removed with a plastic putty knife or similar. I'm not sure how small a piece you are routing on the table, but generally less than 6" long and 5" across makes me nervous. In those situations I always hotglue some handholds on the wood.

Edit: Also, make sure you are using a starting pin for leverage to get started on the cut.
 

sapwood

New User
Roger
Pete,
You stated you were cutting end grain. Did that mean you were cutting the end of a board? If so, you may want to read up on coping sleds. Commercial and home made jigs are available that secure the workpiece for this operation. Like many jigs, some are simple and others have lots of bells and whistles. Google "coping sleds" to get results like this.

HTH,
Roger
 

PeteQuad

New User
Peter
Some pieces I am routing all around so I guess in some cases I hit end grain. That coping sled looks pretty cool, I may have to make one up.

The smallest piece I have to do is 6"x6" and it does make me a little nervous. Now that I know more about climb cutting I will; be sure to flip it over at the right time and cut very close with the jigsaw.
 

Travis Porter

Travis
Corporate Member
In addition to the other excellent suggestions one thing I have found that makes a difference is a pattern/flush trim bit that isn't straight but has a sheer angle.
 

PeteQuad

New User
Peter
Thanks guys, I got through my flush trimming safely due to the suggestions here. I picked up a couple of push blocks at woodcraft and attached my templates to the other side whenever I would have had to climb cut. Attaching seperate handles would have taken a long time since I had about a dozen or more pieces to flush trim. I did use a pin in my router table the whole time. Thanks for the suggestion on the bit Travis, I will look into that for my next one.
 

sediener

New User
Steve
Do you have a starter pin installed? That can help with the initial kickback caused by loading the work onto the bit.


- Steve
 

PeteQuad

New User
Peter
Hi, I did have the starter pin in. The pieces I was having trouble with had to be routed around completely (360 degrees) so the trouble spots were where the grain changed direction. I had to detach the templates and reattach on the other side, in addition to using push blocks, to do this safely.

Thanks for the tip on the wood whisperer video. I have been watching them sequentially (am up to episode 18 or so) and didn't realize there was one on this topic. I will check it out.
 
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