# advice needed



## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi all some advice needed I have been cutting these slots in three passes with 1/2 two flute straight cutter . But have 1500 units to cut I want to do it in one pass with down spiral bit in the router table. your comments please wood is 3/4 exterior ply. many thanks carl


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## cagenuts (May 8, 2010)

Carl, are you positioning the board horizontally on the router table with stops left and right?

If so and considering it's effectively an external cut then give it a go. Just don't force it though.


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi Hilton yes it is open cut from right to left will be using solid carbide spiral bit.


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## 48394 (Oct 25, 2010)

Carl,
Why a down cut spiral bit in the table? You'll be spewing a lot of chips in the air. A cleaner option would be an upcut spiral with good vacuum evacuation under the table.
Hope this helps,
Regis


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi Regis I have a big dc connected to the fence dust port that will take care of any chips coming off the cutter. pipe is 5inches in diameter. regards carl


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## Quillman (Aug 16, 2010)

Forget the router table.
Way too much risk to you and the work.
*******************************
Fixture and edge guide cut or maybe a templet.
Is the issue time or one pass?
If it's time, consider, 3hp plunger x 3 - 4 passes.
Max time if well fixtured = <10"/sample.
If it's the single pass? Then forget it; you'll break the cutter before the day is out.
**************************
You confused me with "slot". Your cut is not a slot.
Still would recommend a hand rout for quick depth changes, not available on most router tables.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I would take out most of the waste with a jig saw (does not have to be fine to the line, just 1/16" to 1/8" off) and the trim with template and guide bushing.

Make two templates. One right on the line so you can pencil in the cut line for the jig saw and another template with the offset for the guide bushing.

As has been said, 1500 units will be heavy on the cutters.


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## nn4jw (Jun 22, 2013)

I think I'd try a template, handheld router, and pattern bit after I spent a little time building a jig to hold the workpiece and the template. The jig base could actually also be the template. Cleats on three sides to position the work, a couple of hold downs to clamp the work in place. Slide the work into the jig, clamp it, route it, remove it, and repeat. Over and over.

Just make the base / template so that it extends past the front of the work so that it's easy to position the router accurately only cutting that slot.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

I don't see the big deal just make a template with two hold down clamps pop in your brass guide in your router table and cut them out, it may take more than one bit but the router bit will cut them out like cutting hot butter...no pre cut needed that's the neat thing about router bits...

===


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Yeah, I go along with a template, and cut a bit of excess off with a sabre saw. 

But with 1500 to do, I'd seriously consider hiring someone else to do them. That's a LOT of repetition. What are you making?

After thinking about this some more, are these pieces all going to be cut to size, before the routing? If so, I did a master/template long ago for a base for a wooden bank I make. Never did anywere close to 1500 tho, and I used 1/2" plywood. I don't know if I still have a picture of the master, but will look, and post it after I explain a bit. 

The base is 5" X 5". A 1/2" slot is routed into each side, about 1 1/2" or 2" long. At the back a small spot was routed, showing that would be the back. Understand I do stuff like this as I go along, so can't really explain what I did when I finish. Good Lord, I think I could make another, but explaining how is something else. OK, the cut base fits snugly into the bottom of the master. There are pieces glued on each side of the master, that come down 1/2", same as the plywood thickness. They go higher on the master, and glue blocks are glued on the top of the master and the side pieces. The side pieces have gaps for the router bit, same at the back for the small cut. I use a 1/2" pattern bit, with the bearing on the end. The top of the master has strips running from side to side, to act not only as finger grips, but to cover the slots, with a gap over the bit, to keep my fingers out of there. Then the back of the master is open, and to use it, I put the base in, flip the master, hold with my fingers on the cross strips, and push with my thumbs on the base. Then rout one side slot, the back dimple, then the other side slot. This is probably way smaller than what you're doing, but I think the theory will work for you. I had no problem with accuracy of my routing - once I got an accurate master that is, usually takes me about two tries to do that. Very accurate, very quick. I'll see if I can find that picture now. Ah yes, it's the one in the center, that's the bottom of it. The one on the right the piece is also held in by fingers and thumbs. The one on the left is held in place with nails. Hope this will help, and any questions, feel free to ask. My masters may not look so pretty, but they're usually dead on accurate.

Now that I look at that again, I'm thinking that I started making that master with a 5" X 5" piece. Cut it a bit short on one side, so I could push with the thumbs. And to make space so I could just slip a 5" X 5" piece in, glued in a layer, possibly two, of paper, to the side. Then on top, over the gap, leaving plenty of room for the bit to go under, I glued strips of wood front to rear, making no pressure on the paper, and possibly having it come loose. My masters are made to last too.


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Many thanks to all the members who commented on my request for advice the problem has now been resolved. I have set up two more router tables and started cutting production between the tables each one doing a different depth of cut. regards carl


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Carl I would make a template that had a cutout that was the exact size of the cutout in your item and be a sheet of board/ply large enough so that your work piece would drop into it from the top and be firmly held by blocks all around, the template will have to be larger than your work piece to allow for the blocks and to be able to clamp it down to your work bench, then you can just do one after the other by dropping them into this box, I would forget about the spiral bits and use a double fluted TC bit with two bearings on the bottom, these bits have the cutter diameter and the bearing diameter the same and the bearings rest on the template as they finalize the cut and they are commonly referred to as 'flush trim cutters' and the double bearing bits are a lot better for a big job as the load on each bearing is a lot less, and they will follow the template under the work piece and with this cutter then you don't have to cut the full depth in one pass so just take out what the cutter can do without screaming it;s head off until the bearings bottom out in the template, you may need to do a quick clean out final cut to make sure that the cut was perfect, if all your work piece's are the exact same size then you can drop them into the box without clamping them to the template and if they are not then you will have to make the box blocks to leave a space a bit larger and use some hold down clamps as that would make sure that the workpiece does not move while you do the cut, because you are going to do 1500 items then the time to make a good template is worthwhile as once it was made then you could do them at a rate of about one every three minutes or so, just keep the waste off the template and take time to brush it away, 1500 will take a few hours to do but it can be done this way quite quickly. NGM


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

It appears to be a similar problem to the one encountered when making the solitaire game.


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## JI808 (Aug 7, 2013)

carl.p said:


> Many thanks to all the members who commented on my request for advice the problem has now been resolved. I have set up two more router tables and started cutting production between the tables each one doing a different depth of cut. regards carl



I'm curious, what are these for? 1,500 pieces is quite the number. Where/how are they being used?


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

*Advice needed*

Hi guys just a heads up I set up 3 router tables at different heights and started cutting I have so far completed 1480 have 20 more to do tomorrow thank goodness. Will take a short break then assembly starts on Monday. regards carl


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm really curious. What are you making?


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

*Advice needed*

Hi Theo these are the front sections of bee hives that I am making for a commercial bee keeper, and some for stock .


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## BOjr (Dec 1, 2012)

I think you'll be just fine using your router table with two stops. This way you don't have to take the time to mount a templet or lock the wood down. Just make your stops a little longer ( projecting out from the fence ) than normal and feed the ply into the stops. This way there is only one set-up to get started. Just don't try to make the cut in one pass. I would think you could make a complete cut in 15 to 20 seconds.

Buck


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

carl.p said:


> Hi Theo these are the front sections of bee hives that I am making for a commercial bee keeper, and some for stock .


Cool. Must be a whole bunch of hives. Nice you came up with a solution to let you make those in a short time, I'd figured you'd be weeks maybe. We will get pictures, right?


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi Theo I am busy assembling the hives as soon as I am finished I post the pictures have to have 200 ready by next Monday for collection, and the remainder by end August so it is 16 hours a day until I get them all ready . regards carl


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

harrysin said:


> It appears to be a similar problem to the one encountered when making the solitaire game.


What you did here is exactly correct Harry, you did have to make your template larger than your cutout due to the fact that your pilot guide is following the template and the cutter comes down through it so not 1:1, that is all good as I would do the same, the thing that I like about 1/2 router cutters with twin bearings on the bottom is that the cut is done 1:1, you can clamp a straight edge under a work piece with just the overhang hanging over only as much as you want to cut off, and you will get a straight and square cut, however this type of cutter can also follow a shaped template, that template can be shaped in any manor and the cutter will do the cut as many times as you want it to, think about a router with a flush trim bearing cutter fitted as being a upside down shaper, when you start to use them this way then you will find many jobs to do and as this project was to cut 1500 then that justifies making the jig. Neville


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi Harry I used a 3 table set up so each table set to a different height and it worked very well for this production run got the job done very quickly this way, so I now have 5 router tables set up each one doing only one function this completes my production line for the front sections also one 1/2 spindle for top rebate where the frames hang, so next big order is no more a problem. the new season is just starting here so the jobs will be coming in quite soon. regards carl.


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## carlp. (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi all just finished those hives all 1500 of them loaded and delivered, it is now time for a break before the next order has to be out. regards carl


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## cagenuts (May 8, 2010)

Any photos Carl?


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

cagenuts said:


> Any photos Carl?


+1........(although wit so many to do, I will excuse You)...VBG


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