# Holding Small Pieces for Routing



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I've been kicking this idea around for a while, since I read one of Harry's posts where he talked about driving brads into the bottom face of a part that he needed to rout an edge on and then snipping them off to give him a point. I'd used a double-ended nail to make a jig to mark the location of the strike when I was hanging a door and had that idea that these nails would also work for routing.

I made some small rings (~ 3-1/4" OD) and wanted to round over the top edges so I made 3 of the plugs, drilled a hole pattern in a piece of plywood and used that to round over the OD and ID of the rings - not a lot of material removal, but it worked very well so I'm going to continue with the idea. I'm thinking a piece of plywood with a pattern of 3/4" dia. holes (the plug shown is 1" dia. but that's all I had lying around) that could accommodate a range of sizes/shapes, depending on how large a piece of plywood is used. I made the plugs a little longer than the plywood thickness to give me clearance for the r/o bit, but I'm thinking a little more height and it would eliminate the tip of the bit digging into the plywood when cutting a circle so that the sheet would last longer. I need to make a couple of large rings for the current project, so will let you know how that all worked out


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

Simple and efficient! good solution!
Sid.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I like it Tom. Plus 1 with what Sid said.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

I've never seen those double ended nails. Can you get them with two heads too? 

Good tip, Tom.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

TenGees said:


> I've never seen those double ended nails. Can you get them with two heads too?
> 
> Good tip, Tom.


Thanks. Yes, they make double headed nails, Not sure what the proper name/usage is, but I use then for concrete forms as they're easy to remove without disturbing the cement.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"Can you get them with two heads too? "

Yes!!!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

duplex nails....


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Yes. What was I thinking!


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Double headed nail. Easy to remove from things like concrete forms. The other double headed nail has fewer uses than the first, although it is available should you ever need one. Or, you could buy the second double headed nail in 100 lb lots, then clip of one of the heads, depending on whether you need a right or left handed nail. There is a slight premium for the second nail since it is only made by gnomes under ground in Siberia. Shipping costs are extra. Amazon does not yet carry this item.

Tom :wink:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Yes. What was I thinking!


don't feel bad..
some guys treat the 1st nail head as a pilot hole maker for the second head...

you showed a wire crusher/pincher device/aide...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

*Finding dowel centers...*

need to find dowel centers ya say...

bore dowel sizes into the edge of a 2x4 piece of material w/ a fostner bit, say, 1 - 1¼ inch deep...

insert a blind nail into where the fostner bit left a dimple in the center of the bored hole...
pilot drill for the blind nail if you think you need to...
insert a dowel into the appropriate sized hole and push or tap the dowel's end onto the blind nail's point to mark the center of the dowel..


.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Works like a champ. Been doing it that way for years. Guess that might be because an old timer showed me that when I was a new timer. LOL


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## Noob2012 (Feb 5, 2012)

That reminds me of the last time I bought a box of cheap Chiwanese nails. When I opened it, I found that half the heads were on the wrong side! Boy was I miffed. Well, until I realized that I could use them on the other side of the project. It was iffy for awhile, lemme tell ya.


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## Quillman (Aug 16, 2010)

For your safety.
There are 12 escape routes for any work piece.
It can go up or down, left or right, north and south (in/out), or rotate CC & CCW on any of its 3 rotational axis. Moreover, none of this slip/slide/rotation need be on any centerline. 

As such, you are not covered (in the safety zone) with brads, nails, tape, rubber mats, or vacuum. You need to stop the work from getting away from you. Just what it takes to completely isolate the work is a complicated issue. And, to be sure, every element of your isolation strategy also has 12 ways of translating itself.

The metal working industry understands this and they use every practical jig/fixture component they can to keep the work from moving. Woodworkers, in my view, will get better results when we know the work will not move too.

Just as important is support for your hand router. Your machine cannot tip or fall of the work. Keeping the work fixed and your machine supported will keep the work from spontaneously leaving the scene and keep you out of the band-aid locker.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Finally got around to cutting the larger ring I needed, here are some photos of the set-up. I forgot to take a photo of the initial set-up where the offcut was clamped to the plywood base to prevent movement. The circle jig I use was made by Pat Warner and uses a pin as a pivot; I drilled a pivot hole in the base and in the part and stacked two pins on top of each other which worked OK but a longer pin will be used for next time. The only thing I forgot was a pin into the inner disc, it spun about 2" when the final cut was complete and before I could release the plunge. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the set-up.


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