# How do I cut groove.



## ArtbyJean (Dec 15, 2008)

First let me say that I have only done very simple routing on craft project in the past. Each of the projects I did were on the outside edges of the timber. I have not picked up the router for a couple of years and now I want to do something different and I am having trouble wrapping my brain around how to do it. It's probably and age thing!

I want to cut a groove in a piece of scrap pine that is 19mm thick. The finished item will be a rustic looking cover for a hand bound journal. (see sketch below) I am not after perfection, because I want a rustic look anyway. I am hoping that the finished project will look like it is a couple of thousand years old out of the pyramids of Egypt.

I know that I will have to make a template of the shape I want to cut and would use MDF to make the template. 

What I do not know is,

1. How thick would my MDF template need to be.
2. Do I make my template like a hole? And route from the inside edge of the hole?
3. What sort of router bit I will need.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

The easy way to rout this is to make a template as shown, the opening calculated as follows: template guide dia. minus cutter dia. plus size of finished groove.

Using a 40mm guide will give you the rounded corners, and if you use a 10mm cutter, then the opening in the template will be 30mm bigger than the finished size. Because you and I use metric, such calculations become so simple! 9mm is fine for templates but is not critical.
I forgot to mention cutter, a round nose bit available in many diameters like these:

http://www.carbatec.com.au/router-shaper-cutters/cmt-individual-router-bits/814-round-nose-bits

I love your computer drawing skills.


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## Drew Eckhardt (Aug 2, 2008)

harrysin said:


> Using a 40mm guide will give you the rounded corners,


Given a template with sharp corners you'll need a male template to get radiuses (other than what the bit produces by itself).

Ex, a 40mm guide + 10mm cutter would yield a 25mm outside radius.



> and if you use a 10mm cutter, then the opening in the template will be 30mm bigger than the finished size.


With a female polygonal template you should end up with the same corner radiuses as the bit.


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

Hi Jean: Ok, here's solution number 1 million ;-) 

Do you have a straight guide with your router? Take a stick and screw your straight guide onto it. Mount the straight guide onto the router. 

Attach your workpiece to the table using double-stick tape or screws, nails something that can be concealed in the finished product.

Place the router on top of your workpiece. Make sure the stick doesn't interfere with the table you're using. 

Test this movement first. Take your router and set it on the top of your workpiece with the stick firmly pressed onto the side. Look where the collet is lining up to the workpiece. You can adjust that distance using the screws on the straight guide. Now move the router down the workpiece, imagine the router cutting your groove - you're approaching the end, now swing the straight guide around the corner. You may be able to get a bit of an arc but certainly you can make a square corner.

Mount a bit and try it on scrap. Adjust as necessary. When you're satisfied with the results, move over to your work piece. Make several and chose the best.

Allthunbs


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Art

The real key to this type of job is the templates''
Just a note **** I don't make my templates the same way as Harry does, but both ways work great, I make mind on the router table the stick way...it's quicker for me with a router trim bit and 4 sticks and 1/4" thick MDF.. Bob R. way..
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ArtbyJean said:


> First let me say that I have only done very simple routing on craft project in the past. Each of the projects I did were on the outside edges of the timber. I have not picked up the router for a couple of years and now I want to do something different and I am having trouble wrapping my brain around how to do it. It's probably and age thing!
> 
> I want to cut a groove in a piece of scrap pine that is 19mm thick. The finished item will be a rustic looking cover for a hand bound journal. (see sketch below) I am not after perfection, because I want a rustic look anyway. I am hoping that the finished project will look like it is a couple of thousand years old out of the pyramids of Egypt.
> 
> ...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Drew Eckhardt said:


> Given a template with sharp corners you'll need a male template to get radiuses (other than what the bit produces by itself).
> 
> Ex, a 40mm guide + 10mm cutter would yield a 25mm outside radius.
> 
> ...


Drew, you are of course 100% correct and I was 100% stupid, I can only put this down to one of those ever increasing "seniors moments" I've been routing this sort of thing for more years than I wish to remember, so it can only be the reason I've stated, thanks for pointing it out.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Remember when you are routing around the outside of a template or using an edge guide you should be moving from left to right or counter clockwise. When using a female template you should be moving from left to right which means clockwise. Both of these are for hand held routing. When the router is table mounted they are reversed.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Mike said:


> Remember when you are routing around the outside of a template or using an edge guide you should be moving from left to right or counter clockwise. When using a female template you should be moving from left to right which means clockwise. Both of these are for hand held routing. When the router is table mounted they are reversed.


OK Mike, I claim the prize for today's deliberate mistake!


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## Drew Eckhardt (Aug 2, 2008)

Mike said:


> Remember when you are routing around the outside of a template or using an edge guide you should be moving from left to right or counter clockwise. When using a female template you should be moving from left to right which means clockwise. Both of these are for hand held routing. When the router is table mounted they are reversed.


Just look at the direction the bit spins and feed the work+template into it.

It's easier to remember than the four permutations of outside/inside and table/hand held and harder to get wrong.


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## Drew Eckhardt (Aug 2, 2008)

Mike said:


> Remember when you are routing around the outside of a template or using an edge guide you should be moving from left to right or counter clockwise. When using a female template you should be moving from left to right which means clockwise. Both of these are for hand held routing. When the router is table mounted they are reversed.


Just look at the direction the bit spins or where the open cutting edge is and feed the work+template into it.

It's easier to remember than the four permutations of outside/inside and table/hand held and harder to get wrong.


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## ArtbyJean (Dec 15, 2008)

*Thanks Harry!*

Thanks Harry,
Sorry for taking so long to thank you. I lost my own message and was starting to think nobody loved me. Being new here, I guess I neglected to set up my post to get automatic notifications of replies. 

I don't have a guide, or at least I don't think I have one. Would not have a clue what one looks like. All I have is the basic router as it came in the box. 

Since I am doing a one-off thing, I was thinking in terms of cutting the template using a scroll saw to get the rounded edges all built in. That should work HUH?

As far as my computer drawing skills are concerned, they ought to be reasonably good considering the fact that I worked as a "AutoCAD" operator doing pretty drawings for the mining industry for many years before retiring to a playful life of Arts and Crafts.


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## ArtbyJean (Dec 15, 2008)

What I don't understand, is what is preventing the cutter from eating up the template?


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

The cutter is never going to touch the template when using a guide set. The guide keeps it a certain distance from the cutters. That is the point of the guide. The guide portion sticking up from the threaded portion of the guide touches the template, not the bit. The bit is covered by the protruding portion of the template guide.

If you are not using template guides you must use an exact size template and a router bit with a bearing on it. Bearing rides on the template(instead of the template guide protrusion) so the cutter can not move into the template.

I prefer template guides, but using a flush cut bit and a template may be the way to go for a one off .

This link was just put up in a recent thread:

http://www.routerforums.com/guide-bushings-templates/10854-how-use-bushings-male-female-parts.html

http://www.routerforums.com/attachm...-bushings-male-female-parts-inlay-save004.jpg


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## ArtbyJean (Dec 15, 2008)

*OK! I think I got it!*

OK! I think I got it!
Stupid me! I went digging up in the box the router came in and found this little magic thing. Now my brain is starting to wrap itself around the whole project. I can visualize it happening now! How soon we forget!

Now I just need to wait for my daughter to give me all her Egyptian pictures that will go in the book so I know what size to make it. Joy! Elation! Happiness! Will post a picture of the book when it is finished.

This is the thing I need, isn't it?


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

It sure is Jean, that looks like a 1/2" one, they come in many sizes.


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## ArtbyJean (Dec 15, 2008)

*Thanks again Harry*

OH ... so they come in sizes too! Now I understand how a perfectly square template can give you a groove or cut with rounded corners in various radiuses (radii?) That will make my life a bit easier.
Thanks Harry


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