# dip bowl...



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

The Strathfield Mens Shed has acquired a small CNC laser cutter and the operator has made a template out of 5mm acrylic that he wants me to trial.

A couple of pictures are attached.

This is very much still R&D at this stage to see what works and what needs to be changed..

The timber is just a round piece of pine from a failed Lazy Susan


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I feel that the template has to be made from 10mm mdf or similar so that the bearing guided dish cutter can be used.

It looks a tad small using a template guide...


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

cool...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

jw2170 said:


> I feel that the template has to be made from 10mm mdf or similar so that the bearing guided dish cutter can be used.
> 
> It looks a tad small using a template guide...


I agree, 6mm is just too thin. N


----------



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

jw2170 said:


> I feel that the template has to be made from 10mm mdf or similar so that the bearing guided dish cutter can be used.
> 
> It looks a tad small using a template guide...


James is this to be a bowl/tray? or a cut out part for some other piece of furniture? 

Herb

OOps, I didn't read the title very well. How does the router slide on the acrylic with the paper still attached?


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

That's a shame James , as my 80watt laser does what I would consider perfect cuts with 6mm plexi , and although it will cut 12mm , it's not great 

My tube is giving me issues so maybe I should go to a 120 watt next time , but that involves a new PS and in my case a larger water cooler


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

RainMan1 said:


> That's a shame James , as my 80watt laser does what I would consider perfect cuts with 6mm plexi , and although it will cut 12mm , it's not great
> 
> My tube is giving me issues so maybe I should go to a 120 watt next time , but that involves a new PS and in my case a larger water cooler


distilling coil in an under counter refrigerator/freezer...
use coolant and not water...
works on our still...


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Herb Stoops said:


> James is this to be a bowl/tray? or a cut out part for some other piece of furniture?
> 
> Herb
> 
> OOps, I didn't read the title very well. How does the router slide on the acrylic with the paper still attached?


Hi Herb,

Using the router skis made for me by Harry, the router base does not actually touch the acrylic.
It rides about 3mm above the acrylic and the guide bush rides against the side of the template.

On each side, you lose the amount of the offset and you can see that lip in the pictures.

A round cutout will be made on the top right corner for the dip and the larger bowl is for the crackers...


----------



## Al Robins (Jul 13, 2009)

...looks good James.....still looking for oval templates.....anybody got ideas......AL


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Al Robins said:


> ...looks good James.....still looking for oval templates.....anybody got ideas......AL


draw them up and make your own...

you tube is your friend...

HOW TO DRAW A PERFECT OVAL BY A PAIR OF COMPASS - by Sam Shakouri @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community


----------



## Al Robins (Jul 13, 2009)

....thanks for the info ....certainly has merit...AL


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Al Robins said:


> ...looks good James.....still looking for oval templates.....anybody got ideas......AL


I will see what I can do, Al....

Do you mean oval or ellipse?


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Going through some scrap in the car port yesterday and found the jig holder used by Template Tom and Harry.

Was thinking on the way home from work today and visualised making 2 or more templates.

May need to draw it out on paper and make the templates. The hard part will be making sure that the overlaps (taking into consideration the offsets) leave a wide enough piece of timber between the two cutouts.


----------



## denis lock (Oct 26, 2007)

There is nothing wrong with a 5mm template and a guide bush. An advantage of guide bush pattern routing over bearing guided pattern routing is that there is complete flexibility in the bit depth setting. Bearing guided pattern routing does not have this flexibility and often requires thick patterns for the initial passes.

Denis Lock - "Routing with Denis"


----------



## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

+1 for making your own patterns. I find it kind of fun to make them. Especially so I can take advantage of an oddly shaped piece of wood. It helps to have a good spindle sander.

On the subject of top bearing vs guide bushing. You don't really need to use a bushing. Just make sure you start with a depth that has the bottom edge of the bearing at the bottom edge of the template. I use a Freud 1 1/8" bowl bit with a top mounted bearing (there is no bushing that size anyway). Using a 3.25 HP router, it goes fast. Works great. I cranked out about 10 various bowls and trays for Xmas gifts last month. Pretty happy with the results.


----------



## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

Stick486
Not knowing any better I've been doing something similar to that formula for yrs. However I believe i'll save and try your link next time. Who would know better than a cooper.


----------



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

jw2170 said:


> Hi Herb,
> 
> Using the router skis made for me by Harry, the router base does not actually touch the acrylic.
> It rides about 3mm above the acrylic and the guide bush rides against the side of the template.
> ...


How thick is your material? I always had to use an extension on the bowl bit to do my bowls. They were made in 1 1/2" thick material tho. I suppose if your bit was long enough with a bushing you could go 1 1/8" deep too. 

Seems like all the commercial bowl templates are made for bowl bits and not bushings.

Does the ski have any deflection in the center,or are the rods stiff enough to support the router and hand pressure required? I can see the advantage in using a ski especially for support in the center instead of a humongous router base.


----------



## Al Robins (Jul 13, 2009)

Thanks James and others...sorry about my late reply but things over here arnt too flash with bushfires etc,...Tried Sticks link and worked out well......thanks again......AL


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Glad you are safe Alan.

I saw that fires were also around the Ararat area...


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

*Moving forward...*

As I said in an earlier post, I would have like the templates to be thicker.

So. today it was only 90+ degrees so I spent some time in the "shed".

Used the acrylic template with a bearing guided trim cutter and made the original pine bowl a 19MM template.

Bought some 9mm MDF and used the pine template to make a 9mm template.

This way I will be able to use a bearing guided cutter instead on a guide bushing.

I have nothing against guide bushings, in fact I use them more often than not, but in this case the original was a bit small and I did not want to lose another 7mm.

Just for you guys with you 20x 40 sheds I attach a photo of my work area.....


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

denis lock said:


> There is nothing wrong with a 5mm template and a guide bush. An advantage of guide bush pattern routing over bearing guided pattern routing is that there is complete flexibility in the bit depth setting. Bearing guided pattern routing does not have this flexibility and often requires thick patterns for the initial passes.
> 
> Denis Lock - "Routing with Denis"


Agree 100% Denis, but in this case I feel that to lose the "offset" makes the bowl just that much smaller...

That is why I am going for a 9mm template..


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Sorry for the late response, Herb.




Herb Stoops said:


> How thick is your material? This material is 19mm pine. I always had to use an extension on the bowl bit to do my bowls. They were made in 1 1/2" thick material tho. I suppose if your bit was long enough with a bushing you could go 1 1/8" deep too. I will go to 1 1/2" timber for the final bowls
> 
> Seems like all the commercial bowl templates are made for bowl bits and not bushings. Yes. The template set I bough from Peachtree are 1/2" thick.
> 
> Does the ski have any deflection in the center,or are the rods stiff enough to support the router and hand pressure required? There is no deflection in the rods at all and the trick is to use the cheeks of the skis to manoeuver the router so there is no hand pressure on the router  I can see the advantage in using a ski especially for support in the center instead of a humongous router base.


I have also made a 25" x 9" inch base out of 10mm acrylic to support the Triton router and I have some extensions.


----------

