1

I had to surface some boards, and Woodworld is having classes this week so they can't get to it.

This seemed like a good opportunity to use some parts I had from a CNC build a few years ago, so I made an incredibly over-engineered router sled:

enter image description here

Which works amazingly well, except for when the microadjustment on the (Ridgid) palm router randomly drifts due to the vibration in the whole assembly when the router is running.

I can put some tape over the dial to (maybe) keep it from moving, but is there a better approach I'm missing here? Other than get a better router? (I have a PC 2 1/2 HP, but it seemed a little heavy for this, and I'd rather not have it semi-permanently anchored to the assembly.)

3Dave
  • 798
  • 9
  • 24
  • I won't put this as an Answer because I found out just recently it's against the spirit of SE to ignore the Question as asked and recommend something completely different! Anyway, I think the problem isn't so much with the router but the jig, so it would probably work better to build something simple from wood, see previous Answer. – Graphus Sep 03 '17 at 08:58
  • Also have to say it, if you had the right selection of hand planes you could do one board in the time it would take you to set up the jig, do adjustments and start routing :-) You could probably get through all of them in the time it would take to build the jig in the first place :-))) – Graphus Sep 03 '17 at 09:00
  • @Graphus probably. This is getting motorized, though, and has the advantage of being VERY flat. I've seen the wood sleds, and they look fine - I just had this stuff already sitting here and I'm short on time and space. – 3Dave Sep 03 '17 at 11:42
  • @Graphus and I seem to enjoy doing things the hard way. :) – 3Dave Sep 03 '17 at 11:50
  • 1
    I'm here to say +1 for over engineering! – FreeMan Sep 08 '17 at 12:49
  • 1
    @FreeMan well, I didn't have any long, straight boards for a more traditional sled, and these rails, bearings etc. were just sitting in a box with all the other parts for a CNC machine I started building 8 years ago but never got around to finishing. It was faster to put this together than to go to the store. On the up side, I also found the motors, lead screws and misc. electronic bits for this, so I think I'm going to go ahead and build the CNC this weekend. I'm a much better fabricator at 41 than I was at 33. – 3Dave Sep 08 '17 at 18:49

0 Answers0