Surfacing large slabs with a router

[CHEVYTOWN13]

Routers kickass

 

[Brmorgan]

Routers kickass

Sure do.

I've done odd-shaped pieces much smaller than the one in the video with a much less sophisticated setup. If I ever do get into big slab work a rig like that will be the first thing I build though.

I could do just about anything with just a router and my radial arm saw if I really had to. Speaking of which my radial does have a shaper/router collet on the outboard end of the motor; I never even thought of trying to put a flattening bit in it. Hmm.... 2HP overhead trammel 16" thickness planer... might be useful.

 

[CHEVYTOWN13]

B money, when are you going to try the pipe for the 365

I use a router to help remove material when porting. I call it the MEX PORT. I'll be using a router one of these days to make a pop-up and mill the cylinder. I just need THE TIME to make a few jigs that will be absolutely perfect and adapt them to my wood bench, as opposed to the craftsman table. And that will take some time and commitment. I have too many deals around the crib right now. I do have the Amana pattern bit that will do the cutting. Some fools have been talking smack about not being able to use routers to mill 2 stroke cylinders/pistons. I refrain from naming these bentovers. I just want to drop THE BOMB on them:hmm3grin2orange:



It makes clean cuts. On the right side, I tried a climb cut, but was unsuccessful.

 

[Timberframed]

[/URL][/IMG] I can see where chip collection is a must. The router slides back and forth in the sled so it only needs to be 8" longer than the width of the slab. This was too easy!

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[Timberframed]

Here is my milling saw. ICS 633. Made by Oleo Mac as it's their triple 9 fatback. No internal oiling provision so I use a fuel tank from a Coleman 425 camp stove plumbed into the water intake. Regulating the valve as it's under pressure. Works fine. All I have to do is change bars and I can slab rocks too!

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[gemniii]

router bit sale

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=xs_gb_b...HJQS8XVA5X4B3XSVZ8&prv=forums&cur=forums&ses=

What size/type would one advise for finishing slabs?

 

[Brmorgan]

B money, when are you going to try the pipe for the 365

B Money, lol, I WISH I was money right now... Far from it!

I hadn't forgotten about your generous offer, but I'm actually just getting ready to work on polishing that 365 up a bit to try to sell it. I need some cash to pay the plastic down a bit (largely from buying other saws, you know how it is...), and much as I like it, that's the one I really have no use for other than to sit and look nice -the ported 371 is simply more fun!

Thanks again man, if anything changes or I get hold of another 365 you might be hearing from me!

PS - interested in a completely stock, unmodded 365 to work on? LOL.

 

[BlueRider]

router bit sale

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=xs_gb_b...HJQS8XVA5X4B3XSVZ8&prv=forums&cur=forums&ses=

What size/type would one advise for finishing slabs?

It depends on how much you will be surfacing and what kind of wood. For any tough woods such as elm or for a large table top I would refer you back to a post I made on page one of this thread with a link to Her-Saf carbide insert tooling. With a normal carbide bit to sharpen it you need to remove it from the router. If it becomes necessary to sharpen a bit in the middle of a slab you then have to hasssle with setting it back up at the same height. with the carbide insert tooling all you have to do is remove the carbide insert rotate it 90* and reinstall it, all while the router bit remains installed in your router.

Her-Saf bits are pricey but it is just like your milling saw. You can get by milling with a 45cc poulan but to do it efficiently and have the saw last a lifetime you need a 90cc+ saw.

If you get one of those bits from amazon you need to have a diamond file on hand and know how to use it to sharpen the bit. For a traditional bit you will get the best results from a 1/2" shank if yiour router will accept it. You will also get better performance from a larger diameter bit with a shorter cutting length. ie. a bit with 3/4" cutting depth vs one with 1 1/2" cutting depth. addithonaly a larger diameter bit will cut a larger area and therfore surfce the slab faster provided your router has the juce to push it. I have a 1 1/2" diameter bit with a 1' cutting depth that I can run in a 3 hp router.

hope this helps

 

[gemniii]

Her-Saf bits are pricey but it is just like your milling saw. You can get by milling with a 45cc poulan but to do it efficiently and have the saw last a lifetime you need a 90cc+ saw.

At $60+ per Her-Saf bit vs. $5/Milwaukeea bit there's quite a price difference (note most of the RETAIL prices of the Milwaukee bits are around $20, and can be found for about $8, do you find Her-Saf bits on sale for 25% or $15?) . I looked at it more as the difference between Granberg ripping chain ($7/foot) and Woodland Pro ($2.70/foot).

I've used the same "cheap" bits for years and always viewed them as disposable. Not so the router that runs it.

If you get one of those bits from amazon you need to have a diamond file on hand and know how to use it to sharpen the bit. For a traditional bit you will get the best results from a 1/2" shank if yiour router will accept it. You will also get better performance from a larger diameter bit with a shorter cutting length. ie. a bit with 3/4" cutting depth vs one with 1 1/2" cutting depth. addithonaly a larger diameter bit will cut a larger area and therfore surfce the slab faster provided your router has the juce to push it. I have a 1 1/2" diameter bit with a 1' cutting depth that I can run in a 3 hp router.

hope this helps

Thanks, I bought a half dozen bits for $30. I'll see how long they last.
Maybe I'll learn to sharpen bits.

 

[Brmorgan]

It depends on how much you will be surfacing and what kind of wood. For any tough woods such as elm or for a large table top I would refer you back to a post I made on page one of this thread with a link to Her-Saf carbide insert tooling. With a normal carbide bit to sharpen it you need to remove it from the router. If it becomes necessary to sharpen a bit in the middle of a slab you then have to hasssle with setting it back up at the same height. with the carbide insert tooling all you have to do is remove the carbide insert rotate it 90* and reinstall it, all while the router bit remains installed in your router.

Her-Saf bits are pricey but it is just like your milling saw. You can get by milling with a 45cc poulan but to do it efficiently and have the saw last a lifetime you need a 90cc+ saw.

If you get one of those bits from amazon you need to have a diamond file on hand and know how to use it to sharpen the bit. For a traditional bit you will get the best results from a 1/2" shank if yiour router will accept it. You will also get better performance from a larger diameter bit with a shorter cutting length. ie. a bit with 3/4" cutting depth vs one with 1 1/2" cutting depth. addithonaly a larger diameter bit will cut a larger area and therfore surfce the slab faster provided your router has the juce to push it. I have a 1 1/2" diameter bit with a 1' cutting depth that I can run in a 3 hp router.

hope this helps

Dang, I paid something like $75 CDN for the Freud 1-1/4" bowl-and-tray bottom-cutting bit that I have for doing this with. It has a rounded corner and won't leave lines between passes, which is nice.

 

[betterbuilt]

How about a little on how to sand a big slab also. I normally use a 5 inch orbital palm sander or a hand scraper depending on the size of the slab But I was feeling lazy and went the easy way.

I rented this 6 inch four disc orbital sander for the day and it was well worth the cost. The walnut sanded really easy. I started with 36 grit and went down to 120. I had about ten slabs ready and made it through maybe 5. The only reason I didn't finish is because the others were Hard maple and the lowest paper they had at the rental place was 36 grit. 36 seems like it would be rough enough but the 36 grit cuts like its 60 grit.

 

[Timberframed]

I like that idea. Might want to invest in one of those.

 

[betterbuilt]

I rented this time and plan to by one but the $2500 new price tag is a little steep. I hear the box stores sell them used every once and a while but haven't found one close enough yet. They do a real nice job. I think it would pay for itself in a hurry.

One thing I would have to say is on smaller slabs you need to build batter boards so the sander doesn't fly off it. When you switch from 36 grit to 40 grit the sander starts to move a lot faster and is a little harder to control. It really does a good job of picking up the saw dust.

 

[Brmorgan]

That thing is cool! Never seen anything like it before.

 

[betterbuilt]

That thing is cool! Never seen anything like it before.

Heres the link. It called the U sand. Actually made in the USA.
http://www.cherryhillmfg.com/u-sand/specs.htm

 

[betterbuilt]

I have a bunch of pictures but they are all about the same. Heres one for BobL.

 

[Timberframed]

That triple head hand held looks mightly inviting as another addition to the Shop. Something like this mounted on rails as in router milling could achieve mirror lake flat in little time.

 

[betterbuilt]

I forgot they had that smaller one. The Lucas mill has an attachment that does something like that.

 

[Timberframed]

Betterbuilt, Thanks for clueing us in on a better/easier way to do what we love to do. The dust part I appreciate the most as I chew tobacco and don't like masks.

 

[imagineero]

you might want to look into floor sanders, that's what I use for doing recycled timber slabs. I bought mine as part of my business but I dont find I really use it that much for floors. I make a few dollars renting it out to people which is nice and helps offset the cost of owning it.

Most floor sanders have 2 or 3 machines, a 10" or 12" drum sander or belt sander, an edger which is usually a 6" orbital and a big random orbital or floor polisher for finishing.

The drum/belt machines are incredibly heavy duty and have excellent dust extraction. The consumables are moderately priced by my standards and they are super fast. Grits go way down to about 6 I think, Ive never had to use anything rougher than 24. I generally don't use anything finer than about an 80 grit either.

The edgers are quite expensive, but like the floor sanders they have inbuilt dust extraction, are incredibly heavily built, extremely powerful, and made for continuous usage with 100% duty cycles at full load. There's no comparison to off the shelf hand orbitals. I once sanded a 2 square metre floor in my house where the boards were redgum, freshly laid, and in quite good condition with only 1~2mm variation in height. It took me about 15 hours with a makita 6" random orbital going through the various grits. I then bought the edger which was also a 6" orbital and did the same job in another wardrobe in about 40 minutes with no dust. I then bought the floor sander and did whole rooms in about an hour per room.

The gear is pricey if you buy new, but there is a lot of used stuff on the market. The machines I have cost about $9,000 brand new but I bought them for $2000 used and in near new condition (all in au$). They are built to last a lifetime and there is excellent support and spare parts available. They were made to be hired out and I do hire them at $150/weekend or $300 for a week. My local hardware has the same machines and hires them out for $150/day. Bunnings has a similar model from a different manufacturer and charges $100/day.

I've fully recovered the cost of buying these machines through hiring them out, and the ongoing occasional hire covers all my personal consumables. I'm sure I'll make a few thousand off them over the next few years and then probably still be able to sell them for what I paid, so it seems not a bad idea to have them. Could be worth considering if you are doing a lot of slabs.

Shaun