March Meeting: Advanced Router Techniques with Marc Gaertner
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 9:15AM We had 8 new visitors to the CJWA meeting this month. Frank Vucolo gave a report on how our booth at the Somerset Woodworking show did. Traffic and interest was high throughout the weekend, and we distributed 500 flyers. We also had a writeup in Wood Magazine, and the article can be seen on the Wood Magazine website. Frank also mentioned that Lie-Nielsen has one of their Hand Tool Events coming up in Hillsborough on June 25-26, and that CJWA would likely have a presence there as well. Stay tuned for details.
The featured presentation was by Marc Gaertner on advanced router techniques. Marc showed a number of jigs and setups he has used to use a router to greatest advantage in his shop. He showed a router table built from plans from the book “Router Jigs and Techniques” by Patrick Spielman. This book is out of print, but used copies can readily be found on the internet.
The top of the table was initially made from MDF, but over time it warped, and was eventually replaced with 2 layers of 3/4” Baltic birch plywood with a laminate top. Marc did not put a miter slot in his router table, as he felt that the need to align the router table fence with a miter slot was more trouble than it was worth. The fence on his router table is much taller than is usual, but the added height allows for easy clamping of jigs and hold downs.
Marc also showed a base he made for a plunge router with a series of circular Lexan inserts which are sized for the router bit being used at the time. This provides an easy way to provide clearance for router bits ranging from narrow straight bits to large panel raising bits. He also showed a sliding jig used to make precise stopped cuts, how to use a slot cutting bit for splines in boxes and picture frames, how to use a Microfence with a trim router for inlay, and how to use a router to quickly make quarter round molding.
Frank Vucolo and Matt Greco also shared advanced techniques that they developed for using a router for various tasks. Frank showed a jig that he made to use a router to shape a fluted bobbin for a Sheraton table leg on the lathe.
Matt showed how he set up a router to make these detailed feet for boxes.
There are recommendations for setting the maximum speed of the router based on the diameter of the bit. A nice chart with this information can be found at the Woodline website. If you were a CJWA member, you could get a discount on orders from Woodline. So why not sign up for a membership?