I got my first router today, God help me!

victorludorum · March 2019

A handheld jobbie. i shall be taking it very easy and testing things on scraps before I go anywhere near my guitars.

StanleyAccrington · March 2019

Embrace it don't fear it......and yes....maybe start routing on scrapwood before progressing to guitar bodies. Have fun.

Roland · March 2019

Which one did you get? What cutters have you got with it?

victorludorum · March 2019

I got a cheapo as i won't be doing much with it to be fair. It's a copy of a Bosch (I think) by a Chinese firm called KATSO (or something like that). It doesn't come with any bits, so I'll pick them up as I go along.

IvisonGuitars · March 2019

I remember getting my first router well, it was a lot of fun!

Just make sure you wear your safety gear and, as an old woodworker I once knew told me “The rule about Power Tools (and life in general) is never put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your knob...”

BigMonka · March 2019

victorludorum said:

I got a cheapo as i won't be doing much with it to be fair. It's a copy of a Bosch (I think) by a Chinese firm called KATSO (or something like that). It doesn't come with any bits, so I'll pick them up as I go along.

The little Katsu routers get a lot of love on woodworking forums, although I hear they're quite loud.
Have fun, a router is a great (but scary) tool!

victorludorum · March 2019

I think it'll be fine as I'm only doing light work. I got it online, so if it blows up quickly I should be able to send it back. I'm looking forward to getting it and having a play.

Kalimna · March 2019

A good place to get the cutters from is Wealden Tools. Good price, selection and rapid delivery when ordered online. Cant fault them,

Adam

MLten80 · March 2019

you can buy a mixed box of bits from b&q etc
they will be naff(ish) but its good to get a range of them & get used to shaping/bevels/roundovers etc
(tbf I use my cheap trend brand 45• bevel thing all the time & it's still decent after 4 years/14 builds)

I'd get a flush trimmer bit too if you can & make (not buy, yet) some simple MDF templates to get used to the various ways of using one

good luck , building gets addictive.. I can use my router to pretty much complete a rough body in a couple of hours.

victorludorum · March 2019

Cheers for the replies :-)

What bits will I need to do an amp cab and pickup routs?

Roland · March 2019

Have a look at Peter Sefton’s article. https://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.com/media/1484/feb-2015-chris-yates-furniture-cabinetmaking-magazine-article-router-joinery-part-1.pdf

For pickup cavities you will need “top bearing” router bits. The bearing runs around the inside of the template, and the bit cuts the wood below. You’ll need bits of several different lengths to cope with different depths of cavity. The router can only plunge so far before the bearing leaves the template. The bearing is a “flush” bearing, ie it’s the same diameter as the blade.

For rounding the edges of a speaker cabinet you’ll want “bottom bearing round over bits”. Probably two different sizes to cope with the larger radius on the outside of the cabinet edge, and the smaller radius on the inside. You can get cheap roundover bits from B&Q, Screwfix etc because they’re used for installing kitchens. Both companies seem to have stopped doing top bearing bits. I bought my last couple online, possibly from Wealden, possibly direct from Triton.

If you’re binding the edge of a guitar then you need a bearing which has a smaller diameter than the cutter. The difference being the thickness of the binding. For that type of precision I’d use Wealden.

hywelg · March 2019

Roland said:

Probably two different sizes to cope with the larger radius on the outside of the cabinet edge, and the smaller radius on the inside.

IF you are intending using metal corners you have to match the cutter radius to the metal corners or they won't fit properly.

randella · April 2019

My top tip with a router is to work out which way the cutter (bit) is turning - generally clockwise if the router is in your hand pointing downwards - and feed the router *against* the direction of the bit. This stops the tool running away with you.

This article explains it: https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/understanding-router-feed-direction

Also - little at a time. If you're removing a lot of material, do it in several small passes rather than trying to do it all at once, which is where the tool really will start to grab and kick.

That said, they really are fantastic tools - handy for all sorts.

Kalimna · April 2019

Just another note - whilst having top-bearing straight cutters of various depths is handy, it may not be absolutely necessary. The reason being that if routing a cavity and the cutter bearing drops below the template, you can simply remove the template and use the already-routed part of the cavity as the new 'template'. Easier to do/show than explain, but it is dependent on the depth of cavity/plunge depth of router/cutter length.

Another helpful tip is to use a forstner bit (if you have one) or large diameter drill to remove waste prior to finishing off with the router. This saves time/cutter sharpness/router motor wear(to a small extent).

Adam

randella · April 2019

Kalimna said:

Another helpful tip is to use a forstner bit (if you have one) or large diameter drill to remove waste prior to finishing off with the router. This saves time/cutter sharpness/router motor wear(to a small extent).

Wisdom for this, purely on a practical level.

It's a sight easier to clear up waste from drilling than it is from a router, which must be the messiest tool there is

victorludorum · April 2019

Cheers chaps, there's some good advice here. It's very much appreciated ;-)

victorludorum · April 2019

There's a whole world of router bits out there!

To start with, I'd like something that will enlarge a Tele neck pickup rout to a humbucker rout. What length of bit would suffice for that, 1/2 inch?

randella · April 2019

I made a Strat body from scratch and, on a different body, made the exact modification you mention (HB rout). I did everything with a 12.7dia x 25.4mm length (1/2 by 1 inch to you and me) top-bearing pattern follower from Trend which seems accurate enough. Certainly no worse than my identical but bottom-bearing cutter from Axminster.

I was using templates that I cut in 18mm MDF which gives you a bit of room to manouever when you're cutting shallower cavities. If you used, say, a template cut from thin plexi, then the cutter might have been too long - if the bearing runs on the template then with a thin template your minimum depth of cut is 25mm.

I'm not sure if this helps, sorry!

victorludorum · April 2019

I think I'm going to start with 1/2" wide x 1/2 inch long and take it easy doing shallow passes. Hopefully this'll work...

randella · April 2019

Fair enough, I don't see why it wouldn't!

victorludorum · April 2019

Stupid question probably, but are the cheapo ones on ebay any good for light use? I guess they'll go blunt fairly quickly, but I'm not going to be a heavy user, so maybe they'll suffice for the moment.

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I got my first router today, God help me!

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