Altering router bit

[Jay Jolliffe]

I have to make some raised panel doors & I'm using a Freud 2+2 raised panel bit. I'd like to get a longer tongue on the edge of the panel. Before I ruin a 90.00 bit is there any reason I can't take the bearing off & grind the post off to get a longer tongue. The reason I want the longer tongue is to add a 3/8 quarter round to the edge of the frame so it looks as the 1/4 round is holding the panel in. Yes I know there is a set to do this but the guy wants the applied 1/4 round instead of the machined look.

[Alan Schwabacher]

Why not just rip a piece off of the machined rails and stiles to make room for an applied quarter round to hold in the ordinary-sized panel?

[Jay Jolliffe]

I Make a 1/4" deep rabbet on the rails & stiles for the raised panel to fit. The tongue left by the router bit leaves about that much to fit the rabbet. When I apply the 1/4 round it crowds the radius. So if it was say 1/4" longer it would look better.

[glenn bradley]

Short version - go ahead.

Longer version - Unless your bit is different than the one I am looking at you will have to grind the shoulders that make the bearing post pedestal as well as the bearing shaft to get the depth you're after.

I might grind the post off the body as my potential for unbalancing the bit is pretty small. If I go grinding on that pedestal, my possibility of error goes beyond my skillset.

[Tom Veatch]

Jay, I think Alan's suggestion is your best bet. Simply turn the groove in the rail/stile into a rabbet and actually use the quarter round to retain the panel. Scares me to go honking around with a $90 router bit.

[Lee Schierer]

Since the edges of he panels will be hidden under the quarter round, why not make the panels in the normal way and glue on a strip of matching wood the width you are trying to get by grinding your router bit. You can even make a cross grain piece for the ends and glue it on.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Thanks for the replies. I think I might do what Lee suggests.....Thanks

[Charles Lent]

Jay,

I modified the exact same Freud bit by removing the bearing and grinding off the bearing post. I needed to make exterior shutters with raised panels and a moulding around them. It has worked out fine. I've got 75% of the shutters completed. I too didn't want to do this to such an expensive router bit, but for me, I easily justified it by the number of shutters that I needed to make (52).


Charley

[David DeCristoforo]

There are a number of ways to achieve the look you are after, several of which have already been mentioned. But the "short answer" to your question is yes, you can remove the bearing and even grind off the post. Needless to say, doing so will "void your warranty" as well as make it impossible to use that bit with a bearing in the future. I have modified bits in this manner many times in situations in which the end result was sufficient to offset the cost of the bit.