Stoopid Question - Please answer

[Charles Wilson]

Plan calls for a quarter inch chamfer.

Measure the depth of the plunge not including the bearing using a standard bit?

Thanks,
Chuck

[Steve Jenkins]

I would interpret that to mean a 45 degree angle just knocking off the corner so you have a flat of 1/4" at a 45. This would be instead of something like a 1/4" roundover.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

My take on this is similar to Steve's but different. I believe it is a 45 degree angle with 1/4 inch off of the straight or 2 equal sides. In other words, from the square corner that is removed, it is 1/4 to the edge of the chamfer.

[Charles Wilson]

Kind of what I thought.

Thanks guys.

[Frank Drew]

I'm more with Steve: If something calls for a 1/4" chamfer, I'd take that as meaning the width across the chamfer's flat, not how much of the piece wasn't chamfered.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Frank and Steve. That doesn't make it right, that is just what I would do if given no further instruction.

[Jason Beam]

I'm with Ron.

If you were doing this with hand tools, you'd mark 1/4" in from the edge on the top and the side and then plane down to those lines.

This would yield you ... .35355" of surface across the chamfer.

[Cody Colston]

I take it the same as steve...the area chamfered (the flat) is 1/4" wide when done.

[johnny means]

A 1/4 inch round over does not measure the circumference of the cutter, but the depth and the width of the cut. I would assume a 1/4 inch chamfer would measure the same things.

[Steve Jenkins]

How about just making a couple samples and see which one you like.

[Chip Lindley]

One interpretation may look more proportional than the other!

A chamfer which takes 1/4" from each 90deg. face will give a flat of approx. 3/8", as opposed to only taking a 1/4" chamfered flat off the corner.

Check your plans to see how the author did it. Aren't there measured drawings? Or, at least photos of the finished project's details?

[Casey Carr]

I'm with Ron on this one. The 1/4" is measured before any cutting is done. One of the things I do is design work. The CAD program I use does it this way also.

According to "Design Dimensioning and Tolerancing" by Bruce A. Wilson a chamfer must be dimensioned in one of two ways. One way is to show the angle of inclination and the length of oneside of the chamfer. The other way is to show the length of both sides of the chamfer. There is a more common method that I left off. For 45 degree angle and only 45 degree angle chamfers, you can control it by note. Like 45 x .125". But that's what got us here in the first place. So by definition the dimension listed is not the length of the flat, but the length of the edges that you chop off.