The router table is a dangerous tool!

[Amin Djellaoui]

Hello,

Woodworkers in my country call it in French "la toupie"...The bare router bit catches the hand and fingers between the fence edges...Since they never use dust collection, they must remove all protective devices from their router tables to prevent clogging and facilitate cleaning and changing bits, and I'm not talking about small machines...

That's why I'll never try to build a home router table. Routers are beasts and they must be respected.

[Mike Cutler]

Yes they are. They can be very hazardous.
A search through the forum should provide a wealth of Router table designs and ideas that incorporate both safe operation and facilitate dust collection. The use of push blocks,feather boards and in fence dust collection makes the use of a router table a much safer operation.
I also don't know if I am reading your post correctly, as I can't see how the finger and the material is getting caught between the fence and the bit on a recurring basis.

[Jim Matthews]

If you are just beginning, you have an opportunity for "bromance" - carrying on the traditions of those that worked before you.

Consider the alternative methods implied by tools that use no electric power.
It's slower, and less productive but uses only your skill and strength to make furniture.

It may be less expensive, in both money and fingers, too.

Jim
Westport, MA
USA

[Mike Cruz]

Amin, I'm not sure I understand the point of your post. Are you simply stating what you perceive to be a fact...that router tables are dangerous? Or are you trying to warn others of its inherent danger? Is this in response to something someone else said in another thread? Did you just feel like you needed to get this off your chest and vent?

Personally, I don't think the router table is "dangerous"...at least no more so than any other machine in the shop. Sure it can catch the wood, mangle fingers, whatever...but so can all the other power equipment in the shop. Any tool, not used properly, becomes dangerous. From what you are saying, those around you need to start using router tables correctly so they aren't so...dangerous. Best of luck to you.

[Matt Day]

If you are just beginning, you have an opportunity for "bromance" - carrying on the traditions of those that worked before you.


I'm not sure this is what most people consider the definition of "bromance". From Urban Dictionary: Describes the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males.

Unless of course I'm misunderstanding your post.

[Neil Brooks]

Matt: that's part of what makes a router table so dangerous ;)

[Roger Chandler]

The router table can be quite safe if one uses the proper techniques and accessories and keeps their fingers away from spinning bits..........feather boards, a solid fence and proper speed are all important.

215975215976

Here is my setup..........dust collection at the fence and on the bottom...........this thing really does the work and is safe if used correctly. PUSH STICKS are a must for small pieces...........you are best to make moulding from larger stock and then slice off at the table saw.

[Jeff Duncan]

Yes, yes it is.....but so is any tool that spins a sharp knife at high speed soooooo???

Here's the thing, if someone would rather remove all safety measures from a machine instead of expending the smallest effort to buy a cheap shop vac for dust collection, I have no sympathy at all for that person when something bad happens. Not to mention the fingers should not be near enough the cutter to become trapped anyway.

If you want to work with woodworking equipment, you really should have a healthy respect for that equipment. There are machines far more dangerous than the router table in my shop, and I don't purposely leave safety features off if I don't need to.

JeffD

[Van Huskey]

They aren't 100% safe for sure, but I would rather use a router table (a real one not some kludged lightweight scary mess of one) than a jointer. The machine I take the longest mental pause before firing up is the radial arm saw. It doesn't scare me but I have a wee bit more respect for it than any other machine I own.

[Amin Djellaoui]

Amin, I'm not sure I understand the point of your post. Are you simply stating what you perceive to be a fact...that router tables are dangerous? Or are you trying to warn others of its inherent danger? Is this in response to something someone else said in another thread? Did you just feel like you needed to get this off your chest and vent?

Personally, I don't think the router table is "dangerous"...at least no more so than any other machine in the shop. Sure it can catch the wood, mangle fingers, whatever...but so can all the other power equipment in the shop. Any tool, not used properly, becomes dangerous. From what you are saying, those around you need to start using router tables correctly so they aren't so...dangerous. Best of luck to you.

The thing is I'm about to begin with routers and router tables and I'm frustrated.

I've seen how people in my country use powerful router tables and other tools. They do not take security seriously. The first thing they do is they remove the protective things that come along with router tables, jointers, table saws... Kick-backs, flying broken router bits, disk pieces...They do nothing to prevent that. They don't even use eye protection. Feather boards and push sticks, they'll laugh at you..

Nearly all of the woodworkers I've met have had accidents and lost fingers...But they continue to use their tools the same way! I'll probably never understand that..

I've seen some hands caught in spinning router bits and I don't want it to happen to me.

Thank you Mike!

[Mike Cruz]

Amin, the problem doesn't seem to be with the routers or the router tables... From what you are telling me, the problem is with those that are using them. Let them laugh at you, at least when they get you angry and frustrated, you can go to your happy place and count to ten... :rolleyes:

[Amin Djellaoui]

Router tables can be quite safe if used correctly ..........as mentioned earlier.........push sticks for narrow pieces, better yet for edge mouldings use larger stock and cut to size at the table saw.............feather boards.........all these keep hands away from spinning bits.

Dust collection at the fence and at the bottom of my unit work well..........this is a shop built router table



Nice table, I would have added a transparent guard over the plate for max protection.

[Amin Djellaoui]

Amin, the problem doesn't seem to be with the routers or the router tables... From what you are telling me, the problem is with those that are using them. Let them laugh at you, at least when they get you angry and frustrated, you can go to your happy place and count to ten... :rolleyes:

Yea, I have nothing against routers, I'm just saying they must be respected, fully. I feel safer when they are screwed upside down to a table.

[Amin Djellaoui]

Yes, yes it is.....but so is any tool that spins a sharp knife at high speed soooooo???

Here's the thing, if someone would rather remove all safety measures from a machine instead of expending the smallest effort to buy a cheap shop vac for dust collection, I have no sympathy at all for that person when something bad happens. Not to mention the fingers should not be near enough the cutter to become trapped anyway.

If you want to work with woodworking equipment, you really should have a healthy respect for that equipment. There are machines far more dangerous than the router table in my shop, and I don't purposely leave safety features off if I don't need to.

JeffD

I agree with that!

[Van Huskey]

He who laughs with 10 fingers laughs loudest. :cool:

[Amin Djellaoui]

Don't put me in the same bag please! I have enough brains to use all of the protection gear I can find, I've got only 10 fingers! Perhaps these people have had more than that and wanted to get rid of the extra..

Funny post, especially the last part!

[Rod Sheridan]

He who laughs with 10 fingers laughs loudest. :cool:

He who has ten fingers is unusual to say the least............Rod.

[Halgeir Wold]

There was/is a recent thread about fear of machinery, but fear and respect are two totally different states of mind.
Fear may be paralyzing to the extent that we do things we shouldn't - out of fear and numbed minds.
Respect for rotating machinery is a toatlly different beast - respect should at least induce us to use our brains - not the contrary.

About ten years ago, I almost lost two fingers at a contractors saw. To this day, I'm really not able to explain what happened - except that I probably wasn't using my brain.... and had gotten too complacent about machinery.
In that case , luck won over wits, as we say over here..... and I still have all 10 fully functional...;)

[Larry Edgerton]

I know that almost everyone here will disagree with me, but I think router tables are dangerous, and would rather do the same operation on a shaper any time.

I just don't like the way they feel and their tendency to start a vibration. People ask router tables to swing way too big a bit, and there is just too much inherent flex in the router/bit/base combination. Flex in any setup can set up a vibration that leads to a catastrophic failure.

I built the mother of all router tables a few years ago out of 1/4" steel plate with machined aluminum plates. Was solid enough to park a truck on but it still had a router at its heart.

I swing big bits in my work, up to 5"diameter, and I feel safer doing it freehand with both hand on the router than pushing stock at a bit that can start to wobble at any time. Have you ever seen a video of a router bit in vibration, you know when it starts to chatter? Its scarry stuff when you watch that bit whipping around like it is rubber.

Me. I'll clamp my stock and freehand the router or run it in the shaper.......

Larry

[Leo Graywacz]

Routers are puny little things and even with an open cutter you have to do some pretty stupid things to get seriously hurt. You can get hurt bad real fast, but use a shaper with a 6" panel cutter on it using a bearing for freehand panel work and now you are talking serious potential for hand removing damage.

Just be safe, and work slow and steady, and keep your mind on the project. Things can happen in the blink of an eye and if you are aware of it you will be able to just stand back and watch your wood get destroyed while keeping yourself safe.