PDA

View Full Version : Woodpecker Router Plate



Nicholas Carey
12-13-2015, 6:04 PM
I just picked up a cast aluminum Woodpecker router plate (http://www.woodpeck.com/aluminsert.html). Actual dimensions as to the radius of the corners seem surprisingly unavailable.

[Rhetorical question: Hey, Woodpecker! I'm pretty sure your engineers have the CAD files for that router plate handy — how hard would it be to put up a dimensioned drawing with the minimal dimensions needed to install the plate on your web site?]

i don't want to use their template. Don't need to drop $16 on a piece of MDF that will get used once and then either clutter up the shop or wind up in the landfill. I'd just as soon make a pattern with 4 boards and carpet tape and route out the recess with the correctly sized pattern bit.

Woodpecker customer service told me that the corners are a 1-1/2 inch radius. That's visibly incorrect by at least a factor of 2).

The instructions for their template say to use any bit smaller than 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Most posts here and there in various woodworking forums and blogs seems to say that the right bit size is 1-1/4 inch diameter, implying a 5/8 inch corner radius.

Does anybody have direct experience with one of these plates that could provide a definitive answer to this question?

Clint Baxter
12-13-2015, 11:25 PM
Just measured mine and that 5/8" radius you mentioned seems to be pretty close, if not it. You should be able to measure your plate to be sure. Just put a square against one edge and measure the distance to where the curve ends.

Clint

Greg Hines, MD
12-14-2015, 1:02 PM
I would make my own template, tracing your actual plate, and then drilling out an appropriate radius for the corners.

Doc