Chuck Pickering
01-16-2017, 4:07 PM
I was happily working on a zero clearance insert for my table saw on my home made router table today. I have put a lot of thought into the process and had just figured out how to set the height/depth of cut on my plunge router to get the thickness I needed for the outer lip on the insert.
Had some scrap laminate flooring to make 2 inserts. Had got them cut out, and trimmed with a pattern bit to correct outside dimension. I then rabbited the bottom to fit nicely in the saw table slot, and had one last pass to make for the initial clearance for the saw blade(instead of changing the 10" blade to a smaller blade to start the ZCI cut). The bit, that I had just used to cut the rabbit, crept out of the router collet and cut almost through the first insert and did cut through the second! The sanding block was big enough to cover the path of the bit, so I didn’t notice until I picked it up to try on the saw.. First one cracked and second one is no longer a zero clearance insert unless I use it for a Dado Blade...
Thankfully I was using the plastic sanding block and a push stick or it could have been bad. I guess I didn't tighten the router collet enough.
I've heard of end mills getting sucked out of a collet, but never thought about it happening on a router! Lesson learned!
Found some more laminate and some Masonite scrap, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to try again...
Chuck
Had some scrap laminate flooring to make 2 inserts. Had got them cut out, and trimmed with a pattern bit to correct outside dimension. I then rabbited the bottom to fit nicely in the saw table slot, and had one last pass to make for the initial clearance for the saw blade(instead of changing the 10" blade to a smaller blade to start the ZCI cut). The bit, that I had just used to cut the rabbit, crept out of the router collet and cut almost through the first insert and did cut through the second! The sanding block was big enough to cover the path of the bit, so I didn’t notice until I picked it up to try on the saw.. First one cracked and second one is no longer a zero clearance insert unless I use it for a Dado Blade...
Thankfully I was using the plastic sanding block and a push stick or it could have been bad. I guess I didn't tighten the router collet enough.
I've heard of end mills getting sucked out of a collet, but never thought about it happening on a router! Lesson learned!
Found some more laminate and some Masonite scrap, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to try again...
Chuck