Trouble getting smooth profile on boards with router table

[Jude Greer]

Hi all,

I'm having some trouble. I have a router table with a fence and porter cable 7518 motor. Using a new carbide ogee bit and trying to get a nice ogee edge profile to make some trim pieces for a project. The issue is that as I feed the pieces against the fence to apply the profile, the piece comes out with a weird wavy effect. I have setup the fence by using a straightedge against the fence and backing it up until it just touches the bushing, so that the fence and bushing are on the same plane. The stock is 1/2" thick walnut and I am taking 2 passes so it's not trying to remove too much material. I feel like I'm going slow. The PC motor has 5 different speeds and I'm at the fastest speed since the ogee bit is not that large. While routing the profile, I can occasionally feel and hear it taking "bites" out of the wood, instead of the nice smooth sound of cleanly removing material.

Videos make edge profiling look so easy, but mine looks like utter garbage and it's frustrating. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Can anyone offer any tips or advice?

Thanks!

[Greg Quenneville]

How is the router mounted in the table? Can you verify that it is really secure and not deflecting away from the cut?

[Paul F Franklin]

Are you feeding it against the bit's rotation, which would be right to left assuming the fence is behind the bit? Does the bearing have a nice straight edge to bear against?

Are you changing the height of the bit between passes or moving the fence? I usually start with the bearing buried in the fence and move the fence slightly back with each pass until the bearing is slightly proud of the fence for the final, very light pass.

[Rod Wolfy]

You didn't mention feather boards. I use then to reduce chatter. I usually have them pushing the stock against the fence and another one down from above to hold the piece on the table.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Also type of wood matters.

Honestly, the common mistake on small profiles is going too slow and taking too much wood. Like Paul, I bury the bearing inside the fence and then move the fence out on the 2nd and 3rd passes.

There is a technique which I don't use much called a climb cut, and for the first say 16th of an inch or less (with the bearing buried in the fence) go against the rotation, then for subsequent cuts go with the rotation. It is safe if you don't take much wood, like 16th of less, just enough to break the fibers. Use feather boards to hold the wood into the fence, top and sides.

Finally, I would adjust the hole in the fence as small as you can get it, if your fence allows this. Alternatively, I clamp a piece of 1/4" ply onto the fence to act as a support, close the fence opening as much as you can, then bring out the bit from the fence slowly a few times so the bit profile matches the fence opening exactly.

[Jude Greer]

It's very well secured in an Incra Mast-R-Lift 2. I don't think there is any deflection or other type of movement

[Jude Greer]

Yes, going right to left with the fence behind the bit. I have been changing the bit height between passes and leaving the bearing on the same plane as the fence. I would have thought that had the same effect as moving the fence, but I'll definitely try leaving the bit at the final height and moving the fence back

[Jude Greer]

I have some but have not used them. It seems like so much setup time and watching videos led me to believe that it would be easy enough to get a nice clean edge without them. I can try using them though, thanks!

[Jude Greer]

I'm definitely going to try moving the fence instead of raising the bit. I'm surprised that it is possible to go too slow. Maybe I need to speed up my feed rate. I would assume consistent fairly slow speed is better than slow-stop-slow-stop? It's difficult because I want to be safe, so I use 2 push blocks, but the coordination to keep the stock running at a consistent rate, while going arm over arm to reposition the front block to the rear of the stock, is just something that I guess I don't have enough experience with yet.

I've read about the climb cut going the "wrong" way, but that seems more like a technique to reduce blow out when getting to the end of a cut. I'd be happy to have a little blowout if I could achieve a smooth & consistent edge profile.

I think I'll have to ponder your idea about making a plywood sacrificial fence with an exact bit profile a bit more. So you mean move the fence back, clamp a piece of 3/4" ply to it, turn it on, and slowly move the fence toward the bit, eventually making an exact profile in the plywood of the ogee bit I'm using?

[John Kananis]

It's good to respect your equipment, really but it sounds like you're taking it next level. Why 2 push sticks? If the pieces are really small, then it's better to create a jig. Also, imho and especially if this is new to you, only climb cut with a hand held router or with a power feeder on your table. Doing it by hand on the router table is inviting trouble.

[Warren Lake]

what Rod said. Dont climb as it will or can grab and you'll fire the piece and maybe get pulled into a cutter at the same time. The "bites" you say are the not super sharp carbide and tiny radius turning mostly out and not so much into the wood. Sometimes its almost breaking the material away. Add in different grain as you go. 1/2" piece you dont say how wide. Rods said featherboards, they can just be made up from shop offcuts.

[Derek Cohen]

Jude, the grain may be reversing, and this can affect the quality of the cut if you take too big a bite. I would push it through with the bit just kissing the edge - in other words, light cuts. Also, going very slowly increases heat and the likelihood of burning the wood. Just push it through at a slow-moderate rate, but keep it moving steadily.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Lee Schierer]

It sounds to me like your router bit is removing the edge that is riding against the fence as you feed it into the cut. Then on the out feed side of the cutter the edge of the piece is no longer touching the fence. You can test this by starting a cut until just an inch or so that has been cut is overlapped with the fence on the out feed side of the router bit. Stop the cut, turn off the router and when everything stops, see if that short section that is past the router bit is against the fence while you are holding the part that has not reached the cutter tightly to the fence.

This is a common problem when trying to round off both edges of a piece on the same side of a board when using a round over bit to get a bull nose profile. You hav to set the fence so the cut edge is against the fence, which may mean that the "bushing" is slightly recessed behind the fence face.

[Bill Dufour]

Is this a one piece fence?
Bill D

[Tom Bender]

As Lee says you may be removing your registration surface before getting to the fence. Test cut on thicker material. That will leave some of the surface.

You are using the bearing and fence, belt and suspenders. Try each separately.

If the stock is not very flat and square it may be wobbling horizontally or verticaly. You can take out the horizontal wobble using just the bearing.

Here I have a bit of purple heart taped to my mini router table to take out the slight vertical warp and bow of some stock while making trim. The trim then got cut off the base stock so the warp didn't matter. (sorry for the inverted picture and for the attached thumbnail, my woodworking flaws are mirrored in my posting flaws)
485049

[glenn bradley]

Many possible contributing issues and solutions here. Irregular or wavy results in the profile certainly make me think of losing the reference surface as Lee mentions. Setting the bearing a smidge behind the fence can solve this. Derek hits on grain direction which generally results in a rough result or one with tear out. The little spits and spats of "bites" being taken as you feed make this come to mind. You don't mention the width of the blank. Larger blanks can be held and controlled more easily. Narrower stock benefits from feather boards.

It all boils down to which issue is causing your specific problem and solving for that. The trick of running a strip of tape on your reference surface and making a last pass without the tape can offer a cleaner result. You can achieve the same thing by making your first pass, moving the fence almost to final depth, making a second pass then moving the fence the last 1/64" and making your final pass. If the undulations (wavy parts) are greater than 1/64" I would try to solve for that first. Where are you located. Maybe a member is nearby and could drop in for a show and tell(?).

[Dick Strauss]

Since you were raising the bit on passes, I suspect you didn't have proper support on top of the piece as someone else mentioned. Your profile may tend to push the piece upwards while routing. So, this means you need a side and top featherboard that snugly keep the piece referenced against the router bit.

[Jeff Roltgen]

Waviness is a fairly broad statement - cannot believe all the answers here without any of us seeing the issue. And please, if you're not very experienced, do not risk a climb cut yet. They can really do some serious damage in a blink.
This is one of those where you really cannot asses the issue without an image. Any way to provide? Very likely to dial much more quickly on the true issue here.

[Kevin Jenness]

Try the same setup with a different wood to see if that makes a difference. Try a different bit. You can go too slow which will cause burning or dull the bit, but that will not cause "waves". Light cuts, consistent feed rate and pressure against fence and table without overcutting and removing the reference edge should give an acceptable result. Post some photos.

[Bill Dufour]

I would move the outfeed fence out more.
Bill D

[Dick Strauss]

I took his comment about "wavyness" to mean an uneven depth of cut with the ogee bit.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I'm unclear whether the router bit registration point is the bearing or the fence. The OP can use the fence as the registration point up to the point when the bearing starts to make contact.

I use a shallow climb cut to start a profile when the wood is not cooperating and I'm getting chip out. This is probably not the case here, so you guys are right, a climb cut would not work here.

[Rick Potter]

I'm with Lee. If you are cutting a full profile, you need to shim a one piece fence, or add shims behind the outfeed side of a two piece fence to make up for the amount you are removing. Try a 1/16th shim, and make sure the outfeed side of the work is touching the outfeed fence.

If you are not cutting the full profile, ignore me.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Wavy?
Been there/done that.

Speaking of featherboards..
I can't begin to tell you how much this helped:

https://www.sommerfeldtools.com/Sommerfelds-Unique-Featherguard/productinfo/FG/

[Derek Meyer]

I had the wavy issue when running stock for baseboard in my basement. Featherboards solved my issues. I set up using 4 - two to hold the face against the fence and two to hold the stock down to the table. I also recommend making several passes, starting with a shallow cut and increasing to the final depth. I tried making my profile in one pass and it sounded like my router was about to explode!

[Doug Colombo]

I had the wavy issue when running stock for baseboard in my basement. Featherboards solved my issues. I set up using 4 - two to hold the face against the fence and two to hold the stock down to the table

This has also been my experience. 4 feather boards paced as Derek said did the trick.