Router use safety

[lou Brava]

I'm doing some guard rails and the profile is going to be done with a large 3 1/8" dia. thumbnail bit. Was going to use the router table with a fence thinking trying to control such a large heavy bit hand held wouldn't be smart. I've never used such a large bit & wondering what some with more experience would recommend. I will make several passes & take off no more than 1/4" at time.
Thanks

[Jamie Buxton]

The issue with handheld use of that big bit is that the router may tip. The bit cuts so far away from the bearing that there's not much surface for the base to sit on.

[Stan Calow]

Having had a router accident on a table, even 1/4" sounds like too much to me. You could get a speed control device to slow it down. I'd suggest making your workpieces extra long as you might have trouble controlling a long piece all the way through and will have bumps at the beginning and end. And if possible do the edge on a (more stable) wide board and cut that off to size to make the rail. Use guides like the Jessem router guides to hold it down at the point of cutting.

[Cameron Wood]

Feather boards, multiple passes, test cuts,
check tightness of router, fence, & feather board fasteners multiple times during process.

[Richard Coers]

First I would take off the material with a smaller diameter bit to hog off the waste, then graduate up to the big bit. I had a job that required a 1 1/2" round over. I made a wood sub base that extended about 16" in a teardrop shape away from the router. Near the end of the small end I added a turned large handle. That let me have all that length to counterbalance the weight and torque of the cut. One hand on the router handle, one hand on the extended base handle. Worked flawlessly.

[Ron Citerone]

I agree, 1/4” across the width of a cutter that big seems like a lot. I think the speed has to be reduced too.

[lou Brava]

First I would take off the material with a smaller diameter bit to hog off the waste, then graduate up to the big bit. I had a job that required a 1 1/2" round over. I made a wood sub base that extended about 16" in a teardrop shape away from the router. Near the end of the small end I added a turned large handle. That let me have all that length to counterbalance the weight and torque of the cut. One hand on the router handle, one hand on the extended base handle. Worked flawlessly.

That sub base sounds like the way to go and stay away from the router table. My stock is only 3 1/2" wide so maybe have a runner same height as what I'm routing and give the extended sub base a surface to ride on. My router has speed control so I guess just start slow and increase speed if needed.
Thanks for the help everyone

[Lee Schierer]

That bit is much too large to handle for hand held routing. 1/4" cut on a bit that large is far too much.

[Aaron Inami]

I have done 1-1/2" round over cuts using a bit that is 3-1/2" in diameter. I would advise using this in a router table only. With a bit this big, you want to run the router at the slowest speed possible. You can probably do this cut in 3 passes. I usually start low and then raise the router bit a little at a time.

[Bill Howatt]

Even though the RPM might be dialed down, the rim speed of the bit is still in a good range for a good cut because of the diameter. I agree that 1/4 is too heavy a cut and I've never ruined a piece by taking a series of light cuts; I can't say that when I got impatient and took a heavy cut.

[Tom M King]

Big base with a fence for light cuts, and another support for the near side of the router. The base fence doesn't need to be anything fancy. I've done similar more than a few times with such a fence held onto the base with a couple of small C-clamps. It's Much safer to limit the cuts with the fence.

[lou Brava]

That bit is much too large to handle for hand held routing. 1/4" cut on a bit that large is far too much.

That's what I was originally thinking that the bit is too large for hand held, than read a couple of posts saying don't use a table and the sub base idea seemed like a good way to go.
Seems everyone agrees 1/4" too much so I'll try an 1/8". I think using a table would take the centrifugal force of that heavy bit out of the equation and eliminate any possibility of the router getting away from me. So using table makes sense & take it slow and easy with multiple passes. I've been using power tools for over 50 years & never had an accident & certainly don't want one with 2 lb bit spinning at 10,000 rpm !

[Aaron Inami]

For what it's worth, I've done a 3/4" round-over bit on a hand-held D-Handle Bosch router in one pass using the lowest speed (router bit diameter is 2"). This worked just fine and you just have to move slowly. I don't know that I would try anything larger by hand.

[Mark Hennebury]

Router "Speed Control"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNhtXgBHijw


(https://youtu.be/pNhtXgBHijw)

[lou Brava]

Router "Speed Control"

https://youtu.be/pNhtXgBHijw (https://youtu.be/pNhtXgBHijw)

Not sure what to make of that or what's your point ?

[Mark Hennebury]

Just as a warning, Router speed controls can fail as did the router in the video, that makes them very dangerous.
Router bits have maximum safe operating speeds, so if you have a large diameter bit with a maximum safe operating speed of 8,000, 10,000 or 12,000 rpm, how would you feel holding the router when it randomly shot up to 24,000 without warning.
Having a handheld power tool with a big exposed cutter that is predictable is dangerous enough, having one that is unpredictable and changes speed from 8,000 rpm to 24,000 rpm instantly, randomly and without warning makes for a very dangerous tool, that could do you serious harm.

So, just a warning that it can happen.


Not sure what to make of that or what's your point ?

[lou Brava]

Just as a warning, Router speed controls can fail as did the router in the video, that makes them very dangerous.
Router bits have maximum safe operating speeds, so if you have a large diameter bit with a maximum safe operating speed of 8,000, 10,000 or 12,000 rpm, how would you feel holding the router when it randomly shot up to 24,000 without warning.
Having a handheld power tool with a big exposed cutter that is predictable is dangerous enough, having one that is unpredictable and changes speed from 8,000 rpm to 24,000 rpm instantly, randomly and without warning makes for a very dangerous tool, that could do you serious harm.

So, just a warning that it can happen.

Alright, thanks for that. Man having that happen when using a large bit (or any bit) hand held could turn out real bad. I'm now wondering what Makita had to say about that, my router with speed control is a Makita. I'm now going to google search my router model & see what comes up.

[Mark Hennebury]

The Lawyers are still discussing it.

I have a lot of routers, four of that model. The one that caused my injury is with the lawyers. I tested the other three as in this video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYoEiwL-QCs

[Aaron Inami]

I suspect this speed control issue can happen to any router. The potentiometer used for the speed control can wear out or get dirty over time. When this happens, the resistance level from the potentiometer can become unstable, so the speed control circuit goes haywire. Many years of usage will definitely cause wear on the potentiometer.

[lou Brava]

Ran about 120 feet of the boards today, used the router table & slowest speed router would go I think 8K rpms
made 3 passes. It worked great no drama or hint of anything unsafe or sketchy about the set up.
Thanks for everyone's help !

[Tom Bender]

When rounding over the tops of drawers I add a stabilizing arm to the hand held router.

501494

[Atlas Ramirez]

I'm doing some guard rails and the profile is going to be done with a large 3 1/8" dia. thumbnail bit. Was going to use the router table with a fence thinking trying to control such a large heavy bit hand held wouldn't be smart. I've never used such a large bit & wondering what some with more experience would recommend. I will make several passes & take off no more than 1/4" at time.
Thanks

- Use a router table with a fence for stability.
- Make multiple passes, taking off no more than 1/4" at a time.
- Use feather boards to maintain a controlled feed rate.
- Wear safety gear, such as glasses and hearing protection.
- Perform test cuts on scrap material before starting.
- Set the router speed according to the bit's specifications.
- Move the workpiece against the rotation of the bit.
- Maintain a firm grip and keep the workpiece against the fence and table.


Follow these tips for safe and effective routing with a large 3 1/8" thumbnail bit.

[lou Brava]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, and the idea of adding stabilizers to router base for hand held work is great idea.
After I completed the job (on a table) I started thinking about this thumbnail bit and I believe it's primary use is for a table edge profile. I bet a lot of tables due to there size are done hand held with these large bits. So using some type of stabilized base would be a good choice.