Question on how to safely do this with a router..

[Tim Morton]

I am going to be using my router table to roundover the insides of some holes. They are not perfect circles...more like rectangles with rounded corners. I have read where this is not the safest thing to do... because at some point in the pass won't I will be switching directions of the bit? My bit will be going counter clockwise...so I will start out going clockwise against the bit...but by the time i get half way around the opening won't I then be going with the direction of rotation? I am not taking much meat off the wood..I plan on using a 3/8" roundover bit and I am just trying to do slight roundover to knock the edge off.

I am just having a blonde moment here I think trying to visualize this.....the bottom diagram is similar to what my bracing looks like.

My guess is that I need to take my router our of the table and hand hold it? I don't have a hand held router that takes a half inch bit...I can buy a new bit for the smaller cuts, but one roundover I need to make is using a 1" roundover bit (not shown in the diagram)...but it is a 6" circle that I need to roundover. The rest I think I am going to buy a bit to use with my hand held. I have 16 holes to do on both sides.....

[Gary McKown]

Well, no, as long as you keep going the same direction the bit rotation does not change - same thing except opposite as if you were doing outside edges. That said, unless there is something odd about the task I think I would use a handheld router and a bearing-guided bit for the job (directions reverse, of course). I find the handheld easier to control, especially around tight corners and for something that tends to burn.

[David DeCristoforo]

As long as you do not change the direction of feed, there is no problem here. The bit is not going to reverse itself simply because it is on the "other side" of the rectangle!

"I am just having a blonde moment here I think trying to visualize this"

Just start cutting one...all will become clear. Trust us.... And hope that no blondes read this. At least not any who know you!

YM

[Steve Jenkins]

If you start out going against the rotation, as you should, you will be going against all the way around. I assume you are using a bearing guided roundover bit. The only potential problem is if the smaller holes are so small that your bit will contact both sides at once. Regardless i's suggest that you do it in at least two passes. First pass with the bit lowered then raise it for the next. Depending on the wood maybe even three passes.

[Leo Graywacz]

Just a blonde moment. You'll do fine.

[Peter Quinn]

Why not use a router freehand? I have done this on a table with the fence removed and a starting pin installed. Feed direction relative to bit direction does not change as you work through the pattern. Insure that the work pieces are fairly flat or the profile can fade in and out a bit.

[Jason Beam]

Tim ...

I think I understand what you're visualizing. YES it would be a problem if you just held any of those shapes and "Push foreward, slide to the left, now pull back toward you, then to the right" Those last two steps will be climb cuts if you don't ROTATE the workpiece as you're feeding it. That is to say, EVERY cut is pushing the piece away from you - which means you gotta spin it. Basically start out like you were thinking, but when you get to that first corner, rotate the workpiece (in this case) clockwise 90 degrees and route the next edge. Repeat 4 times and you're all the way around the square.

Do NOT just hold that piece in one orientation - that's where your concerns will come up.

[Tim Morton]

Yes it will be a bearing guided roundover bit....it just felt like once I went halfway around the circle I would be climb cutting ....and the piece of wood I will be routing is 18x28...so I figured a kickback might kill me:p

[pat warner]

Inside cuts, always CW.
Outside cuts always CCW.

Climb cutting permissible with light cuts.

[Tim Morton]

Tim ...

I think I understand what you're visualizing. YES it would be a problem if you just held any of those shapes and "Push foreward, slide to the left, now pull back toward you, then to the right" Those last two steps will be climb cuts if you don't ROTATE the workpiece as you're feeding it. That is to say, EVERY cut is pushing the piece away from you - which means you gotta spin it. Basically start out like you were thinking, but when you get to that first corner, rotate the workpiece (in this case) clockwise 90 degrees and route the next edge. Repeat 4 times and you're all the way around the square.

Do NOT just hold that piece in one orientation - that's where your concerns will come up.

Thats why with 32 holes to do i think it will take me about an hour with a hand held router and all weekend on my table:D I ordered the bit...

[Jim Becker]

As long as you are going counterclockwise, you'll have no issues.

[Tim Morton]

As long as you are going counterclockwise, you'll have no issues.

Or clockwise since its on my table right?...I just think it would be clumsy to try and continuously rotate the wood... especially since the holes are rectangular and slightly irregular. And am I correct that climb cutting is safe when using a hand router? I am thinking I will just clamp the wood down and let the bearing follow the outline... one pass each at half the depth and one pass to clean up...

[Anthony Whitesell]

Pat, it's a little more complicated than that. As Tim and Jason have combined to point out, there are two ways to move the piece in a CW path. There is sliding it around the bit, left-up-right-down. That is a CW path, that as they have pointed out ends up with right and down cuts being climb cuts. As Jason pointed out, it can be done in a CW pass by literally rotating the piece around the bit.

Another rule is always feed the stock into the bit. Keep the point of contact on the bit and table the same and rotate the piece around the bit and feeding the stock into the bit will provide the correct CW motion that is required to do this correctly and safely.

I just did this and didn't think of what Tim pointed out (thank goodness).

Tim. Go for it, there is a safe way to do it on the table by rotating not sliding the piece around the bit. If you still need clarification try reading this post or Jasons while at the table with the router turned off.

[Anthony Whitesell]

If you use a handheld router then you won't run into "the backside of the bit" so your problem goes away. Your original proposal had you using the backside of the bit to do the cutting on the bottom and left sides of the hole.

[Rod Sheridan]

Tim, as long as you are feeding the work into the bit, against its direction, you will be fine.

This can be done by moving the bit (router) or moving the work (router table or shaper).

The only problem with a router is that it only rotates in one direction, so half the time you are feeding against the grain, which can cause tear out. Take smaller cuts and it often doesn't tear out.

Regards, Rod.

[Greg Hines, MD]

One simple way to remember direction is the finger-pointing method seen below. For table routing, the opposite is true. This works for the outsides of pieces as well as the insides of them.

Doc