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Thread: Fool-proof flush-trim method?

  1. #31
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    Robin, here is a link to the Makita version. I neither confirm nor deny that this brand is good, they just have clear images. The key design feature is that the guide wheel is entirely independent of the cutter. This allows you to adjust the cut to as close as you dare. It also removes the risk of friction marking from cutter bearings. It is the tool for the job. It is small enough to use one handed. All the rest are the hard ways to do the same job. Like any task, practice on a scrap first. Get one of these little routers and you will wonder how you ever managed without one. Cheers
    https://www.makita.com.au/products/p...minate-trimmer
    Every construction obeys the laws of physics. Whether we like or understand the result is of no interest to the universe.

  2. #32
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    I used a router and flush trim bit for years. I eventually made an L shaped bracket that I clamped on the opposite side from where I was cutting to function as a shelf to help stabilize the router. I found that imperfect results were always because the router was difficult to hold perfect. I considered making a jig that would hold the router perfect, and also a router like Makita with a stabilizing bearing. I eventually found a like new Cantex lipping planer that I was able to buy on an auction site for just over $300 with shipping. The Cantex had a learning curve too but it's really really good. If you have space in your shop, maybe a jig like a router table that would hold the router horizontal and fixed, and a table that you would slide the wood over? It would need a micro adjust but it would be even better than a Cantex I think.

  3. #33
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    Laminate trimmers are simple and quick to set up. They have be when using them to make a living. They are made this way so that you can adjust for straight or bevel cutters and different thickness laminates and edge strips. They really are designed specifically for this type of application. I don't know why so few appear to have heard of them.

    If you have a router table, use the same principle - a fixed bearing surface separate to the rotating cutter. This principle is used on spindle moulders as well. Cheers

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robin Dobbie View Post
    If I could get that sized bearing I could just make something to go on the router table.
    The problem with flush cutting trim on the router table is as you described earlier. The long fence contacts a long section of the all-to-irregular plywood surface. The small bearing can better ride the hills and valleys of the plywood surface. Wait, I may have gone off base. Do you mean to use the bearing as a guide but, mount the bit in a router table?
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


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  5. #35
    A couple of really rough sketches of a "straight line trimmer".
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #36
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    He's building a four sided (or at least one corner) panel, so that sort of thing won't work. Otherwise it seems like something like that would be really easy to setup with a router table or with a large auxiliary fence on the normal router.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  7. #37
    Why would a jig like http://tinyimg.io/i/uOE8oyf.jpg require perfect flatness?

  8. #38
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    It’s going to lift when you run over the adjoining edges at the corners.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  9. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    The problem with flush cutting trim on the router table is as you described earlier. The long fence contacts a long section of the all-to-irregular plywood surface. The small bearing can better ride the hills and valleys of the plywood surface. Wait, I may have gone off base. Do you mean to use the bearing as a guide but, mount the bit in a router table?
    Yeah I was thinking either remove the bearing or change to a straight bit, then mount a bearing attached to the table just over the bit. I started shopping for bearings but I realized I have some 13mm bearings already. 1/2" is 12.7mm so close enough. I can make it so I can change how close the bit gets by slightly angling my direction askew.

    I think I like everything about my current setup except the unpredictable bearing digging. The router is in the table, and the work piece is held relatively stable at 90 degrees with the free fence.

  10. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by johnny means View Post
    Why would a jig like http://tinyimg.io/i/uOE8oyf.jpg require perfect flatness?
    It might work if the distance between the handle and the cutter were shorter. The smaller the router footprint, the less opportunity for the plywood warp to affect things in a negative way. The one I made was a little shorter, but not shorter enough. From one piece to the next the bit was just barely above the veneer to digging in. I was able to repair it, and that was the bottom inside rear, so no permanent harm done.

  11. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    It’s going to lift when you run over the adjoining edges at the corners.
    That's why you do the long edges first then go back and hit the corners.

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