Table or handheld (router use)?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have some drawer fronts and a cabinet door (20" x 20") and three shelves (~ 22x20") I need to round over the edges.
Which would be the best way to go -the table - or - do them with a handheld router?

I'll be doing this outside in the driveway in 45 degree weather.

[Ole Anderson]

For a simple round over I usually just go to my handheld trim router. If I had a whole stack to do I would go to my table where I have pretty good dust collection. But dust collection is a driveway would consist, for me, of firing up my leaf blower afterwards.

[Howard Rosenberg]

The conventional wisdom is you bring the easier object to the more difficult-to-maneuver object.

In other words, if the object you'll be routing is too big, heavy or awkward, bring the router to it. Otherwise, you bring IT to your router table.

It depends on how comfortable you are in either scenario. If it were me, I’d bring drawers and shelves that size to the router.

One other consideration - do you have safe and effective methods of holding your work in place? Or do you use low profile bench dogs that won’t interfere with the router bit?

If you can’t hold it place safely and get a consistent edge as you stop the tool, unclamp, reposition the object and then reclamp, use the table.

Also, if you find 45F cold, use grippy gloves. (In Toronto, that’s still shorts weather…)

[Brian Tymchak]

Personally, I would do that job on a table, just to avoid any possibility of the router wavering a bit and translating that into the cut. You also don't have to clamp your work, and then reposition to finish. Also, if you are doing a full round over of the entire edge, I think the table makes that an easier task.

[Warren Lake]

hand so you can climb cut

[Frank Pratt]

For pieces that size, I'd definitely do it on the table using the fence. There's so much less risk of an oops that way and dust collection is near perfect. You can even put on a zero clearance sacrificial face on the fence to eliminate the risk of tear out.

[John TenEyck]

hand so you can climb cut

What Warren said. Edge routing on the router table is asking for tearout. Climb cutting is the only way I know of to prevent it and is safe with small diameter bits, or at least I consider it safe, and unless you have a power feeder the only way to climb cut safely is with a handheld router.

John

[Warren Lake]

johns answer from someone whos obviously done the time

I look at what gets the job done the best with the least blowouts especially doing 50-100 pieces at a time. The dust, if i go to a desert id expect to see sand. Climb cutting then forward with hardly any material left from the climb cut. Hand trimmer one hand one hand on the part at times left hand resting on the part. Its all about feel.

[Alan Lightstone]

What Warren said. Edge routing on the router table is asking for tearout. Climb cutting is the only way I know of to prevent it and is safe with small diameter bits, or at least I consider it safe, and unless you have a power feeder the only way to climb cut safely is with a handheld router.

John

Why is it that climb cutting is safe on a hand router, but not on a router table?

[Warren Lake]

you control the tool by hand the other way it controls you

[Doug Garson]

Why is it that climb cutting is safe on a hand router, but not on a router table?

I have the same question. Safety is all about control, with the router in a table it's under control. If the workpieces are cabinet doors and shelves roughly 20" by 20" they are relatively easy to control on a router table compared to holding them down with one hand and holding on to a trim router with the other. If the router grabs, I'd rather it throws the workpiece than have a trim router with a sharp spinning bit thrown around.

[John TenEyck]

I have the same question. Safety is all about control, with the router in a table it's under control. If the workpieces are cabinet doors and shelves roughly 20" by 20" they are relatively easy to control on a router table compared to holding them down with one hand and holding on to a trim router with the other. If the router grabs, I'd rather it throws the workpiece than have a trim router with a sharp spinning bit thrown around.

No offense, but it's clear you have never tried climb cutting on a router table, and please don't. Almost any climb cutting attempt on a router table will result in the bit grabbing the workpiece and pulling it out of your hands. If you are lucky, only the workpiece gets ruined. With a handheld router you are in control of the cutting action. With a small bit in a palm router you don't have to clamp down the workpiece, but do so if you feel more secure. With a larger bit in a more powerful router, yes, definitely clamp down the workpiece. If the router feels unstable, put it on a wider base so it won't tip. Here's a photo of how I routed the edge profile on a 14 ft long handrail, using a wider base and another section of handrail to provide a stable platform.





This was a large diameter bit so I used a Variac to lower the speed of the router. I didn't own a variable speed router at that time.



The size of the workpiece necessitated a handheld approach, but you wouldn't want to do it on the router table even if you could, both from a safety and tear out point of view.

John

[Doug Garson]

No offense, but it's clear you have never tried climb cutting on a router table, and please don't. Almost any climb cutting attempt on a router table will result in the bit grabbing the workpiece and pulling it out of your hands. If you are lucky, only the workpiece gets ruined. With a handheld router you are in control of the cutting action. With a small bit in a palm router you don't have to clamp down the workpiece, but do so if you feel more secure. With a larger bit in a more powerful router, yes, definitely clamp down the workpiece. If the router feels unstable, put it on a wider base so it won't tip. Here's a photo of how I routed the edge profile on a 14 ft long handrail, using a wider base and another section of handrail to provide a stable platform.





This was a large diameter bit so I used a Variac to lower the speed of the router. I didn't own a variable speed router at that time.



The size of the workpiece necessitated a handheld approach, but you wouldn't want to do it on the router table even if you could, both from a safety and tear out point of view.

John

No offence taken, you seem passionate, I'm just curious. Yes I've climb cut on a router table, I make a lot of wooden toys to donate to charity for Christmas toy drives and use round over bits on small parts, too small to use a hand held router. I need to climb cut sometimes to avoid tear out. I'm extra careful to take a light pass when climb cutting and hold the workpiece securely. Please explain the difference in mechanics at the bit/workpiece interface between handheld and router table that makes one safe and the other not.

[Warren Lake]

No one said it was safe either way we said climb cutting part to a machine is dangerous. You are doing a bad practice and getting away with it taking a mouses fart of material off.

Step it up to raised panel bit and let us know how that works, or put a piece of wood behind the table saw blade. at the heal. Some new cars have launch control, our machines have had it built in all along.


im extra careful to take a light pass when climb cutting" what does that mean?

Im not Mr Safety, still I wouldn't climb cut on a router table. It even works better by hand as your final cut is often forward pass. Like working on a stroke sander its a skill to get the best out of whatever process.

[Mel Fulks]

You can use a small round over bit to climb cut safely. Then change bit to “real cut” (non climb cut) profile , that is safe and it greatly cuts down on tear out.
Think of it as stopping a sweater from unraveling by cutting off the loose thread.