Shopsmith Forums

Wow!

First things first, the bit you have is I believe a bit over sized to give a "proper" bull nose. If the wood is 2" thick you need only a 1" dia. rounder over bit. A bit of that size would be much closer to fitting the shopsmith table but without measuring I'm not sure how close it would be.

You really need a fence to embed the bit in. You could make one that attaches to your shopsmith fence and extends out with the look of an "I" laying on it side. The fence then could be moved as you progress on the cut and the bit left at what ever height you have it set for. Once you get to the dia. of the bearing then you are at full depth, you really want to stop just before that....

Since the wood is so thick it might be worth tracing the profile on the edge and then use the saw to cut away some of the waste. Tilting the table at some angle will get at least some of the material cut away. Much less effort for the router operation.

What ever you do, do not use the set up you have pictured, that can cause some really bad consequences.

Ed

Ed really knows what he's talking about. He is a router guy! By all means, you need a split fence that will hide most of the bit.

These bits, especially the larger ones will pull their way INTO the wood. The only way to prevent gouging or worse yet, flying wood is to have most of the bit hidden behind a fence.

I know because I tried a set up similar to yours before I knew any better. Ed set me straight years ago.

Please don't proceed with your present set up!!!!

c2h6o wrote:Thanks guys. The round off bit is to big for the normal insert, that is why I went to above the table configuration. For the fence I have been using the SS fence like that for a Mark VII. I will send pictures. If I do go to under table then I will have to make a special table and fence.

???

Thanks I get the message loud an clear. Thank you will look for a under table alternative and will explore the 1" round over.

c2h6o wrote:Thanks I get the message loud an clear. Thank you will look for a under table alternative and will explore the 1" round over.

Good choice!!

That is a VERY dangerous setup. I wouldn't even try it on a router table. Sometimes the work to be done just outweighs the abilities of the equipment. If a router table was used I would be sure to make sure that it was weighted down adequately. A kickback with that sized bit and and size of the stock being worked can cause a light weight table to move. Lots of torque and horsepower involved here.
And remember that under table routing and a proper fence will keep the bit buried and somewhat out of harms way. Won't prevent a possible kickback though.
Bill V

Regardless if the cutter is driven from above or below the table, the procedure needs to use a fence against the surface being worked. i.e. similar to the split shaper fence.

Also with that size cutter, a much larger workpiece need be considered. That one shown is waaaay too small(short) to attempt this safely.

Have you considered a plane and sandpaper?

The diameter of the hole in the router table insert for the SS is 2 1/8 or perhaps 2 3/16. A 1 in rounding over bit is too big for this opening--about 2 1/2 in. Even a 3/4 rou8nding over bit is very tight. So I decided to use a 5/8 rounding over bit with 1/2 shank. Using the under table router configuration, the set up is straight forward and very safe. See attached photo. While this works and is safe it does not quite give me the radius that I wanted. I accepted that as a trade off for safety and will smooth the edge with sanding to get as close to the edge as I can. Moving forward I may look for a used SS table and have a machine shop create an opening that is around 3 in so that I could use such a table in a safe set up. Thanks for all the input.

Yes that is much safer.

Now you might want to make your own table insert. They are reasonably easy to make and you could increase the hole size up at least a bit. I think the insert is like 3" wide but without checking I might be off on that. You also have to look at the table to see just how big a hole you can use. I have a post somewhere here on making an insert to hold collars and inserts so you can get an idea of how that would look.

I'll have to look it up and I don't have time just now but I will find it and post the location later.

Ed

So the link I was looking for is here:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/gener ... 11612.html

I have not had time to go look at the machine to see just how big an opening I would feel safe with but maybe later today.....

Ed