Rabbeting router bits advice

[dpm_dpmartin]

I have a Makita trim router (I use 1/4" router bits) and some beech (19mm thick)... I am wanting to cut some rabbets in there so the 19mm thick long piece can slot nicely in there for the 90 degree joint.

The configurable rabbet bit I bought (changeable bearings - think they're called "step washers"?) only goes to 1/2"... about 13mm. I have been looking for a rabbet router bit that will allow me to get to dead on the 19mm... but it seems to not exist?

I could use a bit without any bearing along a clamped straight edge I suppose.

Or I could use my new table saw to cut twice and get a rabbet like that... but I was wondering why I'm finding it difficult to source this - usually there's a reason, right?

What I actually did as a test was to make multiple passes across the table saw blade at a height I thought was right for the extra 6mm or so... this didn't leave something as neat as I wanted and I needed to clean up with a chisel. Next time (this weekend) I'll probably try the 2 cuts on the table saw method.

Is it because a trim router and a 1/4" bit would just find that too hard, even if I did multiple passes?

Is it because most bits are sized for a US market and therefore the 1/2" is most widely used? But 19mm is pretty much 3/4"... I can't really seem to find router bits that go there... maybe I'm not looking hard enough? There are some specialised ones from the US "mega rabbet" it seems.

A lot of timber we buy over here is 19mm, isn't it? How best do we cut a rabbet that's 19mm wide by some depth? I'd have thought a router bit was the way to go.

I guess I'm asking because it doesn't make sense (to me)... but I'm a novice. Any advice or thoughts on this greatly appreciated.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I do realise that I could rabbet both pieces with the bit I have. So far I've been doing just one...

 

[rsgaz]

to get to dead on the 19mm... but it seems to not exist?

Lets say you bought a kit, but the smallest bearing it comes with is 10mm. To get a width of cut of 19mm, you would need the radius of the bearing, 5, plus the 19 = 24, so, an overall diameter of 48mm!! Which isn't going to exist that big for a quarter inch router.

didn't leave something as neat as I wanted and I needed to clean up with a chisel.

That's because the tops of the teeth on a 'normal' blade have alternating angled-tops, so will leave grooves. Flat top teeth blades do exist, to overcome exactly the problem you are having. Other than that, clamping a straight edge and using a smaller router bit is your best bet.

Or, buy/make a router table, then you will eliminate any inaccuracy in aligning the straight edge, because you just set the fence, and it will remain consistent throughout the cut.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

Thank you. It makes sense. And that immediately highlights my second obstacle... yes, I had wanted to buy a router table for my little Makita for some time and the only candidate I saw that seemed to fit the bill was the Rockler variant... which used to be on Amazon (.co.uk) but hasn't been available for quite some time.

This thing, I think - https://www.rockler.com/rockler-convertible-benchtop-router-tables - the price isn't eye-watering, but it would attract import duty at this level I think, I just don't want to make a mistake when trying to pair with my Makita DRT50Z - I only paid £99 for that, and it came with a case - what a bargain!

If anyone had a suggestion on that for me, on the router table I mean, then I would be motoring...

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

Apologies - this was the one I'd seen... https://www.rockler.com/trim-router-table - the baby one... but both looked good to me.

 

[rsgaz]

That's tiny and a bit pointless!! You already have the two perfect tools to make one, the table saw to make the base and fence, then the router to make the insert plate recess and the slots for the locking knobs. Sorted!

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I know! I know! I guess I just want to make stuff... not make stuff that enables me to make stuff. I know it's a good learning experience and all that, but I just wanted to get going with my ideas... now things are getting in the way! The first one - the convertible table still looks good to me... but a UK supplier of something recommended as good I could plug my Makita into is a thing I would be really interested in right now.

 

[SFK]

I made my own.

But If your budget is only US$70, you will not get a quality product, but as a starter how about this for £67:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FERM-Route...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I would also get the gauge:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trend-1-De...SG507TQ71BJ&psc=1&refRID=PSQJX15KMSG507TQ71BJ

 

[SFK]

I made something similar to this:
https://www.instructables.com/Custom-Router-Table/

And lots more DIY versions here:
https://www.instructables.com/howto/router+table/

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I really have no idea... that's partly the problem.

I don't have a budget as such... I would be happy to spend quite a bit more, I was really just commenting that the more usable Rockler one meant I'd get hit for import duty due to its price. I've also been looking at the Axminster site... there's a few there... a UKJ palm router table and a Axminster folding router table, but when I asked them for advice I was told, just now: "Good afternoon, your router is a hand router for trimming. It is not made for use with tables"

Also telling me - "Yes, for a table you will require a 1/2 router that is more suitable" - even though their own site points to a Makita RT0700CX2 as an example - which is 1/4". But, yeah... minefield for a newbie!

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

This looks the business, to me: https://www.axminstertools.com/axminster-folding-router-table-kit-717613

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The configurable rabbet bit I bought (changeable bearings - think they're called "step washers"?) only goes to 1/2"... about 13mm. I have been looking for a rabbet router bit that will allow me to get to dead on the 19mm... but it seems to not exist

They do exist, but generally only in 1/2in shank form. TBH a1/4in router simply hasn't got the power to drive one, and even if you could get one the mass of such a large cutter on a spindly 1/4in shank would make it prone to the shaft getting bent. You might want to try finding an 8mm shank cutter if your router will support an 8mm collet (the RT0700 does - I know because I have one), but you still have the issue of lack of power

I could use a bit without any bearing along a clamped straight edge

Or better yet use the side fence. Just make your cuts very shallow (multiple passes) - remember you are asking a lot if a 1/4in trimmer to cut 19mm in one pass

If you want to use an RT0700 in a router table you could do worse than to⁰ build your own. It is basically a "lump" (say 600 x 600mm) of 3/4in or 18mm ply or even MDF with an opening in the middle that has a rebated edge around it. The router insert sits in that. Aluminium inserts to take the Makita RT0700 / Katsu type trim router are available on eBay for around £25. An adjustable fence for this can be made simply using a piece of planed softwood (say 3 x 2 nominal) fixed to the router table at one end (ideally near the corner) with a coach bolt (this passes through the softwood and router table top and forms a pivot), and fixed at the other end by clamping it to the router table top after adjusting it. By pivoting the fence the depth of rebate can be varied. Quick, dirty, cheap and simple - but remember that you need to have some form of remote power switch on any router table to allow you to power it down with a hand or knee should things go wrong in the cut. A DRT50 on the other hand, being battery powered and having no means of remote control (I.e switching on and more importantly off), is downright dangerous to use in a router table because you have no way to remotely switch the power off if or when things go pear shaped and you need to or simply are holding on to the work piece with both hands to prevent it being thrown across the room (and I'll swear I've had this conversation before)

I was wondering why I'm finding it difficult to source this - usually there's a reason, right?

Yes. You router doesn't have enough power to run a big bit like that in a single pass. Also taking a big cut with a 1/4in shank bit needs to be done with care to avoid bending the shank of the bit (see above). Manufacturers are rightly reluctant to introduce a product almost nobody will buy - because the router of choice in a table is 1/2in collet and 1500 watts or higher

If you want metric bit sets (including router guided rebate cutters), go take a look at the Wealden Tools web site

A lot of timber we buy over here is 19mm, isn't it? How best do we cut a rabbet that's 19mm wide by some depth? I'd have thought a router bit was the way to go

Well, AFAIK for MDF 18mm has been the standard for at least 2 decades, whilst plywood is almost aways nominally 3/4in (19.05mm) but 9 times out of 10 is delivered undersized, so you tend to get stuff at 17.5 to 18.5mm thickness. Consistent it is not. On my current project we have used more than 750 sheets of "3/4in" hardwood plywood. Most of it is nearer to 18mm than 19mm thickness

I guess I just want to make stuff... not make stuff that enables me to make stuff.

Then don't use a router! (only jesting). Fundamentally if you want to maximise the usefulness of some tools, most especially routers, you will need to build jigs or templates. This is especially true if you ever need to make multiple, identical copies of things. For example, last week I needed to make what could best be described as a form of "rain hood" to flick the water off the tops of balconies. This took the form of 8 no. oddly shaped supports fixed together in a ladder frame with an 18mm plywood top. There were 10 balconies, all subtly different, so I made one mother template, used that to produce 10 different individually fitted templates then routed 7 copies of each of them. All done with a DRT50 and template trim bits (no router table required). The result was far more consistent than trying to cut complex shapes with a jigsaw.

Making holding jigs and templates is part of many woodworking projects, otherwise you might just so well take up decorating pre-manufactured boxes

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

To be fair, I've only really used my router for putting nice edges on right-angled pieces of wood, plus my latest attempt at a rabbet. What I would like to do, though, is (realising that I must bite the bullet for building some jig / sled type thing) build myself a crosscut sled so I bought some 18mm plywood last night, and some wood for the runners and some for the fences... I do my work in the garden so if the weather holds out I'll give a crosscut sled for the Bosch GTS 10 J a go later today...

...but that brings me onto something I think I get... I can't do 19mm rabbets with my router, because we're talking radius vs. diameter... but I'm guessing I'm perfectly OK doing a dado / slot for T Track to go into with it, right? The first thing I think I want to do is put a T Track on top of my soon-to-be crosscut sled's back fence so I can use a cool stop block with it.

I'm only doing one-off stuff at the moment... I'm not retired and I have a real job (desk) so I'm just enjoying myself with this, starting late in life I guess. I see so many router tables and they make routing / trimming look so much easier and more accurate than I could ever be with my hand. It's a very desirable thing to have. Looks like this will be the second sub-project.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Actually with a side fence and, say, a 20mm 2-flute straight cutter you could do straight rebate - the thing is you'd need to do it in incremental depth passes of 1 to 3mm (assuming in MDF or ply). This is at best tedious, but depending on the base you have in the router it may prove very difficult to get two cuts of the same depth.

The worst base for this sort of work is actually the standard fixed base, which has a very small footprint and only takes Makita's own guide bush (which is 9.5 or 10mm from memory, AFAIK no other sizes available). It isn't difficult to make a larger (more stable) sub base from acrylic plastic (Perspex, Lucite, etc) or polycarbonate (Lexan, etc), in any shape you like, such as an egg shape with an offset handle. A better base for your purposes is the plunge base, which can be set up to allow repeatable depth cuts. It is more stable, too, because it has a bigger footprint than the fixed base, and has the advantage of being able to take Porter-Cable guide bushes when used with a commonly available adaptor. That gives you the ability to do template routing with a selection of guide bushes. The plunge base can also be used with the same micro adjustable side fence that is sold for the Makita RP1110 router (and is compatible with other fences from Bosch and DW)

Not sure that router tables make things easier. For example, you couldn"t use a router table for putting a cavetto moulding round the outside edge of a standard size dining table because the workpiece is too big to support in a small router table. Similarly using a router in a router table loses the plunge router's ability to make plunging cuts such as hinge recesses (using a hinge jig), lock faceplate recesses, etc. So there's lots of things you can't do on a router table. I feel that they do introduce more opportunity for accidents for the unwary, whereas using a plunge router is a two handed task which is good at keeping your fingers away from the spinning cutter

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I do have the plunge base.

I had to because some of the router bits I had (this configurable rabbeting bit being one example) wouldn't go through the hole in the standard base. I prefer the standard base for routing little roundovers and such, but need the larger plunge base for the rabbeting... part of my question (that went unsaid, I guess) was the inconvenience of this, and it all comes back to having a router table and a reliable simple fence that means you can just run your wood along it and get the result you wanted, no wobbling or tilting as when you do it by hand. For me, not thinking about the negatives / risks like you've outlined I see only positives of a router table... the positives of better more reliable outcomes.

Anyway, over the weekend I've built myself a cross-cut sled for the Bosch GTS 10 J... I had to use this 18mm plywood I bought for the runners, but it seems perfectly OK when waxed. I rip cut some wood with the table saw as-is, then did a cross cut... my digital angle finder said the angle was 89.9 degrees... I could probably tinker with that, but surely it's good enough? I've used chunky CLS for the fences... I'm going to attach a bit more to the back fence for protection. Then I'd like to put a T Track into the top of the back fence so I can have one of these funky stop blocks... there's a dude - Jonathan Katz-Moses? - who has 'invented' (I think it's probably fair to say that) one that looks amazing.

To do the T Track in the top of the fence it would be nice to have a router table - I can detach the fence (only screws, no glue) and then just run it over a 19mm bit - job done. Without the router table I'll need to be more imaginative.