Craftsman 315.175101 Operator's Manual page 16

ROUTING
Your router is a versatile tool and can be used for
many different applications. You may rout grooves,
carve designs using a template, carve designs by
freehand, taper table and chair legs, mortise door
jambs, or create joints.
ROUTING GROOVES
See Figure 15.
When routing across the face of boards, set router at
desired depth of cut, place the edge of router base
against workpiece, and turn on the router. Slowly feed
the cutter into the workpiece along desired line of cut.
WARNING:
If desired depth of cut is greater
than can be safely cut in one pass, make cuts in
two or more passes.
When routing straight cuts across stock, clamp a
straight edge to the workpiece to use as a guide.
Position the straightedge parallel to the line of cut and
offset the distance between the cutting edge of the
cutter and the edge of the router base. Hold the router
base against the straightedge and rout the groove.
When routing a groove wider than the diameter of the
cutter, clamp a straightedge on both sides of the
cutlines. Position both guides parallel to the desired
line of cut and spaced equal distances from the
desired edges of the groove. Rout along one guide;
then, reverse direction and rout along the other guide.
Clean out any remaining waste in the center of the
groove freehand.
ROUTING BY FREEHAND
See Figure 16.
When used freehand, your router becomes a flexible
and versatile tool. This flexibility makes it possible to
easily rout signs, relief sculptures, etc.
There are two basic techniques for freehand routing:
■ Routing letters, grooves, and patterns into wood.
■ Routing out the background, leaving the letters or
pattern raised above the surface.
When freehand routing, we suggest the following:
■ Draw or layout the pattern on workpiece.
■ Choose the appropriate cutter.
NOTE: A core box or V-groove bit is often used for
routing letters and engraving objects. Straight bits
and ball mills are often used to make relief
carvings. Veining bits are used to carve small,
intricate details.
OPERATION
■ Rout the pattern in two or more passes. Make the
first pass at 25% of the desired depth of cut. This
will provide better control as well as being a guide
for the next pass.
NOTE: Do not rout deeper than 1/8 in. per pass.
WARNING:
freehand routing. Use of large router bits when
freehand routing could cause loss of control or
create other hazardous conditions that could
cause possible serious personal injury. When
using a router table, large router bits should be
used for edging only. Do not use router bits that
are larger in diameter than the opening in router
base for any purpose.
16
1 /3
2
0 1
3 /8
2
13 / 32
15 /32
7/16
Do not use large router bits for
1 / 3
2
0 1
3 /8
2
13 / 32
15 /32
7/16
Fig. 15
Fig. 16