RIDGID R2401 Operator's Manual page 9

OPERATION
DIRECTION OF FEED AND THRUST
See Figures 8 - 9, page 15.
The router motor and cutter revolve in a clockwise direction.
This gives the tool a slight tendency to twist in your hands in a
counterclockwise direction, especially when the motor starts.
Feed the router into the workpiece from left to right. When
fed from left to right, the rotation of the cutter pulls the router
against the workpiece. If fed in the opposite direction, the
rotation forces of the spinning cutter will tend to throw the
router away from the workpiece, causing kickback. This
could result in loss of control of the router.
Because of the extremely high speed of cutter rotation dur-
ing a proper feeding operation, there is very little kickback
to contend with under normal conditions. However, should
the cutter strike a knot, hard grain, foreign object, etc., that
would affect the normal progress of the cutting action, there
could be a slight kickback. Kickback could be sufficient to
spoil the trueness of your cut if you are not prepared. Such
a kickback is always in the direction opposite the direction
of cutter rotation.
To guard against kickback, plan your set-up and direction of
feed so that you will always be thrusting the tool—to hold it
against whatever you are using to guide the cut—in the same
direction that the leading edge of the cutter is moving. The
thrust should be in a direction that keeps the sharp edges of
the cutter continuously biting straight into new (uncut) wood.
PROPER RATE OF FEED
Professional trimming and edge shaping depend upon care-
ful set-up and selecting the proper rate of feed.
The proper rate of feed is dependent upon:
 the hardness and moisture content of the workpiece
 the depth of cut
 the cutting diameter of the cutter.
When cutting shallow grooves in soft woods such as pine, a
faster rate of feed can be used. When making cuts in hard-
woods such as oak, a slower rate of feed will be required.
Several factors will help you select the proper rate of feed.
Choose a rate that does not slow down the router motor.
 Choose the rate at which the cutter advances firmly and
surely to produce a continuous spiral of uniform chips or
a smooth trim edge on laminate.
Listen to the sound of the router motor. A high-pitched
sound means you are feeding too slowly. A strained,
lower-pitched sound signals force-feeding.
Check the progress of each cut. Too-slow feeding can
cause the router to take off in a wrong direction from the
intended line of cut. Force-feeding increases the strain
of holding the tool and results in loss of speed.
Notice the chips being produced as you cut. If the router
is fed too slowly, it will scorch or burn the wood. If the
router is fed too fast, it will take large chips out of the
wood and leave gouge marks.
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Always test a cut on a scrap piece of the workpiece wood
or laminate before you begin. Always grasp and hold the
router firmly when trimming.
If you are making a small-diameter, shallow groove in soft,
dry wood, the proper feed rate may be determined by the
speed at which you can travel the router along the guide line.
If the cutter is a large one, the cut is deep or the workpiece
is hard to cut, the proper feed may be a very slow one. A
cross-grain cut may require a slower pace than an identical
with-grain cut in the same workpiece.
There is no fixed rule. Proper rate of feed is learned through
practice and use.
FORCE FEEDING
See Figure 10, page 15.
The router is an extremely high-speed tool (20,000-
30,000 r/min.), and will make clean, smooth cuts if allowed
to run freely without the overload of a forced feed. Three
things that cause force feeding are cutter size, depth of cut,
and workpiece characteristics. The larger the cutter or the
deeper the cut, the more slowly the router should be moved
forward. If the wood is very hard, knotty, gummy or damp,
the operation must be slowed still more.
Clean, smooth laminate trimming and edge shaping can be
done only when the cutter is revolving at a relatively high
speed and is taking very small bites to produce tiny, cleanly-
severed chips. If the router is forced to move forward too
fast, the speed of the cutter becomes slower than normal in
relation to its forward movement. As a result, the cutter must
take bigger bites as it revolves. Bigger bites mean bigger
chips and a rougher finish. Bigger chips also require more
power, which could result in overloading the motor.
Under extreme force-feeding conditions, the relative speed
of the cutter can become so slow—and the bites it has to
take so large—that chips will be partially knocked off rather
than fully cut off. This will result in splintering and gouging
of the workpiece.
TOO SLOW FEEDING
See Figure 10, page 15.
When the router is advanced into the work too slowly, the
revolving cutter does not dig into new wood fast enough to
take a bite; instead, it scrapes away sawdust-like particles.
Scraping produces heat, which can glaze, burn, or mar the
cut, and can overheat the cutter. Dull cutters can also con-
tribute to scraping and burning.
It is more difficult to control a router when the cutter is scrap-
ing instead of cutting. With practically no load on the motor,
the cutter will be revolving near top RPM, and will have a
greater than normal tendency to bounce off the sides of the
cut, especially if the wood has a pronounced grain with hard
and soft areas. The cut that results may have rippled sides
instead of straight.
9 - English
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