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FEEDING THE ROUTER
The "secret" of professional routing lies in making a
careful set-up for the cut and in selecting the proper
rate of feed.
DIRECTION
(EXTERNAL)
See Figure 18.
When routing, the cutter rotates clockwise. Therefore,
you should feed the router into the workpiece from left
to right. When you feed the router from left to right, the
rotation of the cutter pulls the router against the
workpiece. If you feed the router in the opposite
direction, the rotational forces of the spinning bit tend to
throw the router away from the workpiece. This action
could cause you to lose control of the router.
The router motor and bit revolve in a clockwise
direction. This gives the tool a slight tendency to twist in
a counterclockwise direction, especially when the motor
revs up.
Because
of the extremely
high speed of bit rotation
during a proper feeding operation,
there is very little
kickback under normal conditions.
However, if the bit
strikes a knot, hard grain, or foreign object that affects
the normal progress
of the cutting action, there will be a
slight kickback.
This kickback
is sufficient
to spoil the
trueness
of your cut if you are not prepared.
Such e
kickback is always in the direction opposite the direction
of bit rotation.
To guard against such a kickback, plan your setup 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 bit is moving. In shod, the thrust should be in a
direction that keeps the sharp edges of the bit
continuously biting straight into new (uncut) wood.
6
5
I"
,i L
2
-Tt
-.l;L-
,
'
1/4in.to 1 in.
Fig. 18
DIRECTION
(INTERNAL)
See Figure 19.
Whenever you are routing a groove, your travel should
be in a direction that places whatever guide you are
using at the right-hand
side. That is, when the guide is
positioned as shown in the first part of the figure, tool
travel should be from left to right and counterclockwise
around curves. When the guide is positioned
as shown
in the second part of the figure, tool travel shouTd be
from right to left and clockwise
around curves. If there is
a choice, the first setup is generally
the easier to use. In
either case, the sideways thrust you use is against the
guide.
GUIDE OUTSIDE
ROTATION _"_
ROTATION _---"S_'_
'_
FEED
GUIDE
GUIDE INSIDE
ROTATION _
ROTATION _/-_
FEED
THRUST
Fig. 19
16
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