1/23/2024 0 Comments Router bit for flattening slabs![]() ![]() Securing your work will be distinctive to your particular piece. If the material is round, like my piece, it helps to contour the scraps to match the shape. Finally, lock everything in place by tapping a few wedges between the last two pieces of scrap wood. Now place a third piece in the space between the wood and the end of your bench. ![]() Then clamp another small scrap to the opposite end of your bench. Clamp a piece of scrap on one end of your bench and then butt the wood up to that first scrap. ![]() You can secure the wood to your bench with three pieces of scrap wood. After you have minimized that gap, you are ready to secure the piece to your workbench. Then adjust the height of the workpiece with shims until that gap has been minimized. Place a level on the piece (assuming your bench is level) and look at the gap between the level and the low spots on the workpiece. Your objective is to remove the least amount of wood necessary to get a flat surface. Your lumber might be cupped, twisted, or bowed. I fastened the dust hood to the router sled with a few old brackets I had saved for “someday.” I am fortunate to have a nice dust collection system in my shop, but using even a shop vacuum will help a lot! Secure and Level the Top Surface of the Wood Before I screwed the dust hood in place, I made a shallow relief cut in the side rail to help move the dust through to the hood. I decided to add a dust hood (see Sources) to the sled. Flattening a large board creates a lot of dust and chips. The sides of the sled should be about 2-1/2″ high and made from 3/4″ plywood. Next, cut the two side pieces for the sled and glue them to the edges of the base piece. Drill and countersink the holes for the router mounting screws and drill a 1-5/8″ hole at the collet location for the router bit to pass through. Position the template on the sled base, so the collet location is at the sled’s center. Mark the screw holes and collet location by poking holes through the paper with a pencil. Make a template of your router base by wrapping a piece of paper around the base. Most router bases are about 6″-7″ in diameter, so I made my router sled base 8-1/2″ wide. The base must be wide enough to fit your router plus 1-1/2″ to accommodate the 3/4″ sides. ![]() If the base is too thick, the router bit might need longer to extend past the bottom of the jig. Build the Router Sledġ/4″ plywood is best for the sled’s base because the router bit must pass through the base before the cutter reaches the wood. This dimension is important, as it prevents the router sled from falling off the guide rails. My bench is 34″ wide, so I made my router sled 68″ wide. The router sled should be twice as long as your bench is wide. The router sled requires five pieces of plywood and four small blocks of lumber. Here’s how.ĭetails of building and using the shop-made jig are in this article, but you can watch the video above to get a feel for the jig and the process. Fortunately, there is an easy way to flatten any oversized board using a shop-made jig and a router. The coolest slabs are usually too big to go through a planer or sander end grain slabs shouldn’t go through a planer. ![]()
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