Pictures taken during today's router change

[gerald_d]

Thanks for the tip Scott. Those slotted cheesehead screws are temporary. They were the only 5mm screws of sufficient length that I had lying around. Still have to do some work in that area regarding:
- air blast deflector
- quick-change mounting (big router / small router / drill)
- dust collection shoe.

[gerald_d]

Okay, the air deflector and the quick change are done. Changing from one router to the other takes 10 seconds. Only one bolt (10mm or 3/8") to be loosened. The z-slide now has 2 dowel pins 80mm apart, on the centerline, one above the other. The bolt is exactly between the two dowels. Look at the mounting face of the adaptor plate on the small router lying on the table.

There are now many surplus holes which make the pictures hard to read - but they do reduce weight! :-)

I have a jig with a copy of the dowel arrangement for seeting the centers of the various tools so that they coincide with each other - changing routers does not change x,y-settings. The jig would also be useful when we have to design an adaptor for a third tool, like a drill.


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4253.jpg

[spektr]

Nice looking work. A couple thoughts about designing removable features. I would consider using Ball end pins. Less wear on the fixture when changing stuff. Also consider using hardened bushings to hold the replacable pins. This way you never lose indexing of any fixtures when you need to replace a pin. Consider using a shoulder bolt instead of a hex bolt and use the OD to support the vert loads instead of the jig pins, it will last much longer. If any of this isn't clear, please drop me a note and I'll try to do a better job. Scott.

[gerald_d]

All clear Scott - just using stuff that I have lying around.

[mikejohn]

Gerald
Your setup is very appealing, I like a lot of the different aspects.
After a lot of thought and consideration, I've settled on buying the benchtop,(even though hanging around has cost me $400, thank heavens for the weak $).
I will be cutting 4mm and 6mm B/B birch ply, and 15mm soft pine.
With the idea of a quick change jig, my production speeds will be ample for my needs.
The plywood will be cut with very small bits, 2mm or 3mm. The softwood can be cut with a 6mm bit.
Will the Metabo GE700 cope well with this requirement?
As it is only the Benchtop, what is your opinion of making a sealed cabinet for the machine, with either end and front openings, rather than the complete room?
Would dust extraction be easier than the full room size?
Any advice on extraction fan size? Would you advise an 'input' fan, or rely on a baffled inflow system like your room?
Why is your computer inside the room, instead of being outside away from the dust?
In another thread, you talked of needing no dust collection system, now your making one. What changed your mind?
Lots of questions,I'm afraid, but it is because you seem to have lots of the answers!
Thanks, as always, for your input. When you were noticeable by your absence a couple of weeks back, I was concerned we had lost your wisdom.

....Mike

[gerald_d]

Will the Metabo GE700 cope well with this requirement? It will cope extremely well provided that the cutting diameter of your bit is normally 8mm - 10mm or less. We can never "bog down" the Metabo with a 6mm bit in soft wood. Plus the Metabo will make less noise and blow around much less dust.

As it is only the Benchtop, what is your opinion of making a sealed cabinet for the machine, with either end and front openings, rather than the complete room? It is hard for me to visualise working with a "benchtop". It is important for us to walk around for clamping stuff and installing/removing jigs/scrap/product.

Any advice on extraction fan size? Would you advise an 'input' fan, or rely on a baffled inflow system like your room? The room/box must be under negative pressure, therefore the fan must suck out of the room/box. With our weather we are lucky that we can feed the room with non-heated air and exhaust to the oustside atmosphere - you may not be so lucky. Your may have a heated shop, or your neighbours might not like the dust. Remember that the fan in our window is not meant for dust-collection - it is only to ensure a supply of breathing air and keep the dust from spreading to the rest of the workshop. Our fan is 450mm and we only appreciate its size in mid-summer. Mostly, a 300mm would have been okay.

Why is your computer inside the room, instead of being outside away from the dust? Only the keyboard and monitor are on the dirty side - all the rest is in the filtered cabinet with the auto air-cleaner on top.

In another thread, you talked of needing no dust collection system, now your making one. What changed your mind? And we stopped making one again...... The guitar neck job needs a lot of hogging with big cutters, producing a ton of sawdust. Because of our fondness for clamps/screws/bolts/jigs, we cannot figure a universal foot that will find its way around all of these. Plus handle our grinder + router options. The guys doing smooth sheets on vacuum tables have less demands on the dust foot. Anyway, because the room contains the dust so well, our maid (seriously) dons a dust mask and ear protection every Thurday morning and shovels/sweeps at least a wheely bin full of sawdust out of there.

[gerald_d]

Does a new post turn the thread in a the right direction?

Edited to add: Unfortunately not.

[fleinbach]

It's going in the right direction now

[jemelby]

Gerald;

What's that your holding in your picture? Edelveis?

[gerald_d]

Ice-cream, on the Danube river near Vienna