Tool Gloat

[kenny from Sundre]

While most of this web site seems to be devoted to the Kreg Jig, Kreg does have other very fine products as well. Over the last couple of days I have been using oak plywood for a project, and I want it as right as I can get it, and to cover the plywood edges I am using 1/4' X 3/4" oak trim. My Kreg fence allows me to use the router table as a jointer and so I decided to put it to the test. Using a spiral bit in the router and setting the fence to take 1/32 off, it put a clean smooth face on the edge of the ply wood. I ran a test piece of 3/4" birch through and measuring with a vermeer caliper I found that it trimmed exactly 1/32 off. When I started to fit the trim, I found that it was wider than the plywood and the router did an excellent job of trimming that to the desired width.    And I was going to spend a $1000.00 for an 8" jointer!!! THANK YOU KREG. Your router table and precision fence is a great investment

kenny

P.S. Is there anyone else using the Kreg router table and fence??

[Artie]

Hey Kenny. Couldn't agree more. I just assembled my Kreg Benchtop router table today. I was surprised by how quiet it is. (I'm using it with a Porter-Cable 890 router.) It went together nicely and the supplied template made drilling the router mounting holes simple and accurate. I can't wait to try some projects on her. Did a "quicky" one already to check her out.

We sound like salesmen. (I'm not.)

[kenny from Sundre]

Hi Arte; I am not a salesman either, just very impressed with the tool. You got the fence to go with it? Make sure that you add the KMS7215 Micro adjuster! It is the icing on the cupcake.

[Artie]

Yeah, it came with a really nice fence. I need to get a miter slide, (think thats what its called), and a couple of featherboards though. I'll look into that Micro adjuster. Thanks for the tip.

 

[kenny from Sundre]

I had thought that I would buy the mitre guide/ slide as well but discovered that the mitre fence that came with my table saw would work just fine, at least for the moment. I just have to ensure that the angles are correct since it does not have the built in accuracy that the Kreg has. I made the mistake of buying a different brand of feather boards, but finally bit the bullet and bought the Kreg feather boards. The Kreg feather boards are so much easier to use. I have two pairs, using one pair on the in feed and the other on the out feed, holding the work piece against the fence and down on the table as required. I have a Freud 1700 router on mine. I also made a couple of stop blocks out of 3/4 plywood. the blocks are about 2" X 3 1/2" ?? ( as high as the fence ) and used slot bolts to attach them to the fence. You will really enjoy your router table!!!

 

[Artie]

I've been checking out several different feather boards. If you think the bona fide Kreg units are an advantage, I'll give them a bit more consideration. My table saw is the BOTL Sears 10-inch, (with a cheap-ish miter), so I think I'll still opt for something better since I believe I'll be doing higher precision work with the router table.

I'll have to Google "stop blocks", since I'm not sure what those are. (I'm a wood-working-newbie.) How do you use them?

 

 

[John Schaben]

Hi Artie - Stop block is just a block clamped in the path of the stock feed to provide a repeatable cut. There are some commercial ones; Kreg and Incra are two, that use them in conjunction with a t-track on the fence to provide a stop. Here's one from Hartville tool:

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/13378

Personally, I prefer just to clamp a block of wood to the table because if you are making progressive cuts, moving the fence will change the relative position of the stop if it is attached to the fence.

 

For featherboards, I have a couple of the Kregs and they are OK but I also have a couple of sets of the Milescraft Dual featherboards because they are stackable and extremely handy when running stock verically against the fence as you need to do with drawer lock or lock miter bits.

Artie said:

I've been checking out several different feather boards. If you think the bona fide Kreg units are an advantage, I'll give them a bit more consideration. My table saw is the BOTL Sears 10-inch, (with a cheap-ish miter), so I think I'll still opt for something better since I believe I'll be doing higher precision work with the router table.

I'll have to Google "stop blocks", since I'm not sure what those are. (I'm a wood-working-newbie.) How do you use them?

 

 

[kenny from Sundre]

Hi John; How are you? The stackable Milescraft feather boards sound great, but I am not sure that they are available in Canada.  I could put the stackables to good use on the table saw. I will look for them.

Artie: I find that by the time you might want to run a work piece through the router table, the angle of the work piece has already been established. It is then just a matter of adjusting the mitre guide to the proper angle and is more of a way to hold the work piece stable. As long as the mitre guide fits the slot with no play or wobble, it should work. A face board might have to be added to the guide to give support close to the router bit.  I know John has a lot of experience on the router table and he might give both of us better input. 

[John Schaben]

Hi Kenny - Milescraft featherboards are available through Busy Bee:

http://www.busybeetools.com/products/FEATHER-BOARD-DOUBLE.html

I got mine through Amazon here in the states.

To be honest, I haven't had much luck with a miter guage on a router table. I just use a large push block that rides on the fence.  For splines or biscuits on picture frame corners, I use a hunk of 2x4 cut at 45* on the table or miter saw and use it against the fence. Been planning on making me a jig for that job but it's one of those round tuit deals. I use an INCRA V120 or the OEM miter guage on the table saw, depending on what I need to do. The INCRA is set up with the extended fence and stop block.

kenny from Sundre said:

Hi John; How are you? The stackable Milescraft feather boards sound great, but I am not sure that they are available in Canada.  I could put the stackables to good use on the table saw. I will look for them.

Artie: I find that by the time you might want to run a work piece through the router table, the angle of the work piece has already been established. It is then just a matter of adjusting the mitre guide to the proper angle and is more of a way to hold the work piece stable. As long as the mitre guide fits the slot with no play or wobble, it should work. A face board might have to be added to the guide to give support close to the router bit.  I know John has a lot of experience on the router table and he might give both of us better input. 

[steve kidd]

great to hear you are using and enjoying your router table, good thinking on your part.

[kenny from Sundre]

Hi John; I can see where your push block approach would work just fine. It likely would be a problem for me  though, because things like that seem to have a tendency to "shift " on me, be it on the router table, tablesaw or even hand held router. So, having said that, you can see that it is better for me to eliminate any source for error that I can.

[kenny from Sundre]

Hello Artie;

Just as an after thought, something else that you might find usefull (if you have not already got them) are a couple of books from the Woodsmith/ Shopnotes people. One is the Router Workshop and the other is Router Table Secrets. Obviously there are likely many other books that are as good or maybe even better. Lots of good stuff  in these two though.

[Johnny D. Rich]

Woodworking with the Router by Hylton is the best router book out there. I used his router table plan for the first table I built, and a modified version for the second one.

 

I myself don't have a Kreg fence for my router table. I have the Incra Wonder Fence, which is freakin awesome and when combined with the LS Positioner, it's about as precise as you can get. Best thing I like about it is that it is so easy to move the fence and then come back to the exact spot you were in without any measuring at all.

 

Ok, so enough about Incra. I love my Kreg setup bars. Those things are so fun to use and they look cool too. I have pretty much retired my brass setup bars and I always use the new Kreg ones when setting up the router table. I am also looking at Kreg for a Band Saw fence system and maybe one for my miter saw as well.