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MARK V – MOUNTED OVERARM PIN ROUTER 555970
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Cutting decorative internal and external
edges using a fixture
Figure 21 shows a finished plaque, still at-
tached to its fixture. Only the top surface of
the edge was cut.
Step 1. Set your router bit to produce the
desired depth-of-cut. To do this, use your
fixture to cut out a practice sample of your
finished product. Be sure it’s the same thick-
ness as the finished piece you plan to make.
Use this practice sample to make a few cuts
until you achieve your desired profile.
NOTE
When using a fixture to guide your
workpiece through decorative edging cuts,
you can alter the profiles produced by
changing to a Guide Pin that’s smaller than
your groove and/or changing the side of the
fixture groove you guide against.
During operation, it’s important that you al-
ways guide your fixture against the same
side of the groove throughout your cut. If
you’re using the outside edge of the groove,
you must pull against the Guide Pin as you
make your cut. If you’re using the inside
edge of the groove, you must push against
the Guide Pin as you make you cut.
Remember. . .changing groove sides in mid-
cut will alter the profile of the cut and ruin
your edge.
Step 2. Cut the edge. The routing method
used is similar to routing against a pin. Re-
member to always move the fixture against
the rotation of the bit, and keep the same
wall of the groove against the Guide Pin at
all times. Usually, only two passes are re-
quired to achieve the final depth-of-cut. It’s
OK to make about 75 percent of the cut on
the first pass, and the balance on the second.
Cutting decorative surface
features using a fixture
An unlimited variety of attractive surface
decorations can be created by guiding an ex-
isting (or additional) groove in your fixture
over a Guide Pin, such as our Figure 22 ex-
ample of cutting a V-groove in the surface
of an oval picture frame.
Since the entire bit is in contact with the
workpiece while making surfacing cuts, you
must always use a Guide Pin that’s the same
size as the groove in your fixture for safety
reasons. As a result, the profile of your cut
is controlled entirely by altering the depth-
of-cut of the bit. Decorative surfacing cuts
cannot be made with a piloted router bit
unless a straight bit is used first to form a
groove that the pilot can ride in.
Figure 21. A plaque with external
decorative edging completed. We used
a 1/2", non-piloted core box bit to form
our example edge.
Figure 22. Using a V-groove bit to cut
a decorative surface feature in an
oval picture frame.