05-14-2016, 08:50 PM
I used to say that I think you could make raised panels on my horizontal router mortiser. I can change that to you can make raised panels on it, because today I did it.
The bit I used was a Whiteside vertical panel raising bit.
I used a variable speed router with dust pick up. Let me tell you, you definitely want dust collection doing this! It didn't capture all the dust, but it made it tolerable.
I modified the mortiser by adding two pieces of 3/4" plywood to the top of the X-Table so I could bury the bit in it with no permanent damage.
I locked the X-Table stops against it, and put a clamp behind the Y-Table across one of the risers. That prevented both tables from moving. To raise the panels I just slide them over the bit, from left to right, with the work piece against the backrest. I added a small piece of 1/4" wood to the backrest on the left side of the router mounting plate so the work piece had a longer fence to ride against. You can see it in the photo above. Here's a picture of the largest panel ready to push across the bit. It's so long that I added some outboard support so it would be stable on the mortiser table.
I took shallow cuts, about 1/16" per pass.
After several passes they were done; not a fast process, but they came out great.
With that done, I relieved the back side of the panels to create a 1/4" tongue. Then I test fit the two smaller ones in their frames.
And there you have it.
John
The bit I used was a Whiteside vertical panel raising bit.
I used a variable speed router with dust pick up. Let me tell you, you definitely want dust collection doing this! It didn't capture all the dust, but it made it tolerable.
I modified the mortiser by adding two pieces of 3/4" plywood to the top of the X-Table so I could bury the bit in it with no permanent damage.
I locked the X-Table stops against it, and put a clamp behind the Y-Table across one of the risers. That prevented both tables from moving. To raise the panels I just slide them over the bit, from left to right, with the work piece against the backrest. I added a small piece of 1/4" wood to the backrest on the left side of the router mounting plate so the work piece had a longer fence to ride against. You can see it in the photo above. Here's a picture of the largest panel ready to push across the bit. It's so long that I added some outboard support so it would be stable on the mortiser table.
I took shallow cuts, about 1/16" per pass.
After several passes they were done; not a fast process, but they came out great.
With that done, I relieved the back side of the panels to create a 1/4" tongue. Then I test fit the two smaller ones in their frames.
And there you have it.
John