# Router table



## jm540 (Jan 14, 2009)

Scares me silly.
Me and my nieghbor are both building rail and stile doors. He started the day before he did and we have the same bits. Yesterday I asked him to come over with a rail and style so I could cheat off of it for my set up. After setting up he picks up a scrap about six inchs long hands it to me and says here we'll test it. This was an end grain cut on a board 6×2.
I said hold on and went to get a bigger piece he looked puzzled and said what. I told him I wasn't gonna get my hand that close to the blade. he said *well I guess*.

This morning he calls me to see if he could borrow a couple clamps and I could help glue up. as we jiggle around the panel I see blood. He then tells me he got his finger in the router table yesterday. I didn't know what to say.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

ouch comes to mind…

is he generally not safety-oriented? lack of exposure to it? or just cause he doesnt care? if it's the lack of exposure, i'd definitely have him watch every safety video online there is (woodwhisperer, fine wood working, and others) and suggest some safety devices he can use, if it's the later…. well, you can only give a man a push stick - it's up to him to push with it.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Here is a coping jig from Rockler that I would heartily recommend. It not only saves fingers but it also saves tearout the endgrain cuts. It can be build but for $60 you probably would put more time in trying to save the money.


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## pommy (Apr 17, 2008)

just don't say* told you so * i always find that never helps but i do hope he is ok

andy


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## Hacksaw (Feb 26, 2009)

I made my own coping sled cost way less than $60 and is virtually the same as the rockler one…but then again I had the materials/clamp laying around so buy the rockler sled already! I shortened two of the fingers on my left hand 10 years ago…trying to avoid back injury(per employers instructions) if it cost $60 or $6,000 if it saves your fingers and prevents an injury it's worth it.


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## jm82435 (Feb 26, 2008)

Definitely, a sled is required. Even if you manage to keep your fingers out of harms way, the big cutters required for doors are going to launch that little piece somewhere doing it freehand. (yes, I know - from experience)


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## randal (Dec 25, 2008)

Buy the Rockler sled. It saves time in set up and definitely keeps you from ruining wood. I ruined a bunch of wood before I got the coping sled. It also is much safer.


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## Newton (Jun 29, 2008)

Wow…a coping sled! I've been around this hobby for quite a few years and that is a new one on me. What you don't learn on this site!


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## bendisplays (Feb 2, 2009)

Jay,

The router can be a very dangerous peice of equpment. I have seen a couple of things. The worst accident that I observed was when someone was routering 1/4" thick ABS and it pulled his finger right into the bit. PET plastics, ABS, and polycarbonates are very nasty as the blade will grab. The key to safe routering is good dog plates and to have the fingers far away from the cutter.

The worst accidents that I have observed are as follows.

1) Someone was filing a peice of metal on the lathe and the file caught and stuck it right through the palm of his hand. I have heard nasty lathe stories. A 7.5hp motor geared way down will not stop for anything.

2) A guy was not cutting all the way through a part on the table saw. He had the blade under his hand and the part kicked and his hand laid down on the saw blade. The blade went through his 3 and 4th fingers.

3) A guy was cutting on a band saw at a very high cutting speed. Sliced right through his finger. The doctor was able to sew it back.

Now the router usually bites the finger when someone is having their finger to close to the cutter or they have their finger in the path of the bit. I have cut with a big pin router and I have hjad parts yanked pulled and all types of scarry stuff but I design dog plates that keep the finger away from the blade.

I also dont take too bit a bites (1" into the material with a 2" thick board). I will cut close with a bandsaw and then I will trim the rest with the router.

Anyway I hope your friend is fine and that he just got a little knick.

Cheers,

Ben


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## jm540 (Jan 14, 2009)

This guy showed me how to make a coping sled for for the table router when I got mine. he just doesn't use it I guess


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## juniorjock (Feb 3, 2008)

Why was this tagged as humor?
- JJ


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## jm540 (Jan 14, 2009)

because we all lived and some of us are sick twisted individuals.

i have to admit when my children run full speed into a wall> I"m a little worried when i see all there teeth intacted and nothing bleeding or broken i think it is funny. I told them not to run in the house and to watch where they are going.

I hope I don't think it is funny when they flunk out off school and are broke because i study with them and tell them to save there money.


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## wing79 (Dec 10, 2008)

I built my own sled it works great. All I paid for was the toggle clamp which was like $6. I would never rout end grain with any panel bit. Hopefully he didn't get it too bad. wing79


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## jm540 (Jan 14, 2009)

I must apoligize for my use of there in place of their i'm not an idiot i promise. along with the use other punc, and gramer mistakes I am a product of the public school system


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

I think the guy just needs some education. I've done some unsafe things with the router before I learned how to use it safely. One example was the time I was using a 1/2 inch straight bit to rout the full length of the board and because I wasn't routing all the way through, I was letting my hand go directly over the bit on top of the board. I should have realized something was wrong because of the change in the sound but I didn't. Anyway, I guess I hadn't tightened the collet enough and the bit was loose and was working it's way out of the collet and deeper up into the board and as my hand went over the bit, I felt a weird feeling, like something moving under my hand. I pulled my hand back just as the bit climbed up through the board. It should have only been 1/2 inch into the 3/4 board which should have given me a 1/4 inch buffer between the bit and my hand but that ain't the way it happened and I got lucky that time. Oh, and I had never even heard of a climbing cut the first time I used it and had the board snatched out of my hand and thrown into the wall, almost pulling my hand through the bit with it.


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## kiwi1969 (Dec 22, 2008)

for some people pain is the best educator


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