# How do you reverse a right to left router cut?



## wastedalf (Aug 28, 2013)

I've read a million times… always feed right to left on a router table. So I need some advice. I'm making a bread box, which will have dado joints. The groove is stopped at a certain point, but I don't know how to do the same groove on the opposite board. A sort-of example picture is below. 
I can make the cut that's on the bottom, but how do I make the cut that's on the top? The only way my brain works says to feed the piece from the opposite side but I know that's wrong. How do I tackle this safely? This one task is holding up the whole project.
Thanks in advance.


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

It's a dado. You're cutting both sides of the groove at one time. R-L or L-R doesn't matter. Feeding into the cut applies when you're cutting an edge.


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## lateralus819 (Mar 24, 2013)

Move the fence?


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## wastedalf (Aug 28, 2013)

The fence won't go far enough. The real board I'm doing is 12 inches wide.


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## lateralus819 (Mar 24, 2013)

What i do in a lot of instances, is grab a known straight board for a "guide". Measure from the outside of the base, to the edge of the bit, and clamp the board, and use it as a reference.

Assuming you can take your router out.


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

JustJoe is JustRight….


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

What Joe said. It doesn't matter what side you feed from for the dado. The bit is fully in the board so you do not have to worry about the direction the bit is spinning, but it is important to keep the piece tight against the fence. You might want to use a feather board.


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## MatthewG (Oct 16, 2010)

I think the direction matters-at least it does from my experience. If the fence is to your right-that is the picture you posted-the rotation of the cutter pushes the board into the fence. This works well, helping to hold the piece to the fence. If you feed with the fence to you left, the cutter will pull the piece AWAY from the fence, which is not terrible, but can cause problems if the piece pulls away from the fence.

JustJoe's reply is true as far as pulling the piece forward-neither direction has a big difference there.

I will often clamp a block to act as a stop, and then lower the piece onto the bit, just so I can keep the fence to the right. That has the advantage of precisely controlling the end of the dado, too.


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

Right to left feed is always wise, it pulls the job to the fence & is non self feed. You want to make a stop cut. The first thing to do is close up the throat opening. Mark the fence so you know where the cut starts & stops.
Mark the job where you want the cut. Don't try and start the cut at full depth. Engage the cutter a bit and move forward, lowering the job as you go. Repeat until you can safely get the full depth at the start of the cut.

My router table is crude compared many I see here but it gets the job done. Someday. I do most of my work on my shaper.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

Gotta use a featherboard for the L to R cut.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

*Justjoe is correct!*
Use a feather board and stops to make it easier on yourself!

The simple rule for using a *handheld* router is cutting the inside and outside *edges* of a picture frame:
Rout the outside counter clockwise.
Rout the inside clockwise.

This rule *also* applies when cutting an edge with a table mounted router.
This rule *does not apply* when you are *not cutting edges* with a handheld or table mounted router.


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

Feed direction does matter, otherwise why would you bother with a featherboard and a stop? I'm guessing you want to avoid a cut like this.



















A couple of pencil lines is much less setup, bother and safer. It's pretty standard.


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

I don't use a featherboard and I never get cuts like that. I get cuts like this:









I've got two hands on the board, only one is pushing it forward, it doesn't take that much for me to use the other to hold it against the fence - about as much force as it takes to hold a board flat against a jointer fence when I'm running a board through to get a square edge there.

And a stop is used so you know how far to push the board through to get a stopped dado because it's a bit more accurate than a line drawn on the fence or table, and easier than trying to use calibrated eyeballs to see underneath the board while you're routing it.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Take shallow cuts til you get to the depth your looking for, it will be just fine. Do a few practice turns on a piece of scrap if your leery.


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## 111 (Sep 2, 2013)

I got to figure out what I'm doing wrong. :O


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

The lines are on the top as well, kind of the whole point.


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## Hammerthumb (Dec 28, 2012)

I think Tex has the right idea. For the cut you are trying to make, you need to start the cut close to where your dado stops instead of the end of the board. I have done this by marking lines on the fence and work piece as Tex has done. You need to hold the work piece agains the fence, but over the cutter and slowly lower it into the bit. Once flat on the surface, you can finish the cut. Do not try to take a large cut, but start with the cutter at maybe a 1/4". Repeat the proces raising the cutter incramentally until you get to the desired depth.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

You can drop the workpiece onto the bit, and feed in the traditional direction. This assumes your bit allows plunge cuts. Some straight bits do, some don't.


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## Hammerthumb (Dec 28, 2012)

Pinto is right. Forgot to add that the cutter must be made for plunge cuts.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Just take shallow cuts, I just tried it on Purpleheart, did fine.

Plunge cuts for this can work but your much better off with shallow cuts. You should always take shallow cuts and multiple passes. Sneak up on the depth your looking for and it will be much more accurate and less chance of tear out.


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## wastedalf (Aug 28, 2013)

Ok, so I decided to use the router without the table, like lateralus suggested. I felt safer guiding the router against a fence than running a board across the table. It turned out ok.


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