Shopsmith 555970 - Manual (Page 33)

MARK V – MOUNTED OVERARM PIN ROUTER 555970
33
USING NON-PILOTED BITS
FOR DECORATIVE EDGING
This method is basically the same as for
decorative external or internal edging with
a piloted Bit. However, since these Bits have
no pilot to control your lateral depth-of-cut,
you’ll have to rely on a Guide Pin (of a
smaller diameter than your router Bit) to
control this for you.
One half the difference between the Guide
Pin diameter and the outside diameter of
your router Bit will be your lateral depth-
of-cut.
If using a smaller Guide Pin fails to produce
the desired results on a piece of scrap stock,
set the machine up so the Guide Pin and the
Bit are offset about the same distance as the
lateral depth-of-cut you want.
Re-position the edge of the workpiece
against the Guide Pin, turn on your router
motor and gradually move the workpiece
from the Guide Pin into the Bit, taking a very
light pass as first.
NOTE
Since the bit and Guide Pin are not in per-
fect alignment during this operation, it’s
important that you always keep the
workpiece in the same plane throughout
the cut. If you begin by feeding the stock
into the Bit from a position in front of the
Guide Pin and end by feeding the stock
into the bit from a position to the left or
right of the Guide Pin, you will change
your lateral depth-of-cut and not achieve a
smooth, consistent profile. It’s a good idea
to make some practice cuts before attempt-
ing this operation on an actual project piece
When forming decorative edges on straight
workpieces with a non-piloted Bit, use your
Overarm Router Fence to control your lat-
eral depth-of-cut. If you’re working with
round workpieces, build a special V-shaped
Fence like the one shown in Figure 25
below.
MAKING RABBET CUTS
Rabbets are edge or step cuts for such things
as the inside back edges of picture frames
(See Fig. 26).
This method is basically the same as cutting
decorative internal edges using a pilot
bit . . . except . . . a large diameter straight Bit
and a Guide Pin are used.
The following equation will help you deter-
mine the size Bit and Guide Pin to use for
producing a rabbet of a specific size.
Figure 25. A shop-made, wooden
V-shaped Fence like the one shown here
is used for edging round workpieces
with non-piloted router Bits.
Figure 26. Cutting a rabbet in the back side
of a round picture frame.