Table One Slotted

The fist sheet of MDF that I started on has served as a test bed for getting used to using the router and practicing some of the techniques required to route the track. You can see in this photo the first slot that I did two weeks ago and the new slot started this weekend. No burning this time and the router cut the MDF much more easily	Another shot of the two different routes. My first router bit was clearly defective. It would not cut very easily and it very quickly started burning the MDF. There was a buildup of resin on the bit too. The new bit which I ordered last week is made by a company called Whiteside. It is a solid carbide twin fluted bit. The difference in cutting was night and day. The router cut through the MDF with this bit like a knife through butter. Exactly like what I had read from other people who had made tracks.	This time I also attached a shop vac to the router duster port. This is really very helpful as it cuts down on the sawdust quite a bit. This is a plunge style router. The plunge style is a little more trouble to get adjusted to a precise depth. You can also see in this shot that the router is attached to a Plexiglas compass which I made. This took some time. I tested it on the board with the burned route and it worked great.
This photo shows the practice route made using the compass. For this parabolic turn I used two different radius. It worked very well.	After I finished practicing on the first board, I laid out the course on a second board and routed the middle slot all the way around. After finishing the center slot all the way, you can then easily route two more slots using this narrow sinter board. Just stick it in the finished center slot and use it as a fence to guide the router around the track and create slots parallel to the center slot.	And here is all three slots finished on the board for table one. One and a half more boards to go. Before I cut the track out of table 1 with a jig saw, I am going to place table 2 MDF up against this so that I can get a smooth and accurate beginning of the track as it continues on.

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bobber at kc0dxf dot net

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