Daryl Rosenblatt

When hand holding a router, I prefer the downcut, since it holds the router in place better. But I take very light cuts since it won’t clear the chips as well. When using it in a router table I prefer the upcut, since it will clear the chips down, onto the table. I usually use some kind of hold down, so the piece stays flat on the table anyway. Probably not the textbook answer, but it works for me.

Those are for internal cuts. I don’t think I use spiral bits on edges much, if at all.

Jim was a good friend; as before, if anyone has any stories they would like to share with me, so the entire club can read about it, please email me at darylmros@gmail.com. the deadline for the next issue is Wednesday, March 15th

Mike, FWW did a review of the Grizzly and Rikon machines, as well as a 500 pound Jet, in 2012, issue 225 and they got basically good writeups. No way does the one Jim mentioned if it’s the cheapo Amazon showed compare to these in any way. And you can get a Felder, Hammer or MiniMax with no fear of anything but a great tool.

Martin also makes one, but I can’t even imagine the price of a company that sells $30,000 tablesaws. It seems the only thing Martin is missing is the name Astin in front of it. But I bet it’s an amazing machine.

The weight and mass are important, not just for vibration, but the infeed and outfeed tables have to be lifted, so the machine has to stay stable on a now higher center of gravity.

I have a similar, but frankly better tool. It’s a Felder 12 inch, so it’s not like apples and oranges. That said, in just looking at the picture, I can tell you I doubt the machine is worth it. There is a lot of force going into planing, much less jointing a very wide board. This machine is likely half the price of a Grizzly, and much less than a Rikon for a reason. And in this case, a lot of it I think has to do with the base. This one will twist when you run a wide board through it.

And I looked at the specs again. It weights 83 pounds. Avoid avoid avoid. By way of comparison the Grizzly weighs about 350 (and mine, to compare again, although it’s a 12 inch machine, and in a different class, weighs almost 1300 pounds). You need that kind of mass and weight just to keep it stable. There are some boards of wood that weigh more than the machine.

So where do you think we should be placing the ribbon? Knowing your work, the blue ribbon.

I should have included this:

Ace Tool Repair
2201 Wantagh Ave.
Wantagh.

They also have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of router bits of all brands, Amana, Freud, CMT, you name it. Whenever I go there, there is a contractor picking up or dropping off a tool to be fixed.

How else, or where else, do any of you go for tool repair?

You didn’t say which saw it is. If it’s a simple as a blade problem, that’s great. If it’s the arbor, or something else, Ace Tool in Wantagh does great tool repairs; it’s in fact the mainstay of their business. Peter Profeta used to work there. If you are using it for a living, you might not want to take the chance and finding out the hard/dangerous way that the repair didn’t work.

So far we have: 1. Bad blade, 2. Bent arbor. Any other suggestions out there?

I don’t think it’s necessary to go to a garage sale for what we call in the trade “abrasion wood.” Home Depot sells it in their lumber department. You can find it labeled poplar, oak and maple, and it will come in many lengths and widths. However, as this “abrasion wood” is generally warped, they are really meant to be cut into small lengths for such work. The grain is so uneven and friable it works without sandpaper, so Charlie, this will be a savings for your customers. Abrasion wood works especially well on Chinese Faux Steel products, which is softer than Abrasion Wood.

This is an advantage for sales, since you can still bill the customer for all new products, instead of trying to justify reworking used items, however well they are made.

I think I have a FWW book on machine setup. If you want, I can bring it to the meeting Wednesday. I’ll double check tonight. I would think an easy way is to drill a hole, then take the drill bit and pass it through the hole, looking for gaps in the hole. Seems easier than putting a dial indicator on a steel rod.

First you ask for quality, then you complain about the price of quality. There is just no pleasing some people. I have a solution. For only about $7500 you can get a medium sized metalworking lathe, and a good milling machine. Add maybe $750 for the accessories you will need, plus $2000 for a power feeder if you get lazy. Now add maybe $100 in raw materials (assuming you pick it up, saving on shipping and a minimum order. Then you can, after spending a few long weekends in the shop (per bit) make your own high quality high speed steel forstner bit for only $20 per bit. This is a real savings, since you don’t have to charge yourself for labor. And wait! There’s more! You can make bits for others, and in about 175 years, you will break even.

Kidding aside, I still have and use my cheapie imported set from many years ago. I just don’t use them enough to justify the high cost. Freud on Amazon (and I assume they are made in China, not Spain) run $52. The Fisch is $250. It’s like any tool, you use it a lot, spend more. I spend more on brad point bits than any other kind, they get used a lot.