Router Sled

[Tom Smart]

I’ve thought about building a router sled for slab flattening for a long time. But that’s as far as it got. I now have a reason to get off thinkin and into doin. Daughter wants some live edge shelves and I was able to source 5/4 walnut slabs from a friend with a small Wood-Mizer. Did a lot of You Tube level research and settled on a design. It’s taken a couple weeks to get all the bits in one place, with some lost in shipping and my traditional buying the wrong sized hardware. Hope to begin putting it together tomorrow.

Probably oversized it but, hey, go big or go home! Base will be 1/2” Sandeply to keep the weight down.

 

[Nature Man]

Can't wait to see how it works for you! Please show pics! Chuck

 

[TimR]

Nice!

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

Probably want to set that sanded ply on a very flat surface that you have pre leveled in both x and y directions. Remember the router is making the plane of the rails. If they are out, the new, flat slab... Won't be in plane. It will just be the same thickness all over.

 

[Tom Smart]

Thanks Frank. I got the flattest piece of ply I could find. Almost bought MDF because it would stay flat but just too heavy to move around the shop, especially after adding the rails.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Nice, looks like linear bearings.

 

[DLJeffs]

Tom,
I have a massive router bit I got from a guy a few years ago. He was getting old and moving so was downsizing and selling a bunch of shop equipment. I bought his router and he threw in all the bits. This was one of them. I'll never use this bit. I asked him about it and he used it to flatten large slabs. It's a half inch shaft. It has cutting edges on the bottom and on the sides. Can you use it?

 

[Tom Smart]

Wow Doug, very kind offer! Thank you but I’ve already got a bit.

 

[Arn213]

Only such acts of kindness & generous gesture happens in this forum and nowhere else! It’s a beautiful thing!!! Kudos Doug.

 

[Mike1950]

Big bits are scarey. I have a 1.5 radius bit that makes me re check everything before I turn it on. I have the big porter cable router to power it. Lowest rpm and make sure everything is tightened down. I fired that sucker up at 20,000+ once. Whew, it was a great heart test.
Looks like a cool set up.

 

[DLJeffs]

Big bits are scarey. I have a 1.5 radius bit that makes me re check everything before I turn it on. I have the big porter cable router to power it. Lowest rpm and make sure everything is tightened down. I fired that sucker up at 20,000+ once. Whew, it was a great heart test.
Looks like a cool set up.

You got that right! The guy who sold me that bit said the exact same thing. He said it sounds like an old prop plane when he uses it. The torque and rotational momentum from a piece of metal that size going 20,000 rpm is scary just to think about., let alone having your hands within inches of it.

 

[Mike1950]

You got that right! The guy who sold me that bit said the exact same thing. He said it sounds like an old prop plane when he uses it. The torque and rotational momentum from a piece of metal that size going 20,000 rpm is scary just to think about., let alone having your hands within inches of it.

Mine is 3 inches wide. Just fits in router table. It is funny, I call it the airplane wing. I could have bought the cheapest 1.5" radius. It was $60. This was a Frued just shy of $200. I felt it was worth the extra. Takes a nice shaving. And does a very clean job. Bought it for our kitchen cabinets but have used it quite a bit in boxes.

 

[Tom Smart]

This “simple” project took much longer than I had anticipated. For me, the hardest part was accurately transferring the hole patterns to drill the plastic. The patterns are different for the horizontal and vertical rails. I started by trying to be precise with the drilling by making a template (well, several really), using the smallest acceptable bit for the M5 bolts. I never got the pattern exactly right and learned that the largest hole the bolt head with washer would not pass through gave enough adjustability to get it together, ensure smooth movement north/south, east/west before tightening up.

Slabs tomorrow I hope. First future upgrade will be to corral the chips/dust. Gonna be a mess till then.










And yes, it is flat and level!

 

[woodtickgreg]

Pretty cool, how thick a slab will it do?

 

[Tom Smart]

Starting off with some 5/4 walnut I have for shelves my daughter wants. I’ve got some 8/4+ that will need flattening too.

 

[Tom Smart]

If I have thicker stuff, and maybe even for the 8/4, I can put the horizontals on 2x4 risers.

 

[woodtickgreg]

What if you pulled the router of the plastic base and then flipped the base over and remounted the router. That should about double the thickness that could be done.

 

[Tom Smart]

Yep, could probably do that!

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

Very nice. I should put that on my Christmas list for 3 years from now when last year's garage might get done...

 

[Tom Smart]

Ready for the first test ride.



Second slab.





2 more to do.