Old LR32 System + OF 1400 = ?

[BTDT]

I picked up an older version of the LR32 system complete with all of the goodies. The price was too good to be true. (Basically the price of the router bits alone.) I tried using it with my OF1400 but am obviously running into some problems. I use the centering mandrel to position it on the base. I can drill the first row of holes but when I flip the board around to drill the holes for the opposite side they don't line up.

Would getting the correct (new) base take care of this or am I missing the obvious?

Brad

 

[mastercabman]

Did you use those screw-in stops on the guide rail?

 

[nnordrum]

Can you post some pictures? Can you quantify "doesn't line up"? 1mm off? 16mm off?

 

[Brice Burrell]

I assume you have the older base plate that doesn't have the screw holes for the OF1400 router.  If that's the case how did you mount the 1400 to the base then?

If you have the router mounted correctly there could be having any number of problems.  If the holes are off a small amount you could have misaligned the rail.  You need to be sure you have all the stops set correctly and double check that they are butted up tight to the work piece before you rout.  

If the holes are off be a lot and you aren't use a panel length that is a multiple of 32mm, you likely didn't index the rail correctly for the second row of holes.  Or maybe you just set the stop incorrectly on the rail. 

 

[nnordrum]

I'm assuming you have major alignment issues, not a base plate misalignment.

Brice's Excellent LR-32 Guide

Check on page 6 where he draws the lines on the board. Try that and you should be able to fiddle with the end stops until it lines up correctly.

p.s. Thanks for the great guide Brice! Was super helpful.
p.p.s. My side stops were slightly off out of the box, so double check that as well.

 

[BTDT]

I assume you have the older base plate that doesn't have the screw holes for the OF1400 router.  If that's the case how did you mount the 1400 to the base then?

If you have the router mounted correctly there could be having any number of problems.  If the holes are off a small amount you could have misaligned the rail.  You need to be sure you have all the stops set correctly and double check that they are butted up tight to the work piece before you rout.  

If the holes are off be a lot and you aren't use a panel length that is a multiple of 32mm, you likely didn't index the rail correctly for the second row of holes.  Or maybe you just set the stop incorrectly on the rail. 

I should have tried my first language, English. [unsure]

I have the older base plate and wanted to check out the system. To answer your question Brice: I mounted the OF1400 using the base plate as is. I centred the router using the mandrel. Just curious what I need to get in order to use this set up (besides a 1010.)

I checked the guide rail and it positions the same when I flip board round for the second set of holes. I just want to be sure that if I get the correct base plate and mount the router properly that I should be good to go.

 

[gkeas]

If you were able to center the 1400 on the plate using the mandrel, you should be gold (assuming the position of the router didn't change after you centered it." 

My best guess is an issue with your alignment on the second row.  If your cabinet side isn't a balanced 32mm measurement, then that would be an issue if you didn't reference the same end (top or bottom) as your starting point. 

This may sound obvious, but I've made a few simple errors in my woodworking "career."

 

[JeromeM]

Another possibility is that you didn't use the same side of the second positioning stop. One side gives a 32 mm spacing the reverse is a 16 mm spacing.

Or you may not have butted the stops hard against the same end, bottom or top of your cabinet side.

As you were able to fit the router using the mandrel assuming you tightened it firmly then the OF1400 will do the job.
You can see it ready for use for a different job here http://meekings.selfip.com/nui/Groups-of-photos/Wood_work_etc/Pages/20mm_Hole_96mm_Grid.html#1

 

[Brice Burrell]

I should have tried my first language, English. [unsure]

I have the older base plate and wanted to check out the system. To answer your question Brice: I mounted the OF1400 using the base plate as is. I centred the router using the mandrel. Just curious what I need to get in order to use this set up (besides a 1010.)

I checked the guide rail and it positions the same when I flip board round for the second set of holes. I just want to be sure that if I get the correct base plate and mount the router properly that I should be good to go.

Hmmmm, are you saying you didn't actually attach the LR32 base plate because you don't have the correct plate to fit the 1400?  As of 2007 or so the base plate have been modified to accept the 1010 and the 1400.  The 1010 uses the two round mounting flanges and knobs, the 1400 gets screwed through the LR32 base plate into the router's base with two screws.  If you do indeed have the old plate you'll need to drill two holes in the plate and get two metric screws (I believe M5, but don't take my word on that).

[attachthumb=#]

   

 

[rickets]

Not to thread jack, but I had to put nylon tape on the inside of the notch which rides on the rail to get it evened up.  I checked everything and found the plate was off.  Sucked cuz I ruined a bunch of nice pieces.

 

[Alan m]

im sure you could use a 40 mm guide bush(i think the hole is 40 mm) ti center the of1400 on the sled part. maybe reduce the flange depth.

 

[Sean7a]

I think Brice may be spot on.  Likely not indexed correctly?  Are the "nubs" flipped?  As someone mentioned, they reference 32 on one side only.

 

[NOD]

I just went through this myself, thinking I knew what  I was doing, and discovered every way to go wrong. 

First, if you're going to flip your pieces 180 to do the second row of holes, your pieces need to be an exact multiple of 32mm long.  Mine were off by 1mm which caused a 1mm misalignment between the rows.

Second, the router bit needs to be exactly centered on the plate.  Mine was off by a 2mm, causing a 4mm misalignment between the rows.  Also, my plate, which came with the 584100 LR 32 set, doesn't fit my 1400 router .  Even when the indexing tab is right up against the base the mandrel is ~2mm away from the center of the hole.  It doesn't matter that much if the misalignment is perpendicular to the row of holes, your rows will just end up closer together or farther apart.  If it's in the direction of the row then your holes will end up misaligned by 2x the bit misalignment.

Third, you have to pick the right set of pins on the alignment stop.  That is, when you position the edge of your board along the length of the rail, you need to choose the appropriate set of pins to get the edge to line up either with the center of a hole or halfway between them.

After wasting a few pieces I found that I could more easily avoid mistakes by checking, once everything was clamped and ready to go, that each side of the board was exactly centered in the middle of a hole in the guide rail.  With that done I then cut the first hole for one row, flipped the board and did the last hole for the second row.  I verified that the two holes lined up before cutting the rest of the row.

Note that you can save yourself a lot of alignment hassles by simply not flipping the board 180.  If you just slide the board farther in or out to do the second row, and index off the same edge of the board for both rows of holes, then it doesn't matter what length the booard is, whether the bit is centered, or anything else.

Hope that helps.

--Niall

 

[Brice Burrell]

First congrats on your first post!

First, if you're going to flip your pieces 180 to do the second row of holes, your pieces need to be an exact multiple of 32mm long.  Mine were off by 1mm which caused a 1mm misalignment between the rows....

This isn't an uncommon mistake for first time users.  As you said indexing all your holes off the same end is surefire way to avoid this issue.

....Second, the router bit needs to be exactly centered on the plate.  Mine was off by a 2mm, causing a 4mm misalignment between the rows.  Also, my plate, which came with the 584100 LR 32 set, doesn't fit my 1400 router .  Even when the indexing tab is right up against the base the mandrel is ~2mm away from the center of the hole......

This isn't right, your OF1400 should center perfectly on the plate.  Do you have the LR32 base plate with the two holes for the 1400 router?

There's no question, there is a learning curve.  It you have some experience with making 32mm/Euro cabinets you'll likely pick it up quickly.  It's best to do a few practices runs on cheap materials to work through the learning curve.

 

[NOD]

Thanks for the insight on the plate, Brice.  Indeed, with the two screws inserted from the bottom it fits the 1400 router.  What threw me is that it seems to be mounted backwards in the sense that the vertically adjustable plastic support foot, which on the 1010 fits in the matching notch at the edge of the plate, sits in the middle of the plate where it's unusable.

 

[JeromeM]

Thanks for the insight on the plate, Brice.  Indeed, with the two screws inserted from the bottom it fits the 1400 router.  What threw me is that it seems to be mounted backwards in the sense that the vertically adjustable plastic support foot, which on the 1010 fits in the matching notch at the edge of the plate, sits in the middle of the plate where it's unusable.

Sure it's unusable. because there is no point in using it when its on the plate http://www.flickr.com/photos/nui-jerome/3933247888/#in/set-72157622407585122 here is a pic of it mounted.