Router Technique Question?

[nickao]

Yes, Jerry. My 11 year old can handle the router on that Guide Rail. I never let him try handling it before that. The router on the rail is safer than a router table to me.

nickao

 

[Dan Clark]

This thread is the perfect reminder of just how important guided rail routing is as the guide rail securely holds the router against both in- and out-thrust no matter which way you move the router over the stationary work piece.  All part of what I am now calling, "The Festool Way".

Jerry

Typicall at school we use a router table for a lot of this work (the kiddees can't set a spinning router on a table top or snag their navel on it that way).

I tell my students (it's a router table now) to feed from the right to left on the front side of the cutter.  You want to feed into the direction the cutter is turning.

If you feed it the other direction, it's going to want to throw your board to the right.  If you are using a hand held router, your router will want to "run" down your board ripping the daylights out of everything.

Jerry,

I like that phrase - "The Festool Way".  But more importantly, you bring up a very important issue.  For a given situation, using Festool tools may or may not be the best approach.  The problem is that we've had decades of defining "The Standard Way", but only a few years of defining the "The Festool Way".  I would go further and argue that we are still discovering "The Festool Way".

It bugs me when someone asks, "Why is a Festool router better than a router?"  If you take many Festool tools out of context, you're missing much of the value.  The Festool TS55 works OK, but it's meant to work with a guide rail.  Add the MFT, and the benefit goes up.  Add DC and the benefit goes up further.  But that still doesn't address the issue.

The key issue IMO is NOT whether the Festool TS55 is BETTER than some other brand.  The KEY issue is how you break down sheet goods!  Or how to create a better overall workflow!  Or how to accomplish things more safely!  The KEY issue is defining better processes, and then to choose the best combo of components to make the process work.

OK...  Off soapbox!

Regards,

Dan.