Routing Groove for Drawer sides.

[sancho57]

Ive been making some drawers out of 1/2" Baltic Birch and I want to do it entirely with festools. Normally when I make the grooves in the sides for the drawer bottoms I would use a dado blade on my TS or my router table. But since I bought a ten ten I want to use it. I already cut the drawer sides to 7" wide by 20" long.

I got about every accessory for the ten ten except the edge guide which Im going to pick up the next day or so.

Im thinking thats the way to go for this operation.

Im trying to figure out the quickest easiest way possible to route that groove in using the ten ten.

Note I have already cut the pieces to size.

My question is what set up do you use?

Thanks

 

[tjbnwi]

I see you have MFT's. Do you have the rail adapter for your 1010?  If so set up a stop parallel to the left side of the rail. Set the stop so the center of the groove aligns with the center line marks on the router base. Slide the piece under the rail, set the bit to the proper depth and route away. The other option is the edge guide. The easiest way to layout the groove is using the center line on the router base.

Tom

 

[ccarrolladams]

Sancho,

Although it is possible to use just an edge guide to route grooves for drawer bottoms in the sides, fronts and backs, when a full-blown MFT is available, I certainly suggest instead using a guide rail plate for your OF1010. By the way, even if you need to use 12mm bottoms in your drawers, the OF1010 has more than enough power.

Recently I added a drawer making department to my shop. We purchased a state-of-the-art CNC dovetail machine from Alexander Dodds Company along with a Dodds automatic assembly machine.

Because we need to make a vast number of various size drawers each day, we do not have time to use an OF1010 on a guide rail. We have purchased a dedicated router table with power feed for making the grooves.

Although it is legal to use a dado head in a table saw in California, my workers comp insurance company discourages doing so. A recent meeting of the CMA was held at a drawer making factory. Talking to others in the business my impression is most prefer using routers for the grooves. There is a lot to be said for using the power feed on the router table because of consistent results.

 

[mastercabman]

Ive been making some drawers out of 1/2" Baltic Birch and I want to do it entirely with festools. Normally when I make the grooves in the sides for the drawer bottoms I would use a dado blade on my TS or my router table. But since I bought a ten ten I want to use it. I already cut the drawer sides to 7" wide by 20" long.

I got about every accessory for the ten ten except the edge guide which Im going to pick up the next day or so.

Im thinking thats the way to go for this operation.

Im trying to figure out the quickest easiest way possible to route that groove in using the ten ten.

Note I have already cut the pieces to size.

My question is what set up do you use?

Thanks

The edge guide came with my 1010,  Is it not the case now?

 

[davee]

I have been using the MFK with edge guide to route the grooves for the drawers, which works well and captures all the debris.  The 1010 would work very well for this as also.

 

[BobKovacs]

1010 and edge guide is what I use- works like a charm!

 

[tbellemare]

The edge guide came with my 1010,  Is it not the case now?

The Edge Guide does not come with the OF 1010 but the Guide Rail Stop does.

Tom

 

[extiger]

Use the MFT and let the Guide Rail track your Dados. Cut Dados in both sides of the case by placing the boards side by side. I use the OF 1400 router with spiral straight bit. Can't remember if it is Upcut or Downcut. One that leaves a clean bottom. 

In fact I bought the MFT/3 specifically because cutting Dados on a tablesaw scares me. An edge guide limits how far up the side of a cabinet case you can position Dados.

 

[mastercabman]

The edge guide came with my 1010,  Is it not the case now?

The Edge Guide does not come with the OF 1010 but the Guide Rail Stop does.

Tom

Sorry Tom,but mine came with the edge guide and guide rail stop

 

[Brice Burrell]

The edge guide came with my 1010,  Is it not the case now?

The Edge Guide does not come with the OF 1010 but the Guide Rail Stop does.

Tom

Sorry Tom,but mine came with the edge guide and guide rail stop

Mine did too, but that was several years ago.  Tom is correct, it's no longer included.

 

[tbellemare]

Yeah, that had to be several years ago. The offerings change from time to time.

Tom

 

[mastercabman]

The edge guide came with my 1010,  Is it not the case now?

The Edge Guide does not come with the OF 1010 but the Guide Rail Stop does.

Tom

Sorry Tom,but mine came with the edge guide and guide rail stop

Mine did too, but that was several years ago.  Tom is correct, it's no longer included.

Well,i guess we luck out!

 

[mouppe]

I'm not an old-school contrarian but for one drawer, I would cut the grooves with my plough plane. From start to finish I would be done in under three minutes with zero chance of making a disastrous error.

Contrast that with the time it takes to set up the router and dust extractor, clamp the wood, do a test cut, and the possibility of making a bad mistake.

Richard.

 

[VictorL]

The problem is clamping small parts.  Let see.
1. setup MFT with rail.
2. position drawer slide parallel to rail.
3. Clamp ends with clamping elements
4. clamp board with the same thickness on the 3rd side and use two more clamping elements.
5. Setup router
6. Start to cut.

Router table (CMS) with slot cutter works MUCH faster.
VictorL

 

[spikfot]

I'm not an old-school contrarian but for one drawer, I would cut the grooves with my plough plane. From start to finish I would be done in under three minutes with zero chance of making a disastrous error.

Contrast that with the time it takes to set up the router and dust extractor, clamp the wood, do a test cut, and the possibility of making a bad mistake.

Richard.

I'm not sure anything was mentioned about one drawer, and the OP has stated he's using a router (1010)

But now that you've said it.....

PLEASE post a quick vid of your under 90 second dado, with, as you stated: set-up included.

 

[sancho57]

Thanks for all the replies.

What I ended up doing was taking a piece of 3/4 ply, and some 1/2 scraps and made a jig simular to the one Brice used in his door video. I took some 1/2 scrap and pinned ithem to the 3/4 to form OD of 3 sides of the drawer place a drawer side in the jig  used a couple of pinners to hold it in place while routing and set the guide rail and clamped it down on the scrap,  measured to ensure the guide rail was set,  clamped  the guide rail , route the groove  then add another side.  

They came out pretty good.

Once the jig was made it went pretty fast.

I had 5 drawers to make.

It would be 20 pieces  needed to be routed.

It would be a piece of cake using the TS or a RT but I wanted make these entirely with festools.

After the jig was made, it was a piece of cake.

 

[mouppe]

I'm not an old-school contrarian but for one drawer, I would cut the grooves with my plough plane. From start to finish I would be done in under three minutes with zero chance of making a disastrous error.

Contrast that with the time it takes to set up the router and dust extractor, clamp the wood, do a test cut, and the possibility of making a bad mistake.

Richard.

I'm not sure anything was mentioned about one drawer, and the OP has stated he's using a router (1010)

But now that you've said it.....

PLEASE post a quick vid of your under 90 second dado, with, as you stated: set-up included.

Here you go. 30 seconds to cut the groove. I started cutting at 4.45 in. Before that I introduced the plane, showed how to set up the plane, and other ramblings.

Sure I would reach for the router if I was doing a bunch of drawers, but for one drawer (my bad, I misread the original post) I would reach for the plane. I don't have a preference one way or the other- I just pick the best tool for the job and in this case I'd go with the hand tool.

Groovin' with the Veritas Plow Plane

 

[sancho57]

thats a cool little do-hicky ya got there. Did you use plywood stock for your demo or solid wood?

I do like that little plane

 

[mouppe]

I used solid pine in the demo. I don't mind plywood for drawer bottoms, but not for drawer sides. It's a one-trick pony of a plane, but it does its job really well. I looked at it for a long time before getting it, but haven't regretted it for a second.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Good job, Richard!  Looks like that helmet cam is working out well.