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Graphus
Graphus
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Im working on a “control panel” made out of 3/16” acrylic with several small cutouts in it for gauges, displays etc. Overall the piece is about 20” by 7”. In the past I have cut the acrylic to size using my Bosch plunge router and guides, and either made templates or set up straight guides to do the cutouts and ensure perfectly square/straight lines. To do this more efficiently I thought I would try a router table, so I picked up the Bosch RA1181. Having never used the table before, I wanted to be clear on general safety. One of the things I’ve read is you should never have your work piece sandwiched between the fence and bit. I was planning on doing just that to “rip” the acrylic to size (ie set fence at 7” to cut the overall rectangle from a larger piece of acrylic), and again have a portion of the acrylic between the bit and fence as I wanted to use the fence as my straight edge to make the cutouts.

I guess what I’m wondering is, whether the router table is the right tool for this job. And secondly, if you cant have your workpiece between the fence and bit, is there ever a situation where you would be using the fence on a router table for something other than edge routing, ie making a cut where the fence is several inches from the bit?

Im working on a “control panel” made out of 3/16” acrylic with several small cutouts in it for gauges, displays etc. Overall the piece is about 20” by 7”. In the past I have cut the acrylic to size using my Bosch plunge router and guides, and either made templates or set up straight guides to do the cutouts and ensure perfectly square/straight lines. To do this more efficiently I thought I would try a router table, so I picked up the Bosch RA1181. Having never used the table before, I wanted to be clear on general safety. One of the things I’ve read is you should never have your work piece sandwiched between the fence and bit. I was planning on doing just that to “rip” the acrylic to size (ie set fence at 7” to cut the overall rectangle from a larger piece of acrylic), and again have a portion of the acrylic between the bit and fence as I wanted to use the fence as my straight edge to make the cutouts.

I guess what I’m wondering is, whether the router table is the right tool for this job. And secondly, if you cant have your workpiece between the fence and bit, is there ever a situation where you would be using the fence on a router table for something other than edge routing, ie making a cut where the fence is several inches from the bit?

Im working on a “control panel” made out of 3/16” acrylic with several small cutouts in it for gauges, displays etc. Overall the piece is about 20” by 7”. In the past I have cut the acrylic to size using my Bosch plunge router and guides, and either made templates or set up straight guides to do the cutouts and ensure perfectly square/straight lines. To do this more efficiently I thought I would try a router table, so I picked up the Bosch RA1181. Having never used the table before, I wanted to be clear on general safety. One of the things I’ve read is you should never have your work piece sandwiched between the fence and bit. I was planning on doing just that to “rip” the acrylic to size (ie set fence at 7” to cut the overall rectangle from a larger piece of acrylic), and again have a portion of the acrylic between the bit and fence as I wanted to use the fence as my straight edge to make the cutouts.

I guess what I’m wondering is, whether the router table is the right tool for this job.

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Josh
Josh
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Router Table - Ripping and Inside Cutouts

Im working on a “control panel” made out of 3/16” acrylic with several small cutouts in it for gauges, displays etc. Overall the piece is about 20” by 7”. In the past I have cut the acrylic to size using my Bosch plunge router and guides, and either made templates or set up straight guides to do the cutouts and ensure perfectly square/straight lines. To do this more efficiently I thought I would try a router table, so I picked up the Bosch RA1181. Having never used the table before, I wanted to be clear on general safety. One of the things I’ve read is you should never have your work piece sandwiched between the fence and bit. I was planning on doing just that to “rip” the acrylic to size (ie set fence at 7” to cut the overall rectangle from a larger piece of acrylic), and again have a portion of the acrylic between the bit and fence as I wanted to use the fence as my straight edge to make the cutouts.

I guess what I’m wondering is, whether the router table is the right tool for this job. And secondly, if you cant have your workpiece between the fence and bit, is there ever a situation where you would be using the fence on a router table for something other than edge routing, ie making a cut where the fence is several inches from the bit?