Router Sled

[charles mann]

Was finally able to finish up my sled. My first router base trolley was a lil flimsy and i didnt take in to count the width of router compared to the width of the carriage. I'll try to post pics tomorrow. 

Which direction is best to go? It seems i get a better finish if move along the length of the slab, then move over for my next pass. But the carriage has just enough twist to make long runs hard to push. 
I ended up cutting the full width and  and moving the carriage for the next cut. 
Im only cutting 1/8"-3/16" deep depending the twist of the slab, and on a 2" cutter, 1/2"-3/4" width of cut per pass. 

[charles mann]

Well uploading photos from my phone is a bit harder than on my computer, so no pics to post. 

Figured out why my router trolley was a lil tight. The hole through t slot wheel bearings are 8mm and i dont own foreign drill bits, so i punched the holes in the trolley to 3/8", which also allowed for any slight misalignment. When i put the wheels on, i tightened the nylock nuts a bit to tight and they all were not in the same position within the 3/8" hole, and the nut being to tight, i pushed the wheels against one edge of the t slot, causing some drag. 
I will get some 0.010" shim stock and shim the wheels off the edge of the slot. 

As for my carriage wobble, not sure on how to solve that yet and it seems i dont enough weight pushing down on the carriage wheels, not allowing them roll freely on my 3/8" angled rails. 
Gonna have to find or have built, actual v-groove rollers/wheels with bearings, not hard rubber casters with a v groove machined into them. 

[Ljohnsaw]

I needed something quick and I was only doing cedar so it didn't have to be perfect.  It's soft enough to be able to sand out problems.  So, I used some 1½x1½ angle (IIRC) and  some threaded rod for legs (adjustable).  For the cross piece and the trolley, I used sliding glass door wheels.  When I mounted my router to the trolley, it wasn't perfect but I was able to shim it with washers to get it close enough.


 

 

 

 

[charles mann]

I used 3/16" aluminum flat plate and welded up a U/horse shoe for the trolley and used the teflon skid pad off the base of the router as a template to get my mount screw holes and the bit hole and countersunk the screw holes. I took some 1"x1"x1/8" alum angle and welded in for support, but also to capture the router base for ease of hole alignment when mounting the router to the base. 

I too have a height adjustment of around 8", giving me the ability to router about a 9.5" thick slab/log/timber. 

I built mine to ride on the rails of my sawmill. But after about 2hrs of sledding on my mill bunks, i see why y'all say a suitable working height is easier on the back. I WILL be building a table with adjustable legs for leveling, about waist height that will ease the strain on my already broken back. 
I will eventually motorize the carriage and trolley and control movement from one side. My next add-on will be strips of clear pvc curtain to help shield the chips from hitting me at high speed, and some felt scrubbers for the trolley wheels and extend into the t slot to help push the chips away from the wheels. 

If posting pics wasnt so complicated, id post pics of the set up. The older i get, the less complicated technology i want to deal with. If its beyond copy/paste out of photo library, i refrain from additional headaches other than life in general. 

[JoshNZ]

This is all mine is. But I only use it for my own work, I've never flattened a slab for sale.



 

[charles mann]

@JoshNZ are those mill blade marks or router cutter marks running across the slab? 

I get very noticeable router marks when cutting, i would guess with the grain (across the slab) and very minimal marks going along the length of the slab. 

[JoshNZ]

They're both router marks, left side of the sled is with a bit I made myself by brazing spiral planer head inserts to a mandrel I turned, and the right side is a store bought flattening bit.

It's always left stripes, even my CNC table leaves stripes. They're quite shallow though and sand out easily. I think it's more to do with the orientation the grain was cut at rather than different levels per cut. If you took down your overlap to only a few mm you'd prob not see stripes as it'd all be cut the same way but since you're over lappying by half the cutter diameter, the worked end edge is being cut along the grain and unworked end edge across. I don't think it makes too much of a difference which way you run your strokes, since it's a spinning cutter.

[Machinebuilder]

Coming from using a mill to cut metal.

When you set up a large diameter cutter you want to have a very small amount of tilt to it.
That way you aren't dragging the cutter across the already cut surface.

the lines are going to be there for at least 2 reasons,
1. there is a slight tilt side to side
2. if you are cutting in both directions, the difference in cutter rotation, ie climb cutting vs conventional cutting.
    I think with wood it would be more visible do to the the grain.

Depending on what I am setting a machine up for the tilt can be less than 0.001"

This is completely avoiding the cutter geometry issues