Technique question pattern routing

[Greg Scott]

I'm in the process of making some rocking chairs for our deck. Wifes b-day present which was in may so I'm a little behind Anyway I'm forming the rocker part and using a flush trim bit and a pattern made of 1/2 mdf. It works well on the long arcing parts but I had a blowout while trying to route the end curves. Would I be better off just using the disc sander on the end curves. Here is a profile of what I'm doing the green part is where the blowout occured.

Thanks,
Greg

[Donnie Raines]

I have made a few rockers. I always cut the form out of the bandsaw then double stick taped the pattern to the cut out. I would then use the router on a table.....I never had any major blow out this way.

But yes...you could use a belt sander....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Greg.....I built a gazebo that had curved facia. I used pattern routing to do it. The first one blew out when I was cut "up the grain". I found that cutting down the grain through the 1st half of the curve....then flip the piece over and reattach to the pattern and finish the 2nd half while cutting down the grain. You might try taking a little less off at a time using different size bushing and stepping down if you're cutting end grain. Good luck and let us know how you accomplish it!

[john whittaker]

Greg....Donnie & Ken give good advice. End grain can be tricky so take off a little at a time. Cut very close to the line with the band saw & then use the router/pattern bit to finish. If you choose to use a sander, tape both rockers together & sand at the same time so sanding yields two identical pieces.
Good luck & post the finished pics. OH...your wife must be OK since she lets you live while her present is still "in-the-oven".

[Chris Fite]

You might try cutting from the other direction to cut the grain from the other side. I found that that would help with the problem when I made a few hundred pieces for a sanctuary. This will make controlling the router difficult if there is not much support for the base.

Hope this helps.

[Dale Critchlow]

I just finished a set of eight dining room chairs for my daugther. I had some problems with tearout at first.

My solution was to use a larger bearing on the pattern bit for the first cut. There was 1/16" left after the first cut. Then I changed the bearing to remove the last 1/16" inch.

I happened to have two routers and two pattern bits so it was easy to change between cuts without removing the template.

Good luck,

Dale Critchlow