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Thread: Couple Questinos Regarding Making a Round Top Table

  1. #1
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    Couple Questinos Regarding Making a Round Top Table

    I am going to be making a Candle Stand table (round top).

    I plan to use a router compass and router, since I bought one to do it, to cut the top. Question, what bit. straight bit, or an upcut/downcut spiral bit? Probably should have made or bought a circle cutting jig for the band saw instead.

    How would you put a profile on the edge, hand held router or on the router table? I made a test round top and cut the profile on the router table and had a few burns on the edge. I found it challenging to keep the blank turning at a consistent rate of feed and assume that is what caused the burning. The test blank was soft maple and the actual top will be cherry and if I am correct cherry will burn easily just like soft maple.

    Thanks for the input.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  2. #2
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    Although I have never done exactly what you are attempting to do, I have had issues with burning when routing before. I've found that making the first pass with the router slightly oversized and then doing another pass that barely skims the edge produces very good results. Scott

  3. #3
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    Thanks Scott. I did do the edge profile in two passes.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  4. #4
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    Then hopefully someone with more knowledge and experience than me will chime in with a better idea. I'll be watching so I can learn something, too.

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    I'm curious about the radius of your top. If it is a 2 ft. radius or about, I would consider a jig on my band saw to rotate the top on.

  6. #6
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    Hi George, I've included a photo (below) of an elliptical jig I made for a recent project, but the process is similar for circles. You can use a straight bit or a spiral up-cut bit. If you have a plunge router base, then you should make your cutout in several passes, setting the bit a little deeper with each pass until you've cut all the way through your material. If you're using a fixed-base then it'll be easier on your router and the bit, if you use a bandsaw or jigsaw to cut away most of the waste material beforehand.

    Adding a profile to the edge would probably be easier by hand, but I think that would be a matter of preference and shop setup. If you're using a router table, then having a guide pin would give you another point of contact to balance against besides just the router bit.

    Last edited by Mike Ontko; 05-01-2017 at 5:32 PM.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    I'm curious about the radius of your top. If it is a 2 ft. radius or about, I would consider a jig on my band saw to rotate the top on.
    radius is nine inches
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Ontko View Post
    Hi George, I've included a photo (below) of an elliptical jig I made for a recent project, but the process is similar for circles. You can use a straight bit or a spiral up-cut bit. If you have a plunge router base, then you should make your cutout in several passes, setting the bit a little deeper with each pass until you've cut all the way through your material. If you're using a fixed-base then it'll be easier on your router and the bit, if you use a bandsaw or jigsaw to cut away most of the waste material beforehand.

    Adding a profile to the edge would probably be easier by hand, but I think that would be a matter of preference and shop setup. If you're using a router table, then having a guide pin would give you another point of contact to balance against besides just the router bit.
    I am using a plunge router and making the cut in several passes. I did not use a guide pin on the router table, just did think of using one. Sort of thought the bearing was adequate but now see that the guide pin would definitely help a lot.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  9. #9
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    When I made one of these, I used a band saw jig to cut the circle, and then used a small block plane to profile the egde. The top for my candle stand was only 1/2" thick, and I didn't have faith that a router would make the cut without some sort of tearout. It seems to me that no matter what you do with the router you will be cutting uphill against the grain in two quarters of the circle. I've never had luck doing that with any kind of straight or up-cut spiral bit.

    A spoke shave would probably have been easier for the profile, but I don't own one so I just used the shortest plane that I had.

    --Dan

  10. #10
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    For an 18" top -
    Clamp a home made table extension to the side of your bandsaw table. Drive a nail 9" offset from the blade.
    Align this nail with the tooth line on the saw blade.

    Then place your table blank with a small hole in the center over the nail. This requires a hole in the blank the size of the nail.
    The blank should be 18" square.

    Also, you could make an oversize plywood table to place on top of the saw table and drive a center nail anywhere you want it.
    Last edited by lowell holmes; 05-02-2017 at 11:12 AM.

  11. #11
    I've made round tables and used the MicroFence jig with my router. I haven't had much problem with burning of the wood but what little I did have I sanded out by hand.

    A problem is to route a profile on the edge. To do that, you have to have your pivot point on the top of the table but you don't want to leave a hole in the top. I glue a fairly thin block to the top, with paper between the block and the top. You can remove that with a chisel and then sand off the paper that's still on the top.

    The MicroFence uses a certain size hole for the pivot point (don't remember the size) so I draw two perpendicular lines on the block and drill that size hole in the block where the lines meet. Find the center of your table blank and draw two perpendicular lines centered on that point. You can align the block and those lines.

    When routing, take small cuts and it helps to have someone hold the pivot point in the hole in the block. You just don't want that to come out while you're routing.

    I've also used that technique to inlay stringing in a table top close to the edge - just for decoration. Use a small router bit and then glue in the stringing. Of course, you can lay in multiple lines with multiple colors. You can even put the stringing next to each other - just glue in one and let the glue set well before routing for the next color. The MicroFence allow very accurate control of the radius.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  12. #12
    I would use a spiral bit. It plunges easy, and burns less than some straight bits.

    If you will be putting a profile on the edge, it won't matter too much what kind of spiral bit you use. But typically, you route from the bottom side with a compass, so might wish to use an upcut bit. Not only will this evacuate chips better, it will leave a cleaner edge on the bottom of the cut (top of the table).

    The thing to beware of with any bit in this application is routing the long grain. You'll go from routing downhill to routing uphill a couple times. It is right at the peak of the long grain where this transition is the most delicate and where you can get severe blowout. The cure is to take light passes and to route downhill as much as possible - which means climb cutting portions. Now, that's really tricky on a circle, because the router can run in the channel - which is why I advise doing light passes.

    you may get lucky depending on your wood, and all the above fears are for naught. But I've ruined the edge of an ash table by not being careful.
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 05-02-2017 at 12:32 PM.

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