Greetings All!
I am attempting to rout two keyholes on the back of a shaker shelf to hang
the shelf with. Its a flush mount shelf so I thought metal hangars would
look unsightly. I am a novice and have never tried this....I tried a few
practice attemps, but trying to balance the router, plunge the bit, and draw
it back to an exact point so the keyholes are the exact same length on each
side to make the shelf hang straight. This has me scratching my head and
thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
the exact same length on each side. The shelf is fully assembled.....has
anyone ever done something like this or made a jig along those lines?
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Thanks,
Frank (the newbie)
"Frank & Renee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:Dr2%d.9997$Ue6.245@trndny04...
> Greetings All!
>
> I am attempting to rout two keyholes on the back of a shaker shelf to hang
> the shelf with. Its a flush mount shelf so I thought metal hangars would
> look unsightly. I am a novice and have never tried this....I tried a few
> practice attemps, but trying to balance the router, plunge the bit, and
draw
> it back to an exact point so the keyholes are the exact same length on
each
> side to make the shelf hang straight. This has me scratching my head and
> thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
> surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
> the exact same length on each side. The shelf is fully assembled.....has
> anyone ever done something like this or made a jig along those lines?
>
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Frank (the newbie)
>
>
http://benchnotes.com/Keyhole%20Slot%20Guide/Keyhole_Slot_Guide.html
This is the one I found. only used it a few times but works fine for
non-production work.
pyro22
In article <Dr2%d.9997$Ue6.245@trndny04>, Frank & Renee
<[email protected]> wrote:
> This has me scratching my head and
> thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
> surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
> the exact same length on each side.
Jigs are good. Jigs are your friend.
I've never made one specific to the task you're talking about, but it's
not unusual for me to spend 2 to 10 X the time making a jig as it takes
to complete the task the jig is designed to assist.
It's worth it to do it right.
Of course, I now have a pile of jigs I will likely never use again, but
can't bear to discard.
;-)
djb
--
"The thing about saying the wrong words is that A, I don't notice it, and B,
sometimes orange water gibbon bucket and plastic." -- Mr. Burrows
On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 23:18:59 GMT, "Frank & Renee"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Greetings All!
>
>I am attempting to rout two keyholes on the back of a shaker shelf to hang
>the shelf with. Its a flush mount shelf so I thought metal hangars would
>look unsightly. I am a novice and have never tried this....I tried a few
>practice attemps, but trying to balance the router, plunge the bit, and draw
>it back to an exact point so the keyholes are the exact same length on each
>side to make the shelf hang straight. This has me scratching my head and
>thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
>surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
>the exact same length on each side. The shelf is fully assembled.....has
>anyone ever done something like this or made a jig along those lines?
>
>Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
The only keyholes I've cut were on my old router table ( a single
piece of 3/4" ply that was somewhat less than flat) and I found that
the easiest way to do it was to set up the fence for the beginning of
the cut, and then clamp a stop block behind the piece to determine the
length of the keyhole. Never did it freehand, but making a quick and
dirty router "table" is pretty easy if you just trace the base of the
router onto a piece of ply and then rout the sucker out so that it's
thin enough to screw the router directly to it (with a hole for the
bit, of course.) A fence can be any piece of flat stock that you can
clamp to the top. That system worked fine for me for over a year,
anyhow- and it sure was easy to use for the abovementioned keyholes.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
Thanks for all the suggestions!!
this is a very helpful group for a novice woodworker!! ;-)
"Frank & Renee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:Dr2%d.9997$Ue6.245@trndny04...
> Greetings All!
>
> I am attempting to rout two keyholes on the back of a shaker shelf to hang
> the shelf with. Its a flush mount shelf so I thought metal hangars would
> look unsightly. I am a novice and have never tried this....I tried a few
> practice attemps, but trying to balance the router, plunge the bit, and
draw
> it back to an exact point so the keyholes are the exact same length on
each
> side to make the shelf hang straight. This has me scratching my head and
> thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
> surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
> the exact same length on each side. The shelf is fully assembled.....has
> anyone ever done something like this or made a jig along those lines?
>
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Frank (the newbie)
>
>
"Leon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:kH2%[email protected]...
> If! you have a router table set the fence several inches, the distance
> that you want to have the tops of the holes, back from the bit. With the
> router on, set the piece on top of the spinning bit about 1/2" away form
> the fence and plunge until the piece is setting on the table. The push
> the piece back until it contacts the fence. The fence will insure that
> the tops of the slots are all the same distance from the top.
> Alternatively and this is how I now do it, draw a line at the top point
> and free hand until you see the small piece of the bit come in contact
> with that line.
A PS here. After making the cuts, always turn the router off before trying
to remove the bit or back out of the cut.
In article <190320051725294792%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca>,
Dave Balderstone <dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> wrote:
> Of course, I now have a pile of jigs I will likely never use again, but
> can't bear to discard.
You know the rule: discard it, and you will need it again.
Never fails.
A dentist designed a stainless l-shaped disposal-trough/sink to be
undermounted to a countertop. After successful completion of the job, I
looked at the weird template and cut it into strips..."I'll never use
that again..."
6 months later, he called for 4 more. 2 for a new office, 2 for a friend
of his. Said dentist is 120 km from my shop...of course....
That jig I made to cut a slot into a countertop so that continuous feed
paper could go through it to a printer???? "Nobody uses that any more!"
'Cept that JiffyLube joint...brand new dot-matrix printers...they want
some green Staron countertops..... you know the rest....
If! you have a router table set the fence several inches, the distance that
you want to have the tops of the holes, back from the bit. With the router
on, set the piece on top of the spinning bit about 1/2" away form the fence
and plunge until the piece is setting on the table. The push the piece back
until it contacts the fence. The fence will insure that the tops of the
slots are all the same distance from the top.
Alternatively and this is how I now do it, draw a line at the top point and
free hand until you see the small piece of the bit come in contact with that
line.
"Frank & Renee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:Dr2%d.9997$Ue6.245@trndny04...
> Greetings All!
>
> I am attempting to rout two keyholes on the back of a shaker shelf to hang
> the shelf with. Its a flush mount shelf so I thought metal hangars would
> look unsightly. I am a novice and have never tried this....I tried a few
> practice attemps, but trying to balance the router, plunge the bit, and
> draw
> it back to an exact point so the keyholes are the exact same length on
> each
> side to make the shelf hang straight. This has me scratching my head and
> thinking about assembling some type of MDF jig to give the router a flat
> surface to lay on, and some sort of stop block to ensure the keyholes are
> the exact same length on each side. The shelf is fully assembled.....has
> anyone ever done something like this or made a jig along those lines?
>
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Frank (the newbie)
>
>
On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 17:25:29 -0600, Dave Balderstone
<dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> wrote:
... snip
>Jigs are good. Jigs are your friend.
>
>I've never made one specific to the task you're talking about, but it's
>not unusual for me to spend 2 to 10 X the time making a jig as it takes
>to complete the task the jig is designed to assist.
>
>It's worth it to do it right.
>
>Of course, I now have a pile of jigs I will likely never use again, but
>can't bear to discard.
Solved that problem with my most recent jig. I built a cutoff jig that
allows one to cut crown molding without using compound angles. It worked
great. Unfortunately, I wound up cutting it in half while using it -- made
it easy to discard after I was done with it. :-)
>
>;-)
>
>djb
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The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety
Army General Richard Cody
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