Which bits?

[rhossack]

Having a couple days off I decided I needed to do something with my shop vac to help with the dust and chips from the TS and lathe.

I've been reading here and want to make one of these lids.

Now the problem.

I'm old and stubborn and have never used a router although I have a plunge router that has been sitting in a box for a few years.

I'm sure it's been covered in the posts here somewhere but my tunnel vision has missed it.

What size and kind of bits do you use to cut the radius and then the rabbet?

Woodcraft has some of their Woodriver bits on sale for $5 and if they had a couple that will work I'd get them.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4892

[phil (admin)]

To cut circles I rough cut them on the bandsaw, then finish them with a piloted patten bit like on of these:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4655

(I use my circle jig for a router table to do so).

If you're going to be doing this with a hand-held router, you may want to investigate the Jasper jig:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3582

(Or make one yourself).

Once I've got my circle, I use a rabbet bit to cut the rabbet for the rim of the can.  Like these:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=8058

Many of those bits can be purchased less expensively than what Woodcraft charges.  You can also do the entire thing with a Jasper jig (or equiv.) and a 1/4" upcut spiral bit like this one:

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=03K33&FamilyID=8000

You'd just have to make two passes for cutting the rabbet for the rim of the can.  But that is no biggie, I think it would work better with a free-hand router than trying to use the dedicated rabbet bit.

Let us know if you get stuck!

[dbhost]

I used my B&D Firestorm router to cut the circles using a 3/8" straight cutting bit. I did this because the router came with a circle cutting attachment from the factory. And it worked very well although setup was a PITA.

As far as the rabbet, I used an MLCS 9 piece rabbeting bit kit #8366
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/bit_rabbet.html#rabetting_kits_anchor I have been nothing but happy with it on every project I have taken it to. If I could cut dadoes with it I would...

The cutout was traced with a pencil shoved through a stick with a pin kind of jig. Nothing fancy, but functional. I did my radii to get my 240 deg, drew my straight lines, set my center pin and traced out my semi circle, then cut it out with my band saw as much as I could, cleaned up the parts I couldn't get to with my jig saw.

[bennybmn]

I rough cut mine with a jig saw about an 8th outside the line I drew with a beam compass.  Then I attached a circle jig to my plunge base router.

Side note, the plunge base turned out to be a REALLY good choice! Since the circle cutting jig is fixed, it is very helpful to be able to plunge into the edge, since you can't sneak up on it from the side like you would free hand routing.