One of the most versatile machines for joinery and carpentry is a wood router. With this high-precision device, many woodworking operations can be performed. And with certain skills and sufficient qualifications of the master, a hand mill can serve as a tool for artistic woodcarving in the base plane.
The machine consists of a large power motor, a compact bed and several guides. The engine is designed to rotate the cutter in the range from 12 to 24 thousand rpm, which provides a fairly clean cut. As a rule, a manual wood router is equipped with a speed controller, the rotation speed directly depends on the size of the cutter used. The larger the cutter, the slower the rotation speed should be to avoid overheating.
Cutters, which are equipped with wood routers, are of two types, the so-called end, for milling grooves, grooves and dovetail slots. And support cutters, which are designed to process the edge of the workpiece, straight, angular or shaped. Terminalmilling cutters are divided into cylindrical, semicircular and pointed, sharpened at a certain angle. The range of support cutters cannot be counted, their profiling is too diverse, the head diameter can be from 4 to 30 mm.
The support cutter has an auxiliary ring at the end, which limits the pressure of its cutting edge to the material being processed. Instead of a restrictive ring, a small ball bearing can be installed. The cutter pressure limitation method allows the use of special reusable templates when the workpiece being processed is rigidly aligned with the template and the cutter, relying on the template with its bearing, cuts the workpiece according to a given profile and size. Templates are made of solid material, it can be plywood, 10 mm thick, textolite sheet, aluminum or plexiglass.
Modern manual wood router has a mechanism that regulates the depth of milling, the so-called elevator. The machine slides up and down on two vertical guide rods, while the router can be fixed at any point in height. For work that is often repetitive, there is a three-position limiter, revolving type, on which the milling cutter is lowered and fixed in this position. For finer height adjustment, an additional screw stop is provided.
Also, a manual wood router is equipped with a limiting mechanism for milling at a given distance from the edge of the workpiece. This is a special focuswhich moves along two horizontal rods fixed at the base of the machine. After the final installation, the stop is fixed with two screws. If the length of this device is not enough and the specified distance is not reached, then guide rails are used instead of the stop, which can be installed at any point.
Equally important is the engine power of a hand mill. Usually, electric motors with a power of 1.5 kilowatts are installed on household hand-held wood routers. But if the machine is used in constant load mode, this power will not be enough. It is better to purchase a milling machine with an engine of 1.8 or 2.0 kilowatts. In this case, the power reserve is enough even for round-the-clock operation.
