The saga continues...
I had a bizarre dream a couple days ago. I was in the bathroom (?) routing the channel in the body for the binding, and for some reason I was on the phone at the same time, which meant I could only hold the router with one hand. As a result, I was both out of control and not paying attention so I somehow managed to route the whole lower horn off the body. I kept looking at it, cursing my stupidity, without even wondering how that could be possible with a short flush cutter bit or how I did it single-handed. All I knew was that I was screwed, as there was no repairing that sort of damage. I woke up from this and said to myself "Self, you really need to replace those awful images in your head!"
Where do our brains come up with this stuff?
As luck would have it, today we had unseasonably warm outdoor temperatures and my other obligations could be moved to evening hours without compromise, so it was a good time to blow off work and play in the garage. Not enough time to work on any painting project, considering the weather was certainly very temporary, but I was sure I could make a pretty impressive mess with the router in the time allotted. Routers are hard to beat that way.
First, we have to do a little bit of prep work. It's important when routing curves to do them in the right order so as to reduce the risk of tear-out. StewMac has
an article that describes the process pretty well, but essentially what you have to do is a series of "climb" cuts, then come back around in the opposite direction to finish it off.
I thought it would be a good idea to mark the start/stop points so I wouldn't have think about them while fiddling with a running router. Hate to chew that lower horn off in a fit of stupid. A quick set of pencil marks and arrows in a few strategic places, and we're there.
Also, notice that padding the body is sitting on? That's rubber drawer liner. You can buy what they call "
router mats", but rubber drawer liner is sometimes easier to find and you get a lot more liner in a roll. It's also thinner, which seems better to me, but that's just me. Either way, you gotta have it for holding parts in place against the force of the router bit's aggressions. It's a non-marring non-skid surface.
Highly recommended for hand-held router work.
Next, we need to know how much of a ledge we need to cut. According to the supplier, built-up binding expands. They don't say why, and I don't suppose it matters as long as you know it does so you can adjust. In any event, the individual pieces I used should have added up to .160", but a quick peek with Mr. Caliper says...
Holy growth spurt, Batman! We got an extra 13+ thousandths to compensate for!
Remember earlier in the thread when I said "buy the whole set of offset bearings because you know you want to?" Yeah. Here's where it pays off. If I'd have bought just the .160" bearing, I'd be all sorts of pissed off having to order another $5-$6 bearing and pay $9 shipping on it. Then I'd be down ~$30 for two bearings when I could have the whole bloody set for $99 and never have to worry again regardless of the binding job. Let's face it: if you're going to spend the time/money to do this, you know you're going to do it again. Otherwise, you may as well just pay somebody to do it the first time.
As for depth, we'll sorta wing it. Lay a piece of binding next to the bit, and adjust the depth until it looks close...
Then, find a piece of scrap something-or-other to make some test cuts on. I happened to have some lengths of 1x2 fuel... adjust the depth a little at time and keep cutting until the little piece of binding fits nice...
It'll never be perfect, and actually, I'm thinking you don't want it to be. Seems as though you'd want the cutout to be a couple/few thousandths shallow so you're able to shave a couple/few thousandths off the binding once installed in order to level it with the body and get rid of any inconsistencies in the binding material. I may get schooled later, but that's the way I'm going now.
Ok. We know where to cut and when, how much, and we're all adjusted up and held in place. I think we're ready to teach that body a lesson.
