I have always wanted powertools as much as I can acquire, unfortunately plenty of those are beyond my budget. so I started to understand what my other tools can do. As such I found that my router table can be used as a jointer. Limited only by the router bit cutting length. Recently I got myself a 1/2" shank straight bit with a 2" cutting lenght.
The process:
I mount the straight bit on the router table. I make it a point that the router bit tips point towards the center of the table. This way I know that the carbide bit is highest in relation to the fence.
I then add a spacer on the outfeed side of the fence, this offsets it by about 1/32". The spacer (cut out piece of cardboard ) thickness determines the thickness of what will be removed or trimmed from the wood.
Then I set the fence opening leaving as little as possible so that the piece would be supported as much as possible, but leaving enough space to the chips to be removed with the dust collector (vacuum cleaner).
I then set the outfeed side of the fence (with a straight rule) to touch the router bit. Using the fine tune adjustment, I can set it to exactly where it touches.
Set up the router bit height so that it would be just a fraction higher than the wood to be jointed.
I mark the side to be jointed with chalk so I would know if the face has been completely trimmed.
You can see here the wood being removed from the stock (very minimal which is my preference).
And here you can see the removed area as I stopped the cut. Just to give you an idea of the process.
As I resume cutting, notice that pressure should be applied on the outfeed side of the wood.
After finishing the cut, I checked for straightness and if it is square to the reference side. .. What is nice is, it always is.
Leave a comment when you can. I would appreciate this.
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