Got a small window on Sunday to make some cuts.
Saw on MikeA’s post a product and technique that I would steal to hopefully help speed up my process, and it really did.
I bought as per his suggestion an Emerson straight edge clamp:
This really helped as the setup time to clamp this down versus using clamps and a straight edge was faster (clamps are on the underside, and clamp to the sides of the piece). But it really became valuable when routing. Up until now I have been using multiple clamps on a straight piece, and I would have to stop and turn my router off and move clamps as they were in the way. With this the top surface is totally clear so you can just clamp and then cut without having to stop:
Here’s how I was doing it (I’ll talk about that beat up flush trim bit in a minute):
The only hang up I had was on one end of the clamp the blue clamp sticks up a little and prevented me from cutting all the way to the edge:
You can see how the router base was bumping up against blue part.
So I added a block of straight scrap and that fixed it:
Other thing I borrowed was predrilling holes in corners which made using the jigsaw easier to pull out the blade and make turns without bending the blade:
Pretty pumped that the monitor mount piece I cut lined up with what will be the sides:
Small win to most I am sure, but to have that line up with the depth of cut was huge as I was very nervous about it.
So yeah about that bit. I had ordered a new one as I knew this one was getting beat up, and I was praying it would show up in time for work this weekend and it obviously didn’t. What I found out while cutting was that the bearing (red arrow below) started to have some play (I could move it ever so slightly side to side). While the difference in cut was almost imperceptible I could feel it, but the bigger deal was that the blade and the area right above the bearing (black arrow), were then allowed to move further in then the bearing. What that meant was that my brand new clamping straight edge started to get marked up by both the blade and area above the bearing. I didn’t take pictures but it took the perfectly smooth surface and introduced divots. Thankfully this was only on one side and I pulled the bit after noticing it:
What I have learned about bits is:
1. They really aren’t meant for the initial cut. The smallest amount possible is ideal, but I don’t think I would do more than half the diameter of the bit. So for a ½” bit no more than ¼” thickness of a cut (sustained).
2. Don’t go too slow when making a cut. I thought I was being more precise, but that additional friction allows the bit to heat up and is a large part of the reason mine became so black. I am also pretty confident that the heating is what led to the deterioration of the bearing not to mention the blade.
3. Always clean the bit with Acetone between switching it out and keep as clean as possible.
Not much to look at but here was my Sunday accomplishment:
I also ordered an Arduino as I will be using it extensively for LED light management:
This will control the glow corners, discs, and monitor surrounds……now for lots of caffeine and learning the Fast LED library
Pretty amazing what it can do though: