Monday 5 June 2023

Route 66

Had another day of routering the ash slab, and I'm very pleased with the results.


Bit of a mucky start, but I persevered despite the warp being even worse at this end. 

I knew the old roller blading knee pads would come in useful some day.






Finally got there and am now thinking of turning it over and routering the other side, so as to even up the thickness. As you can see, it's now a bit wedge-shaped at the ends that have been routered. Not an issue in itself, as I can compensate with the legs, but it's not aesthetically pleasing.


The top was the crucial part, not wanting to shave off too much in case I hit the destressing cuts on the underside. From not ever having seen a router before, I'm now a confident expert. 

The top now requires a sand with a 120 grit sanding belt and the knotty features need it be filled with clear resin. I have bought some individual, warm white LEDs, which I want to insert into the knot holes before filling with resin, drilling tiny holes through to the underside for the wires and having a small battery pack mounted on the beneath the slab to power them. I'm only talking of about 5 or 6 LEDs.


One thing I did discover was that I hadn't extended the bit as far as it would go - the struts along which the machine body plunges was a bit dirty, meaning I hit a dirt stop before the real stop, which was a good inch short. That is good news for continuing with the other side next weekend, as the base thickness of the router sled is no longer an issue.

I was looking at the 25cm sections I cut off and, for merely a nanosecond, I considered drop-leaves at either end....


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