# Can You route At An Angle? How To Make This???



## Wood4Brains

Is it possible to route at an angle something like the slots in this piece?










I would like to make something like this out of wood.

The "slots" would be about 1/4 inch wide. 

But how would be the best way to route them??? I would need them to come in an angle to the piece, and I only know how to route either perpendicular to the edge or end grain - not at an angle.

Am I missing something obvious?


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## Sorrowful Jones

Do you have a router table or is it a hand held router? If you have a table I think it would be reasonable easy to make a angled jig to hold the piece and use it much like a box joint jig on a table saw.....or.... just use a box joint jig on a table saw with the workpiece secured at an angle.

It's just what comes to mind... I am sure the pro's on here will have a better solution.


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## Wood4Brains

Thanks for the reply.

I do have a homemade router table. It's pretty basic. Has a rip fence, but I don't really know how to set it at an "angle."

You are probably right that I am going to need some kind of jig for it.

Unfortunately, no table saw.


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## against_the_grain

Table saw seems to be the tool for this unless the kerf is too thick.

Whoops. Just noticed you said you don't have a table saw.


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## Fred Hargis

I'm actually not sure you could do that on a router table. By the time you got to the slots on the bottom of your pic, you'd need a really long bit (if it was up on an angled sled). A table saw would have no problem cutting those, though.


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## cabinetman

What would the thickness of the piece be?



















.


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## jschaben

I'm thinking a template but with no dimensions I don't know if that would be viable.:blink:


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## Wood4Brains

> "What would the thickness of the piece be?"


I was thinking something kind of thin... maybe a half-inch thick, then maybe 12 inches tall and about 8 inches wide.

I might make it out of 1X stock though... maybe 1 X 10 X 12" stock??? 



> "I'm thinking a template but with no dimensions I don't know if that would be viable."


That's the thing... I am not sure how to make the template in the first place.

>>>>

Since I don't have a table saw, I ask out of curiosity only: How would the table saw work to make the slots if they are about a quarter or a half-inch wide? I am guessing a dado blade, but the "bottom" of the slots (the part that extends furthest from the edges in toward the center of the piece) is curved, like the cut a router bit would make. Wouldn't a dado make a flat (square) cut???


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## sanchez

Can you route it flat? If so, an angled board attached to the fence with a corresponding guide attached to the workpiece and moved for every cut might work?

This is just an idea, I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. You would have to be able to secure everything safely. You would also have to make the board attached to the fence like a bridge so you could slide the workpiece under it.


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## Wood4Brains

^^^ I see what you are getting at.

I think the trick with that would be to attach that second piece to the workpiece, as you mentioned.

Hmm...


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## woodnthings

*It is a finger joint on the flat*

Use the concept by sanchex and make a jig that so that the work enters at an angle and has a locating pin the same angle and thickness as the router bit. I search You Tube, but they are all at 90 degrees, but the concept should work at an angle.... I donno?


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## 4DThinker

The posted drawing looks to be something trivial to cut with a CNC. You might check to see if there is any local shop with a CNC that can give you an estimate.

If you need to make many of them, have the CNC shop make you a template in 3/8" plywood or something similar. Then use a pattern bit in your router table (yes, they make 1/4" diameter ones) to copy the template as many times as you need. 

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/20...spiral-router-bit-14-d-x-1-cl-14-sh-3-ol.aspx


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## Wood4Brains

Thank you, woodnthings, for the link to the video.

that kind of gets the gears moving (although they could certainly use more oil).


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## hillpanther

if you have tilting router lift same like Matthias wandel made ,you can tilt your router at desire angle and simply use make it/


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## Roger Newby

A carefully made template and a router with a bushing should do it quite nicely. Just spend some time making a good layout and cutting and sanding the template and you can crank those out all day.


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## jschaben

Hi Stan - OK, got a better picture now. I'd do it on the router table. You need a template and a bit similar to the one woodnthings posted. There are cheaper ones though, you just need one with a tip mounted bearing.
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shop...html/pages/bt_flush.html#pattern_flush_anchor

All you need for a template is a piece of 1/4 or 1/2" MDF, two or three inches wide and a little longer than your intended workpiece.
Drill a series of holes the diameter equal to the width of slots you want and the proper distance from the edge of the template material that you want the slot to end at. Number of holes would be equal to the number of slots you want. Then just open the drilled holes to the edge of the template at the desired angle with a hand saw. This needs to be really smooth cut, my weapon of choice is a little Marples pull saw I bought at Home Depot a couple of years ago for $10-12.
You just need to attach this template to the workpiece with double face tape/hot glue/pin nails/however and run it through the router table with the flush trim bit installed and the bearing riding on the edge of the template. You can move the fence out of the way so it doesn't interfere with moving the stock. The fence isn't really required as all the stock control is done with the bearing but I usually keep mine close to help with the dust collection. 
When the first edge is done, just move the template to the other edge. :smile:


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## Fred Hargis

Stan, you are correct it would have flat bottoms on the TS....I overlooked that part in my suggestion. The idea of doing it flat on the RT would be probably as easy (and accurate) as it will get.


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## Wood4Brains

Thank you very much, hillpanther, Roger Newby, jschaben (John) and Fred Hargis. I really appreciate the help.

I will try to work on the template today and tomorrow. I am a little slow when working on things, but will try to get the results up.


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## woodnthings

*Think this over*

A threw a sketch together of the concept I envisioned making a finger joint at an angle. You would need 2 pin locations on your table, right and left of the router and the pins must be the same diameter as the router bit..... just a wild idea.... :blink:


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## rrbrown

Sorrowful Jones said:


> Do you have a router table or is it a hand held router? If you have a table I think it would be reasonable easy to make a angled jig to hold the piece and use it much like a box joint jig on a table saw.....or.... just use a box joint jig on a table saw with the workpiece secured at an angle.
> 
> It's just what comes to mind... I am sure the pro's on here will have a better solution.


I don't think a jig to hold the piece at an angle will work. You would need a longer bit or blade for each cut because of the placement of the cuts. 

On a table saw you could tilt the blade and keep the piece flat.

For a router it would only be safe and accurate if you had a tilting router in a table. I will post links in a minute.


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## rrbrown

woodnthings said:


> A threw a sketch together of the concept I envisioned making a finger joint at an angle. You would need 2 pin locations on your table, right and left of the router and the pins must be the same diameter as the router bit..... just a wild idea.... :blink:


Yep That would work also. :thumbsup:


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## jharris2

hillpanther said:


> if you have tilting router lift same like Matthias wandel made ,you can tilt your router at desire angle and simply use make it/


Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of. Pretty cool.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...0566842&q=mathias+wandel,+tilting+router+lift

I most agree with Roger though. It seems like the simplest solution.


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## Kelvartis

How many people do you know IRL that have a table saw? Buy a six pack and ninja their work space for an hour.


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## Wood4Brains

Unfortunately, I know of no one who has a table saw.

and if I DID have a table saw, I am pretty sure it would be much HARDER for ME to do this pattern (than on a router table or with a handheld router and a template of some kind).


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## FrankC

woodnthings said:


> A threw a sketch together of the concept I envisioned making a finger joint at an angle. You would need 2 pin locations on your table, right and left of the router and the pins must be the same diameter as the router bit..... just a wild idea.... :blink:


This is basically how I would do it, probably have a thin base for stock to ride on, basically a sled. Cut out on base for pin would be enlarged, pin is very close to router bit and sawdust could possibly collect in slot before it gets to pin so this would give it an escape route.


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## jschaben

I do believe this is being overthunk
Anything done with a table saw is going to leave the bottom of the slot square. Anything done with a box joint type jig will also leave the bottom square unless you are using a bullnose straight bit. Those are typically CNC country and relatively expensive, especially for a one-of project. Any method of mounting the router at an angle would also leave a square end.
Woodenthings drawing solution would work with the drawback of permanently modifying the router table, ie. drilling a hole for a removable pin. This could be over come with a custom sled. 
I've attached a drawing of a proposed template to use with a tip mounted bearing guided bit on the router table. These are available as small as 3/16" however, the smaller the bit, the shorter the cutting length. 
http://www.toolstoday.com/p-5047-flush-trim-router-bits-2-flute-extra-long-2-flute.aspx
Template material could be 1/4" MDF.:smile:


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## GROOVY

I like the template idea but think a bushing guide and a 1/4'' bit.. but what is it? when its finished? a coat hanger storage thing , back scratcher?


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## jschaben

GROOVY said:


> I like the template idea but think a bushing guide and a 1/4'' bit.. but what is it? when its finished? a coat hanger storage thing , back scratcher?


I have no idea what the thing is, or is supposed to be:laughing:

The downside of a guide bushing is the slots in the template need to be larger than the actual slot to account for the bit/bushing offset. In this case, I think 3/8" slots in the template would leave very little for the separating fingers. A 7/16" bushing with a 1/4" bit leaves very little room for swarf and can overheat a bit pretty quickly. :smile:


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## jharris2

Swarf. 

Had to look that up. 

Thanx fur helpeeng me whith mi contenuing ejumicashun.



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarf


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## Midlandbob

Woodnthings' jig looks like it would make short work of the project if you had a router with a miter slot.

If you had a lathe, you could quickly make such a shape by sandwiching the board and spindle turning the notches with a small scraper. A handsaw or a bandsaw fooled by a round file would work but precise repetitive groves might be a challenge.


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## Bobthequill

I found this string very interesting, as I had just come through a difficult stage of
reasoning, to make angled routing work on 19mm thick board.
I had, for some time been using a 1600 watt router to rout slots in a vertical fence stakes,
to take the horizontal bars of Selang Batu semi hardwood (ex Malaysia), 70mm x 19mm.
to make very effective screening panels to fit around a garden. I used the same section for the stakes. Then, I came to a set of steps where the slots must be angled to suit the angle of the stairs.

It took me a while! First I adjusted the dimensions of the basic slot to accomodate the slope
while maintaining the same pitch between bars. Then I routed those slots square.
Then I built a jig which would sit on a pillar drill base plate adjusted to the required angle,
on a slide arrangement which gave the required width of slot, 19 mm and a locating block to accept each slot in turn to allow me to use a quarter inch router bit at the drills highest speed,
to rout the angle into each edge of the straight slot.

Worked like magic! but it was a very long process. The job would have been to much for an angled trim router and most power routers just don't have angle capability.

So I am looking around for a reasonable power router that can be angled, say up to 15 degrees.

Bobthequill


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## Al B Thayer

Woodhaven Tools sells a fixture for holding a router on angle. Sorry I don't have a link.

Al


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## FrankC

One again Woodgears comes to the rescue:
http://woodgears.ca/router_lift/build.html


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## Bobthequill

Wow!

FrankC, I never thought that far ahead!

I don't have the facilities for producing such.

But, it does show that the angled router problem,

is not easily addressed. I think, that the problem lies in the

fact that the original router was designed with a broad base for,

stability of cut. Whereas, an angled router needs a very narrow

entry to prevent parts of the base intruding the cutting plane.

It is obvious that the rotation point to get the cut angle needs to be 

as near the base datum as possible, so it really needs a different

sort of router. A CNC machine could be the answer?

Not that I can afford one on this fencing project.

But, we can dream :yes:!

Imagine what you could do with a four axis plus angle 

head machining center?

Bobthequill


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## MissionIsMyMission

Tape a scap piece of wood to the base of your router plate using double stick tape to approximate the angle you want. Tape some 2x2 sacrificial pieces to the edges of the board to widen the base for the router to slide on and for you to fasten a "Fence/Guide" to. Cut the slots. This Drawing will hopefully illustrate the idea...


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## BigJim

Sounds like a good idea, although this is an older thread, here is what I have.
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-PR005-Tilt-Base-Routers/dp/B000FF5I66

It is an add on for a trim router, works great.


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## Bobthequill

I finally found a solution here in OZ, when I picked a GMC trim kit

with the required angled front plate but, it's bit size was limited,

only a 500 watt machine. So I invested in a Twista Saw Kit and then 

adapted the GMC front plate to fit it. The Twista Saw has bigger,

longer bits. Problem solved.

IMG_20150123_171612.jpg

Bobthequill


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## FrankC

Glad you found a solution, and thanks for coming back to let us know.

Wonder how the OP made out.


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