Crosscuts on RB

[Ctheronj]

Fairly new Router Boss user here, and a big fan.
I’ve so far used it to cut mortise and tenon joints mostly, although have played around with dovetails as well (I tend to hand-cut these on actual pieces).
I would like to use it for cross-grain sliding dovetails, like for a shelf (similar to a dado joint). However, even using the purchased mortise table the issue that I have is the workpiece is sagging away from the solid aluminum work table as you get farther away from the rail in the Y-direction which causes the depth of the dovetail to change. My work-around so far is to bring the workpiece right up under the aluminum table (which requires placing multiple layers of plywood underneath it, since the workpiece is not thick enough to clear the mortise table otherwise) and then clamp the workpiece to the bottom of the table. This however is cumbersome. I wondered if anyone else has dealt with this issue differently?

Thank you much
Clayton

 

[larry.thomson]

welcome to the forum, clayton -- let me take a shot at your question -- i often do cuts in the orientation you need for the sliding dovetails --
and initially, i found it very hard to secure and clamp 3/4" boards under the baseplate and still get to where i needed the cut -- my practice now is to set up the mortise table with a spacer block (1clamp 10) -- this gives me enough room to use standard T track hold down clamps along with the vice clamps to secure the workpiece (rboss 45a) and still be able to maneuver everywhere i need to go -- this setup requires using a collet extender to get the bit down to the wood -- but i have never had any issues doing that -- i use one all the time -- i also use this approach to cut slots along the bottom of small drawer pieces -- (drawers 03, 04, and 05) -- i also have the problem with the mortise table 'sagging ' in the Y-direction -- about all i have ever come up with is too shim the workpiece a little at the end closest to you -- a more elegant solution might be to add a shim behind the angle brackets that hold the mortise table -- i have used the shims for dados but sliding dovetails would put more pressure on getting perfectly flat in the Y --

hope that gives you some ideas -- we look forward to hearing what you come up with --

larry

 

[Ray]

Clayton (and Larry) -

I also have experienced the issue of sagging when wood is extended in the y-direction. My solution is to drill holes in a wooden bar, and use that bar as support when placed underneath the router boss platform. I use two knob bolts (1/4 x 20, I think) that pass through the holes in the wooden bar support and into the pre-drilled holes of the router boss platform. I'm attaching pictures that perhaps clarifies.

Ray

 

[Ctheronj]

These are some great ideas, thanks. I really think Ray’s idea might work well not even clamping down, but just kind of offering some support to the dangling end of the board. In my case, the board I was dealing with was almost 7 feet long, I ended up supporting it with a stick coming up from the floor as well as clamping it to the underside of the platform. I was kind of hell-bent on using the Boss, but in hindsight I would have had better and quicker results just to clamp downa temporary fence and use the router freehand. (The thing preventing me from doing that is that I only own one router and didn't want to unmount-it from the RB).

Thanks again!
Clayton

 

[Ray]

My response on 5/24/2022 works well for smaller material. For larger width material the knob bolts will limit the amount of travel in the x-direction. So I replace the small support beam that is attached with knob bolts with an adjustable outfeed stand to provide the necessary support. Pictures attached.

Ray