Bodged worktop joint

[kimliz]

Worktop joint:

Hi, wonder if anyone can help.

I was cutting the female right hand hockey stick joint when on the third depth pass the router bit came loose. I can only assume that I failed to tighten it sufficiently. Anyway, it has left a nasty dig right in the middle of the joint. Can I make another cut deeper in (past the dig) and how do I cut the male worktop to suit?

[Job and Knock]

As far as I know, you can't. All you can do is recut the joint further along the worktop which isn't much use if you've already cut to exact length before you started. BTW, what size shank bit were you using, how deep was the pass and what type/power router? I suspect that you might have been overloading the router by taking too deep a cut

[Rich-Ando]

to be honest you need to be very skilled to do this without a jig. if you are using a router without a jig i seriously doubt the two would fit together properly anyway.

if you have cut the female and screwed it up then you have scrapped the worktop. you can re-cut the male but not the female.

[moderator6]

Did you have the cutter pushed all the way into the router collet?

They very often come loose if you bottom them out, you should push it all the way in then pull it back out a couple of mm.

[speed]

Was it a trend/ dewalt router? I've had a bit come loose twice with a trend, first time I was cutting bolt holes and the bit dropped and nearly went thru the work top

[innit]

to be honest you need to be very skilled to do this without a jig. if you are using a router without a jig i seriously doubt the two would fit together properly anyway.

if you have cut the female and screwed it up then you have scrapped the worktop. you can re-cut the male but not the female.

Absolute rubbish!

You can remove the pins and move the jig back to create a slightly deeper female, you then don't use any pins for the male cut (Which is how I do it all the time), just lay the male piece over the female making sure the front edge is aligned perfectly with the edge of the female, mark the cut line on the underside of the male, you then clamp the jig 8.5mm back from this line. Before cutting check the cutter will leave the cut line visible on the male piece, if not then readjust jig as needed.
Obviously this is for a left hand mitre, same theory for right hand mitre except you will need to lay the female on top to mark out.

I use a standard trend jig and set the female cut depth between 10-30mm depending on the front edge radius of the worktops i'm fitting.

[CarpenterChris]

to be honest you need to be very skilled to do this without a jig. if you are using a router without a jig i seriously doubt the two would fit together properly anyway.

if you have cut the female and screwed it up then you have scrapped the worktop. you can re-cut the male but not the female.

Absolute rubbish!

You can remove the pins and move the jig back to create a slightly deeper female, you then don't use any pins for the male cut (Which is how I do it all the time), just lay the male piece over the female making sure the front edge is aligned perfectly with the edge of the female, mark the cut line on the underside of the male, you then clamp the jig 8.5mm back from this line. Before cutting check the cutter will leave the cut line visible on the male piece, if not then readjust jig as needed.
Obviously this is for a left hand mitre, same theory for right hand mitre except you will need to lay the female on top to mark out.

I use a standard trend jig and set the female cut depth between 10-30mm depending on the front edge radius of the worktops i'm fitting.

You're the best.

[fin]

ive had a bit come loose and knack a work top before like. cant remember now if it was a dewalt router my mate owned or a hired hitachi router. id lean more towards the dewalt though as im sure we went and got a new collet for it.

i always set the cutter to the little line marked on it. though i only use trend bits so they may not appear on other makes???