4 ms·
A couple of interesting points stem from this. (I served a 3 year apprenticeship as a carpenter while I was studying...long story..in all I did nearly 10 years!
by jimnotgym 8y ago
A couple of interesting points stem from this. (I served a 3 year apprenticeship as a carpenter while I was studying...long story..in all I did nearly 10 years!)
1) The vacuum cleaner. Routers turn wood to horrible fine dust. Bandsaws turn everything to bigger dust particles, and take a much narrower 'kerf' than a router bit, which must be thick enough to not flex too much and to leave room to clear the dust. Other traditional machinery like hollow-chisel morticers and planers tend to produce large chips. I hated working all day with a router for the feeling of duct in my skin and hair. I wore a mask, and had extraction and had an air filter...
2) Bandsaws pull down through the surface, which makes the top surface look neat, with no tearing. With a router, cutting direction is critical to this. Twisted bits can help
3) Sharpness. Router bits suck for staying sharp, especially in plywood. We would have multiples of every size so they could be sent away for sharpening. Dovetail bits (and others) are wear critical, as they wear they need re-adjusting. If a router bit is placed in a situation where it gets hot it will be ruined very quickly. Bandsaw blades are in contrast pretty cheap and long lasting.
4) The situation was comparible if you wanted one gear ever. If you wanted 100, I reckon the bandsaw with a clever jig could cut those in around half the time.
5) Bandsaws are quiet, low vibration and safe (because they naturally pull the work-piece toward the table and the guides serve as guards). Routers are loud little banshees (especially the big 1/2" industrial ones), throw dangerous particles as your eyes, if hand guided can snatch even when used with a jig (especially the big ones).
I only do hobby woodwork now, and tend to find tasks that don't need the router to come out of storage!
- monochromatic 8y agoI have a healthy respect for any tool, but routers scare the shit out of me in a way that even a table saw doesn’t.
- jimnotgym 8y agoI don't blame you. I have hit embedded stones in chipboard and had pieces of TCT hit my goggles. I have had a collet work loose and the bit come out. I have had them fight back on too many occasions. I once purchased a 2" wide flat cutter designed for cutting wide tennons. Even run at the correct speed it was jumpy as hell. The whole router would jump out of the work piece! You had to take tiny cuts. After doing a small number of tennons it was blunt! Waste of money. If you want to do woodwork as a hobby, get a set of chisels and a tennon saw... and enjoy yourself
- Doxin 8y agoThe router is the only tool I know of that is actively trying to not move in the direction you push it. It's insidious.
- michaelt 8y agoIf you wanted 100, I reckon the bandsaw with a clever jig could cut those in around half the time. Sure, but with the CNC you can read a book while it cuts - not so with the bandsaw.
- jimnotgym 8y agoYou still have to change the workpiece every six minutes, and change the bit every few pieces...and I presume you mean you could read a book in another room...
- lsaferite 8y agoWell, if you used a CNC router (vs. a mill) your work surface is generally much larger so one work piece could generate multiple gears in a single run. Additionally, if you are using a CNC router you'll find that the time required to cut a single gear is much shorter as the feed rate and pass depth are much higher that he used on the mill.
- jimnotgym 8y agoWell yes, if they used a completely different machine...if they had a $250k machine instead of the hobbyist one. On the same basis what if they had a custom gear saw, with a specially shaped cutter that could slice a single tooth on a stack of 50 cogs in one pass .... But I thought the point was to compare two lower end machines and their capabilities? And if so the cnc was not the outright winner, no matter how cool it looks to tech geeks
- aequitas 8y agoJust have a look at Wintergatan (from the Marble Machine) build channel https://youtu.be/7hYX67CZd28?t=239 https://youtu.be/7hYX67CZd28?t=239 If I remember correctly this CNC is around 5k, at least nowhere near 250k, and there are comparable ones for the more price conscious hobbyists. It slices up a big plywood sheet into hundreds of components with good precision. Hobbyist CNC machines are a real deal and not just cool for the looks.