September 30, 2023
Description
Please note slightly updated stl file - see below for details.
Featherboard for Router
I've had a Rutlands router table for quite a few years now.
Given it cost me less than 100 nicker back then, it's probably one of the most used tools in my workshop, after my disc sander.
But the T-slot for guides and featherboards is annoyingly far from the router mounting plate, making it quite hard to source a reasonably priced featherboard that reaches close enough to the blades to be usable.
But now I have a 3D printer, I simply knocked one up to my own design. Note that I've redesigned the knobs since I took the pics, because they came out far larger than I thought they would, and that was unfeasibly large, even for my big hands!
The featherboard itself is a 13 hour print, but - thankfully - the clips and knobs are pretty fast.
To make one, you'll need one featherboard (obviously), two knobs, and two track clips - I have 2 different types of clip: one for dome headed bolts, and the other for plain ol' countersunk. Use whichever type you need for the bolts you have handy, or design your own if the T-slots on your machine are different.
You also need two bolts, M4 by 40mm (I intended to use M5, but I didn't have any!) , a couple of washers, and two M4 nuts to suit.
When printing the knobs, you need to pause the print to insert the M4 captive nuts (as shown in the pictures). You then let the printer carry on printing over them. I pre-warmed my nuts on the print bed :P, to assist with adhesion of the subsequent layers.
The T-slot fittings are intentionally tight. After a couple of goes at adjusting the clearance, and reprinting, I concluded it was easier to leave them tight, and manually file them to fit, rather than print them under-size and have 'em sloppy.
I also found it useful to secure the bolts to the clips with a dab of cyanoacrylate, to stop them slipping when tightening the knobs.
STL REVISION:
I'm happy with how it works on my machine but, being a confirmed tinkerer, I felt that adding a bit more flexing room for the fingers would make it a little easier to use. So the new stl has the first and last fingers removed to do this.
Printer Brand:
Creality
Printer:
Ender 3
Rafts:
Doesn't Matter
Supports:
Doesn't Matter
Resolution:
0.2
Infill:
30% on featherboard, 20% on the rest
Notes:
Easy, if a trifle long-winded print. Orient featherboard exactly as in the stl. Knob and track clips need rotating the other way up so there's next to no bridging needed in the print.
DON'T FORGET TO PAUSE PRINTING THE KNOBS SO THAT YOU CAN INSERT THE CAPTIVE NUTS IN THEIR POCKETS!!
It'd probably work without the nuts, just using the bolts to cut their own thread. But I wouldn't have any faith in the plastic walls holding a thread for very long, given that these are loosened and tightened every time they get used
Category: DIYLicense:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
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Cargy
