I have made 3/4 MDF plates to sandwitch my rib blanks in between. The plates bolt together to apply compression while the router bit does the edge cuts.
I installed steel bushing into the bolt holes in the MDF. The bushings are made from steel brake tubing. When I put the bolts through-- there is still a tiny bit of
relative movement between the MDF plates. (maybe 3 to 6/1000 inch-) This tiny bit of slack seems to allow the router bit to shave a very thin skim off whichever
MDF plate is NOT in contact with the pilot bearing. I am concerned that this will eat down the perimeter of one of the plates. Wondering what the best solution here is-
1-st solution------ sand down the outer edge of one of the plates slightly deeper than the amount of the slack- so the bit cant touch it. This means that the pilot bearing
con only be used on the bigger plate--- not on either plate interchangeably anymore.
2-nd solution----- when I first started project-- i had some surplus 1/4 OD chrome-molly tubing. It had a slightly thicker wall than the brake tubing. I had to file the ID
of the chrome -molly to get the bolts to pass through. The brake tubing had about 3 or 4 1/1000 slack as is. I could order more chrome-molly and replace the
brake line bushed with tighter fitting Cro-Mo and maybe eliminate the excess slack.
Only drawback to solution 1------ cant use either MDF piece to guide on as one will be correct and other will be undersized for clearance. I could paint one green and one red
to not confuse which one to guide off of.
does anyone who has all ready done this see any drawbacks to just cutting one of the MDF pieces undersize ? There is no left or right ( yet) when cutting the blanks.
on left or right till holes flanged and edges bent.
Seems like solution 1 will be simpler if it wont cause any problems down stream that I cant now see........ But I COULD do solution 2 if I needed to ....just have to order tubing...
Any wisdom shared will be consumed like a hot T-Bone steak ! (dang-- Im hungry now...)
Thanks- Tim B.
I installed steel bushing into the bolt holes in the MDF. The bushings are made from steel brake tubing. When I put the bolts through-- there is still a tiny bit of
relative movement between the MDF plates. (maybe 3 to 6/1000 inch-) This tiny bit of slack seems to allow the router bit to shave a very thin skim off whichever
MDF plate is NOT in contact with the pilot bearing. I am concerned that this will eat down the perimeter of one of the plates. Wondering what the best solution here is-
1-st solution------ sand down the outer edge of one of the plates slightly deeper than the amount of the slack- so the bit cant touch it. This means that the pilot bearing
con only be used on the bigger plate--- not on either plate interchangeably anymore.
2-nd solution----- when I first started project-- i had some surplus 1/4 OD chrome-molly tubing. It had a slightly thicker wall than the brake tubing. I had to file the ID
of the chrome -molly to get the bolts to pass through. The brake tubing had about 3 or 4 1/1000 slack as is. I could order more chrome-molly and replace the
brake line bushed with tighter fitting Cro-Mo and maybe eliminate the excess slack.
Only drawback to solution 1------ cant use either MDF piece to guide on as one will be correct and other will be undersized for clearance. I could paint one green and one red
to not confuse which one to guide off of.
does anyone who has all ready done this see any drawbacks to just cutting one of the MDF pieces undersize ? There is no left or right ( yet) when cutting the blanks.
on left or right till holes flanged and edges bent.
Seems like solution 1 will be simpler if it wont cause any problems down stream that I cant now see........ But I COULD do solution 2 if I needed to ....just have to order tubing...
Any wisdom shared will be consumed like a hot T-Bone steak ! (dang-- Im hungry now...)
Thanks- Tim B.
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