Replies

1. 
   nikkiwood | Sep 01, 2004 04:57pm | #1

   You may have missed a recent thread that discussed the various merits of trim routers.

   If I understand your project correctly, if doesn't sound as though a trim router would be of much use. There are good mainly for 1) edge routing, 2) inlay work, and 3) getting into tight places.

1. 
   Buzzsaw | Sep 01, 2004 05:02pm | #3

   I was thinking that it would be good to trim around the cutout that I make for the cabinet door. Do you think that a traditional router would work just as well?Regards,

   Buzzsaw

1. 
   nikkiwood | Sep 01, 2004 05:50pm | #5

   <<<I was thinking that it would be good to trim around the cutout that I make for the cabinet door. Do you think that a traditional router would work just as well?>>>>

   I do. But are you sure you want to build the frame this way? Seems to me, conventional face frame construction would be faster and look better ................ but then, you probably have a good reasons for doing it the way you describe.

   Edited 9/1/2004 10:51 am ET by nikkiwood

1. 
   Buzzsaw | Sep 01, 2004 06:13pm | #6

   Nikkiwood,

     Actually, I wanted this island to be extremely sturdy due to the fact that we will be eating on it as well as using it as an island.  I pretty much built the base as I would build a workbench base with mortise and tenon joinery.  I assembled the base last night and it is solid as a rock.  Now I am going to enclose the base with plywood and a beadboard material having cutouts for a cabinet door as well as a drawer that will run along the stretchers.  It is my 'workbench island'.  I also wanted to get more practice at mortising and making tenons at the same time. The base came out really nice so far.  As you can probably surmise, I am a novice and learning more every day.  This is my stab at an original creation and I'm sure there are better and more efficient methods of creating it but I cannot imagine that any other way would have yielded a more solid piece. But, I'm liking the way it is coming out so far.  I will post pictures when it is complete. Thanks for your post and for all of your valuable advice from previous posts of mine.Regards,

   Buzzsaw

2. 
   BArnold | Sep 01, 2004 05:01pm | #2

   To answer your question about the HF trim router, I have two of them.  They've had them on sale for $19.95 seemingly forever.  Another guy at a shop where I worked had one, liked it a lot and let me use it a couple of times.  I already had a PC trim router, but couldn't resist buying one at HF for 20 bucks.  A few weeks later, I went back and got another one.  The only issue I've found with them is a slight bow in the base.  I usually make my own bases anyway, so replacing the stock base with some 1/4" plexiglass was no big deal for me.

   As to cutting the door opening with one of these, you probably could do it with a trim router and a straight bit, but why?  A larger router with the same bit would do the job easier.  On the other hand, I purchased 'cutout tool' from HF -- again, for $20.  It has a 1/8" chuck to hold 'Dremel' type bits designed for doing cutout work.  I've used it to cut openings in 3/4" oak plywood -- mostly things like 4" holes for dust collection, etc.

   Finally, why aren't you building the opening into the project to start with?

   Bill Arnold

   Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

1. 
   Buzzsaw | Sep 01, 2004 05:10pm | #4

   I'm not cutting out the door after it is in place but before I mount it. I was just thinking that one of these cutout tools may be cleaner and easier to use than a conventional router and I could use it for future work. Thanks for your response.Regards,

   Buzzsaw