Tricked-out overarm pin router

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Sherlock
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by Sherlock »

Oops – I did it. Now own the Overhead Routing System by Shopsmith. Vintage 9-30-88, looks awfully close to Ed's pictures. Made the mistake of going over to see it. No rust which is something in this country. Looked in good shape and very little use that I could see. Even came with a router and even the manual. Now have the stand apart adding some much needed angle bracing and maybe some wheels. Next is the overhead assembly. Seems to be pretty loose. Clutch hub and shaft seem to turn together. Rust? Anyway as I go through it will be scouring the forum for information and picking brains. Lots of good ideas on this thread alone. Looking forward to getting operational. Even came up with a place the park it in the garage/shop so wouldn’t have to walk around it, much. If it works as advertised even that might not be a problem.
damagi
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by damagi »

Sherlock wrote:Oops – I did it. Now own the Overhead Routing System by Shopsmith. Vintage 9-30-88, looks awfully close to Ed's pictures. Made the mistake of going over to see it. No rust which is something in this country. Looked in good shape and very little use that I could see. Even came with a router and even the manual. Now have the stand apart adding some much needed angle bracing and maybe some wheels. Next is the overhead assembly. Seems to be pretty loose. Clutch hub and shaft seem to turn together. Rust? Anyway as I go through it will be scouring the forum for information and picking brains. Lots of good ideas on this thread alone. Looking forward to getting operational. Even came up with a place the park it in the garage/shop so wouldn’t have to walk around it, much. If it works as advertised even that might not be a problem.
Heh, I was thinking about picking that one up, price never dropped to my trigger point. How much did you end up paying for it?
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BuckeyeDennis
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by BuckeyeDennis »

I'd always planned to do a bit of show-and-tell on using my OPR to do butterfly inlays, per Reible's suggestion for my secret-room paneling-board split problems. You new OPR guys have now given me a bit more motivation. Plus, I have to sit up late tonight anyway, smoking pork for a big football party tomorrow (Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers). So what better time?

I think that I've already posted this photo on a different thread, but it's a really good example of what you can do with the OPR. This was just a test, in a piece of scrap wood. But it came out so nice, I might just incorporate it into a real project someday.
Butterfly inlay test.JPG
Butterfly inlay test.JPG (935.02 KiB) Viewed 31928 times
I cut a couple of butterfly patterns, sized and shaped to my liking, on my SS bandsaw, and then dressed the edges with the drum sander. But the template, the actual inlay, and the inlay pocket were all milled on my OPR.

To get to the point where I could do that, I first had to design and build a guide jig, shown below.
Jig with blank.JPG
Jig with blank.JPG (643.72 KiB) Viewed 31928 times
I cut the T-slots in the jig base with a T-slot router bit, and bought the miniature toggle clamps from Amazon. The combination works great. The "fence" boards capture the workpiece side to side, and the toggle clamps lock it down tight. I like the fence boards for most work. But if you have different workholding requirements, you can use most any type of hold-down.

And here are some milled butterfly inlays, ready to be resawn free of the workpiece.
Routed test inlays.JPG
Routed test inlays.JPG (594.86 KiB) Viewed 31925 times
In the photo below, I'm using Rockler mini hold-down clamps to fix the workpiece on a diagonal.
Jig with Rockler clamps.JPG
Jig with Rockler clamps.JPG (701.22 KiB) Viewed 31928 times
On the underside of the base board, hidden by the bottom perimeter frame, is a large recess for mounting patterns and templates. I had designed provisions for fastening those in place with screws, but wound up just sticking them in place with double-sided tape. Which worked just fine. For those who aren't familiar with overarm routers, there's a pin sticking up from the router table, beneath the jig, and directly on axis with the overarm router bit. It rides against the perimeter of the template or pattern affixed to the underside of the jig, and the overarm router then mills a precise copy of the pattern into the workpiece atop the jig.

I also found the standard SS OPR dust port to be almost impossible to use, in practice. So I temporarily rigged the hose and adapter as shown in the photos. That worked much better, but I still had to be careful not to snag the adapter snout on the clamps and such. I have some ideas for a better design, but that's future project.
Sherlock
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by Sherlock »

Heh, I was thinking about picking that one up, price never dropped to my trigger point. How much did you end up paying for it?[/quote]

$300. Probably could have pushed the price down some but an older guy, health problems, getting rid of his tools and hated to go there. Good shape and had all the parts and even threw in a PC router, damaged cord, but that can be fixed. By the way, have the manual. Looks like model 555352. With tools I generally look for a pdf manual on line and failing that scan in myself. Did not find this one on the Shopsmith site. Wondering if anyone has scanned? If not, will add that to my things to do and post. Also thanks to (was it Dennis?) for the idea of sourcing parts from Shopsmith. Looks like they may still have the router base for the table. An extra could be handy.
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BuckeyeDennis
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by BuckeyeDennis »

I'm not sure if this is an original idea, but after considerable head-scratching, I figured out a way to make templates that can be used for both the inlay pockets and the inlays themselves. This involves using guide pins and router bits that are of different diameters. That was a brain-teaser at first, but in the end is not all that complicated.

A bigger challenge was dealing with pattern radii that are too small for the OPR router bit to duplicate. Not wanting to spend an inordinate amount of time perfecting hand-tool skills, I shied away from sharp inlay corners that would require cleanup with a chisel. So I attempted to make my patterns with appropriate minimum router-bit radii, and measurements seemed to confirm that I did. But alas, the initial test cuts did not fit properly, and the root cause turned out to be subtle radius problems. The good news is that there is a simple process that can fix this.

I made a document for my own use that details all the steps involved in the OPR router-inlay process. I also have some illustrations that show the underlying geometries. If there is interest, I can clean those up and post them here.

So anyway, after shifting from "development" mode to "production" mode, I found that it was easier to use a handheld router to mill pockets in large boards, than it was to clamp the large board to my pattern jig and slide it around the OPR table. No problem -- the very same patterns work just fine with a handheld router, outfitted with the proper bit and guide bushing.

So for now, we'll end with a few photos from my first "production" run.
Inlay production blank.JPG
Inlay production blank.JPG (685.6 KiB) Viewed 31923 times
Production inlays in process.JPG
Production inlays in process.JPG (650.52 KiB) Viewed 31923 times
Taming those splits.JPG
Taming those splits.JPG (659.43 KiB) Viewed 31923 times
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algale
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by algale »

Slick! These boards are going to look so much more interesting than if they hadn't cracked!
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!

damagi
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by damagi »

Sherlock wrote: $300. Probably could have pushed the price down some but an older guy, health problems, getting rid of his tools and hated to go there. Good shape and had all the parts and even threw in a PC router, damaged cord, but that can be fixed. By the way, have the manual. Looks like model 555352. With tools I generally look for a pdf manual on line and failing that scan in myself. Did not find this one on the Shopsmith site. Wondering if anyone has scanned? If not, will add that to my things to do and post. Also thanks to (was it Dennis?) for the idea of sourcing parts from Shopsmith. Looks like they may still have the router base for the table. An extra could be handy.
Indeed, $300 or lower was my trigger point as well. I had offered that a month ago and he didn't take it. Good job! I may have a manual lying around...will take a look and see when I get the chance
thunderbirdbat
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by thunderbirdbat »

A stand alone OPR followed me home today as well. It does not have a stand and has a home made table. This makes the router table build higher on the priority list for a place to put this.
Brenda

1998 510 upgraded to a 520, upgraded to power pro with double tilt and lift assist.
1998 bandsaw
2016 beltsander
jointer
overarm pin router
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BuckeyeDennis
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by BuckeyeDennis »

thunderbirdbat wrote:A stand alone OPR followed me home today as well. It does not have a stand and has a home made table. This makes the router table build higher on the priority list for a place to put this.
Congrats, Brenda!

Did you get the steel frame that the OPR column bracket mounts to? That would make it easy to adapt pretty much any router-table top. On my Shopsmith factory table, T-track on the underside of the table gives fore-aft adjustment for router-to-pin alignment, and also lets you slide the table back against the column when not using tbe OPR. This reduces the footprint just a bit, but I probably wouldn't bother with T-track if adapting a different table. Oversize mounting holes would be sufficient for pin alignment.

As for the Shopsmith table plate and guide-pin adapter, you really don't have to have them. The SS guide pins come in 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" diameters, which are all common collet sizes for a 1/2" router. So your undertable router can double as your guide-pin mount. This would also give you a variable pin-height capability, which would in turn simplify pattern-jig design. All you need is some straight pins. And maybe one 1/2" pin stepped down to 3/8", if you can't get a 3/8" collet for your undertable router. This pin from McMaster looks like it would do the trick.
thunderbirdbat
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Re: Tricked-out overarm pin router

Post by thunderbirdbat »

I have the steel frame but the table is bolted to the frame. The guy that I got it from said that he purchased it from a cabinet shop. Currently there is not a table insert to allow for an under table router. I can add that feature in the future as long as I plan it into the stand build now. I figure I still got a bargain at $100. Included pictures are from the seller's ad.
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OPR1.jpg
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OPR2.jpg
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OPR3.jpg
OPR3.jpg (26.62 KiB) Viewed 31840 times
Brenda

1998 510 upgraded to a 520, upgraded to power pro with double tilt and lift assist.
1998 bandsaw
2016 beltsander
jointer
overarm pin router
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