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Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

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Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby RogerS » 08 Feb 2021, 17:33

I wanted to make this moulding to go on top of the landing cupboard I made and described elsewhere. The original in the photo is on a Georgian cupboard (horribly mucked about with from a finishing perspective).

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Ignoring hand planes, the two most obvious ways is either using a spindle moulder or a 'composite' made from several passes on a router table with different cutters. The third option using a table saw and multiple passes is another option but I'm not covering that approach here.

Using a spindle-moulder

At 100mm high, it would need two cutters on my spindle moulder (expensive) Plus there is a limit to the projection you can get with the cutter blanks and with the angle of the moulding, simply not possible unless you either (a) have a good tilting spindle moulder (I don't) or (B) competent to faff around with a jig to put the wood at the appropriate angle. (I've never had a lot of success with this method as setting it up to run true and parallel I find tricky. Especially on a long 1.8m length. Even the minutest of angle errors will be magnified by the end.

Using a router table
But using a router in a table is an option. How I made my router table is here.

OK..a rough sketch taking measurements from the original...

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suggests that it can be made using two pieces of 30mm thick timber glued together where the arrow is pointing, and some cutters. A quick look through Wealden's website suggested that a Flat Roman cutter would take care of the top part of the moulding.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2kxZyrE]Image


Ran an odd bit of 30 x 30mm through and offered it up to the original and it's pretty much a perfect match.

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The bottom mould is almost a 15mm radius and so this cutter will work.

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Testing time over, it's time to make the 'real thing'. When I come to make the final top mould, I've extended it by 30mm so that I can fix the bottom moulding to it.

Next, set up the router table ...adding the fence, some extraction, a feather board to keep the wood tight against the fence and some support for the far end and then press into service my Comatic Baby power feeder.

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It was then that I realised the tyres on the Comatic had hardened up since I last used it (three years ago) :oops: So it's handfeed only. I like to take things steady and not try and hog it all out in one go.

First pass
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Second pass
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Final pass
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I need to plan for glueing the two mouldings together. So Domino time. I have a 'standard' for marking up..arrows for the reference side to put the Domino machine on when making the cut, a square to delineate if the slots are Normal width or not. And a letter to tell me easily which ends go together. A sort of fail safe. And it will be easier making the Domino slots on the lower moulding when it's till in the 'square' and not moulded.

So I started making the cut on the lower moulding and got about halfway through the process and then realised that I failed on the 5P's...I wasn't sure whether the cutter would expose the Domino slots once I'd machined to the design depth. :oops: So it was time to glue the two halves together overnight. You can see the partial cut I've made on the bottom moulding if you look closely enough.

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Of course, this cock-up had a knock-on effect because it left me with only a tiny 5mm piece of flat on the bottom which meant that the workpiece could easily rock as I hand fed it through. Which I soon discovered.
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Another advantage of only making light cuts as it gives you the opportunity to find a better way to do something before it is too late.

My tried and tested way is to make a 'tunnel' that holds the timber firmly against the fence and also stops it rocking.

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One of the joys of having a replaceable top to the assembly/workbench is that you're not fussed about screwing something down onto it.

And here we have it.
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Some knotting applied and ready to be painted.
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And fixed in position.

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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby Malc2098 » 08 Feb 2021, 17:56

Nice.
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby NickM » 09 Feb 2021, 16:38

That's very good. Thanks for writing that up.
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby novocaine » 09 Feb 2021, 16:49

nicely done, but......

why didn't you run a filler strip run the cabinet to the wall. (genuinely just wondering as I think it would look better), otherwise, :eusa-dance: :eusa-clap: .
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby RogerS » 09 Feb 2021, 18:02

novocaine wrote:nicely done, but......

why didn't you run a filler strip run the cabinet to the wall. (genuinely just wondering as I think it would look better), otherwise, :eusa-dance: :eusa-clap: .


Because the cupboard was designed and built to (a) look like a standalone cupboard (cocked up the RH side...needs a bigger gap) and more importantly (b) dismantle-able. The design rationale is here...
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby Cabinetman » 09 Feb 2021, 19:32

Nice Roger, did you do a bit extra to put into stock? Or at least keep an offcut, you won’t remember how you did it otherwise. Ian. Doh! Full instructions are on here!
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby sammy.se » 10 Feb 2021, 11:54

Nice - thanks for writing that up, lessons and all.
Were you not tempted to fully route the two halves, and then glue together, instead of 'Route > glue > route'?
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby RogerS » 10 Feb 2021, 12:02

sammy.se wrote:Nice - thanks for writing that up, lessons and all.
Were you not tempted to fully route the two halves, and then glue together, instead of 'Route > glue > route'?


Thank you.

As I mentioned, when making the Domino slots, I forgot that the bottom moulding had quite a deep mould taken out and was concerned that I'd crash into the domino slots. So by glueing up it meant that it wouldn't matter if I crashed into the domino's as they'd be moulded out without any gaps.

I guess I could have glued them together before doing any routing but I'd have had to get a collet extension for the top moulding.
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Re: Making a 'composite' moulding with a router

Postby sammy.se » 10 Feb 2021, 12:36

RogerS wrote:
sammy.se wrote:Nice - thanks for writing that up, lessons and all.
Were you not tempted to fully route the two halves, and then glue together, instead of 'Route > glue > route'?


Thank you.

As I mentioned, when making the Domino slots, I forgot that the bottom moulding had quite a deep mould taken out and was concerned that I'd crash into the domino slots. So by glueing up it meant that it wouldn't matter if I crashed into the domino's as they'd be moulded out without any gaps.

I guess I could have glued them together before doing any routing but I'd have had to get a collet extension for the top moulding.
Ah, understood now, thanks!!

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