Set up before the motor starts
One handheld cut, from bit to finish
Power off
Unplug the router, as Bosch says, or remove the battery, as Milwaukee says, before touching the bit.
Fit the bit
Shank to match the collet; seated as your router's and your bit's makers say, never bottomed; nut tightened as the manual says. The makers' insertion figures are compared in router bits.
Set the depth
Set it on a scrap or a known surface and lock the base. For a deep cut, set the first pass shallow and plan the rest — see below.
Set the speed
Find the bit's maximum rating and set the dial at or below it, lower for larger bits. Bosch's 1617 manual asks for a bit rated at least to the router's highest marked speed; the speed chart has the dials.
Secure the work
Clamp it to a stable surface. Bosch, DEWALT and Milwaukee all say a workpiece held by hand or against the body is unstable. See clamps.
Plan the feed
Work out the direction before starting — the next section — and where the cut starts and ends.
Start clear
Hold the router with the bit off the work, grip firmly against start-up torque, switch on and let it reach speed.
Cut
Bring the bit into the work and feed smoothly and steadily, without forcing it. Keep the base flat and the guide or bearing in contact.
Finish clear
Lift or move the router away from the work, switch off, and hold it until the bit stops before setting it down.
Which way to feed
Seen from above, the bit of a handheld router turns clockwise. Bosch says the most efficient cut is made by feeding the router so the bit turns into the work, not away from it. In practice, DEWALT's and Milwaukee's manuals give the same rule: move the router counterclockwise around an outside edge and clockwise around the inside of an opening. Milwaukee adds the everyday case: standing facing the work, rout the near edge from left to right.
For all four edges of a board, DEWALT gives an order: the first end-grain edge left to right, then the long-grain side left to right, then the other end-grain edge, then the remaining long-grain edge.
Safety— Climb cuts are the exception, not a technique
Feeding the other way is a climb cut. Milwaukee and DEWALT warn that it increases the chance of losing control; Bosch says the bit climbs out of the work and pulls the tool in the direction of feed. DEWALT names one case where it may be needed — backing around a corner — and then asks for extreme caution, smaller cuts and minimal material removed with each pass. Milwaukee says that if it cannot be avoided, use extreme caution. Neither presents it as a way to get a cleaner cut.
Depth, passes and feed rate
Bosch says that for some materials it is best to make several cuts of increasing depth, and that depth of cut and feed rate are best regulated to keep the motor running at high speed; soft materials take a faster feed than hard ones. DEWALT asks for several light passes instead of one heavy pass. Freud asks for multiple passes when removing a lot of material. Only one maker here gives a figure, and only for its own router: Milwaukee's 2723 takes no more than 1/8 in a pass in its plunge base. There is no universal depth per pass; speed, feed rate and depth are three separate settings.
| What you notice | Cause Bosch lists | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Hard to control; the router pulls | Wrong direction of feed | Feed so the bit cuts into the work; stop and re-plan |
| Motor labours and slows | Feeding too fast | Slow the feed |
| Motor labours even at a gentle feed | Dull bit | Replace or have the bit sharpened; never use a damaged bit |
| Motor labours on a deep or wide cut | Cut too large for one pass | Take it in more, shallower passes |
| Burn marks on the work | Feeding too slowly | Keep the router moving at a steady rate |
Causes as Bosch's 1617 and Colt manuals list them. A dull bit and a too-heavy cut both show as an overloaded motor.
Guides, setup bars and test cuts
For a straight cut away from an edge, Bosch's manual clamps a board or straightedge to the work and runs the sub-base along it; the dado guide in router projects builds one that marks its own cut line. Template guides, edge guides and the offset arithmetic are in jigs and templates, which also covers inlay recesses. Setup bars — machined blocks of known thickness — check a bit's projection quickly, but Milwaukee's advice stands: make a sample cut on scrap to check the settings before cutting the work. Measure from a reference face as in measuring and marking.
Flattening with a router
A router can flatten a slab too wide for a planer, riding a carriage on rails over the work. The sled, its sizes and the bit limits it works within are in router projects.
Dust and protection
OSHA names exhaust ventilation at the source as the preferred control for wood dust. Connect extraction to the base where the router has a port, and wear eye, hearing and respiratory protection as Milwaukee's manual advises: extraction reduces exposure; it does not end it.
Before each router cut
- Bit seated, tight and rated for the speed set
- Depth set, base locked, guide or bearing in place
- Work clamped; nothing under the cut line
- Feed direction and start and end points planned
- Test cut made on scrap
- Extraction connected; eye, ear and dust protection on
The router itself is mapped in the router guide; working on a table instead is in router tables and setting up a router table.
Sources
Steps follow the cited manuals; where they give figures, the figures are theirs for their own router. Your router's manual governs, especially on bit seating, speed and pass depth.
- 1.
1617, 1617EVS, 1617EVSPK, 1618EVS Operating/Safety Instructions. Bosch, 2018.
Used for: Bit installation and the rule of a bit rated at least to the tool's highest marked speed; feeding so the bit turns into the work; the feed problems and their causes — wrong direction, too fast, dull bit, too large a cut, too slow; soft materials fed faster than hard; several cuts of increasing depth; holding the router off the work when switching on or off; a clamped straightedge for grooves and dadoes.
- 2.
GKF125CE Colt Palm Router Operating/Safety Instructions. Bosch, 2018.
Used for: The same feed rules and problem list for a palm router; speed settings set by experience, with the bit maker's recommendation and the bit's rating above them.
- 3.
DCW600 20V Max* Compact Router, Instruction Manual. DEWALT, 2022.
Used for: Counterclockwise on an outside cut and clockwise on an inside cut; the order for routing all four edges; avoiding climb cutting, and when backing around a corner requires it, extreme caution, smaller cuts and minimal material per pass; several light passes instead of one heavy pass; keeping both hands on the tool against starting torque.
- 4.
M18 FUEL Compact Router, Cat. No. 2723-20, Operator's Manual. Milwaukee Tool.
Used for: Moving left to right as you face the work; outside edges counterclockwise and inside edges clockwise; climb cutting defined and to be avoided, with extreme caution if it cannot be; a sample cut on scrap; starting and stopping with the bit away from you and clear of the work.
- 5.
Premier Adjustable Rail and Stile System (instructions poster). Freud.
Used for: Multiple passes when removing a lot of material; never exceeding a bit's maximum rpm.
- 6.
Wood Dust: Possible Solutions. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Used for: Local exhaust ventilation at the source as the preferred control for wood dust.
About this tutorial
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