CamBam: Cheap and cheerful. Some additional useful tips are also provided, such as the importance of making woodworkijg to choose straight wood when shopping for the materials. Do-it-all Routers We'd all love to have a fleet of routers at our disposal, but few of us can afford that luxury. Facebook Pinterest Best woodworking planes quest Text. Back to top.

We'd all love to have a fleet of routers at our disposal, but few of us can afford that luxury. So we went on a quest for the ultimate router: one machine that does it all. After compiling a list of what's required for a do-everything router below , we rounded up every router that meets those criteria—three dedicated plunge routers and six multibase kits—and put them through extensive testing.

The good news: All nine routers we tested can perform each requirement well enough to be the only router you'll ever need, but a few do it much better than the rest. Ample power to run any bit, even the largest panel-raisers. A variable-speed motor with soft-start and electronic feedback for maintaining speed under load.

Good balance and features for handheld fixed-depth routing. Smooth, easy-to-use plunge action and features. Through-the-base bit-height adjustability for router-table use.

Helpful included accessories: edge guide, dust-collection attachments, multiple subbases with different-size openings, guide-bushing holder or adapter, subbase centering cone, and a carrying case or bag for storage. All the routers impressed us by plowing through the handheld tasks without bogging down, even when we fed them faster than we normally would. Once again, all the routers handled the feet-per-minute feed rate.

So we upped the ante for the next round, cutting the profile in two equal passes. This time, only three tools—all with test-topping amp motors--could do it without bogging down. Slow speeds work better for big bits, and most routers' low speeds bottom out at 8, or 10, rpm. But one router's lowest speed was 12, rpm. Although it did not create a problem in our tests, we still prefer slower speeds when routing woods prone to burning or tear-out. Kudos to the manufacturers that show actual rpm markings on their variable-speed dials.

Second best are those with a speed chart on the motor housing, shown below , that corresponds to numbers on the speed dial. Worst are those where you must refer to the owner's manual to decipher the numbered speed markings. Once you dial in the correct speed, it's vital that the router maintain that speed during the cut.

Using a phototachometer, we evaluated each model's ability to do that while routing raised panels. None dropped more than 1, rpm, with all but one varying only a few hundred rpm once into the cut.

Big or small, fixed base or plunge, you'll appreciate a router that adjusts up and down quickly for fixed-depth routing. Among the fixed bases in the kits, we prefer a rack-and-pinion adjuster, shown top right, best because it has a quick release for coarse adjustments and a fine-adjustment knob. Take your list of potential CAD software, and go looking for great online communities that support that software. I can tell you right now that all things Autodesk, including Fusion have great online communities.

Solidworks has a great online community. Be sure to visit YouTube as well, as having access to learning videos is extremely helpful. Any package with hundreds of thousands to over a million available YouTube videos is going to be easy to find free online training for.

And BTW, those are the top 6 packages by market share from our survey too. They need something affordable, and that means hundreds of dollars, not thousands of dollars. The good news is that the markets recognize this to a greater or lesser extent. In this day and age, why consider a pure 2D CAD system?

You need to invest some serious time to doing that. I recommend you spend 2 weeks on each package. That can help make the comparisons more Apples-to-Apples. Pick something simple to start with. An even simpler part would be this 4 barrel carburetor spacer plate:. You should also draw something that requires multiple components. More into tooling? Step 3: Hands-on Testing. Draw 3 parts in each CAD package to see which one is best for you…. In all likelihood, one of the packages will stand out from the others.

We all have different styles. CAM software is largely about creating toolpaths that guide cutting bits through the material to produce the desired shape. What a disappointment it is to learn that things are a LOT harder than that!

In reality, using a CAM package means understanding what toolpaths it can create, and then matching those toolpaths to the various features on the finished part to cut each feature. I wanted to be able to share this incredible find with others, especially beginners. It will get you making real parts faster than anything else out there. MeshCAM makes some compromises in order to make things simple. These compromises have the following consequences:.

MeshCAM has a free trial, so I seriously recommend you give it a try before you even look at the competition. Yeah, I get it. Of course the answer is you CAN learn it. Look for:. These charts are from our CAM Survey. You could do worse than to take the top 5 off this chart as your starting point.

These are offered at multiple price ranges:. Let me cut to the chase. I talk to LOTs of folks, and have done lots of these surveys. My takeaway is you want to consider the following:. But you can clearly see that Fusion and Vectric Aspire have a ton of videos available for you to learn from. Personally, I recommend you evaluate all four software packages.

Get the free trials. But get them one at a time. And be sure to do the MeshCAM trial first. If you can, great! MeshCAM has your back until you have enough experience to want to try something else again.

Hang on there! Simply put, CAM software does a lousy job of it, something our survey respondents have told us year after year. Plus, when we surveyed folks and asked them what was hard to learn about CNC , guess what they said? Feeds and Speeds are by far the hardest thing to learn.

And boy have I got one for you. But, at the same time, I have talked to literally thousands of CNC Beginners and helped them through all the common problems. And every time I discovered a case where lots of people were hitting the same problem, I tried to build the solution into G-Wizard Calculator.

I wanted it to help beginners to help themselves before they got into trouble. That process continues to this day. Best Seller in Screwdriver Bit Sets. Best Seller in Jobber Drill Bits. Best Seller in Carpentry Squares. Best Seller in Construction Protractors. In stock on March 29, Best Seller in Jig Saw Blades. See all results. Amazon Prime. Eligible for Free Shipping. Featured Brands. Packaging Option. Customer Review. New Arrivals. International Shipping.

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