Ridgid R2401 Operation Manual - Page 10

OPERATION WARNING: Never install a trim cutter larger than 1-1/8 in. in this trim router. The use of larger bits can result in loss of control and possible serious personal injury. When cutting shallow grooves in soft woods such as pine, a faster rate of feed can be used. When making cuts in hardwoods such as oak, a slower rate of feed will be required. Several factors will help you select the proper rate of feed.  Choose a rate that does not slow down the trim router ­motor. WARNING: Never use a trim cutter in this trim router which is rated at less than 30,000/min. Doing so could result in serious personal injuy.  Choose the rate at which the cutter advances firmly and surely to produce a continuous spiral of uniform chips or a smooth trim edge on laminate.  Listen to the sound of the trim router motor. A highpitched sound means you are feeding too slowly. A strained, lower-pitched sound signals force-feeding. WARNING: Always use the base for laminate trimming. Use of the trim router without a base or using the incorrect base can result in serious personal injury. DIRECTION OF FEED AND THRUST See Figures 9 - 10, page 15. The trim router motor and cutter revolve in a clockwise direction. This gives the tool a slight tendency to twist in your hands in a counterclockwise direction, especially when the motor starts. Feed the trim router into the workpiece from left to right. When fed from left to right, the rotation of the cutter pulls the trim router against the workpiece. If fed in the opposite direction, the rotation forces of the spinning cutter will tend to throw the trim router away from the workpiece, causing kickback. This could result in loss of control of the trim router. Because of the extremely high speed of cutter rotation during a proper feeding operation, there is very little kickback to contend with under normal conditions. However, should the cutter strike a knot, hard grain, foreign object, etc., that would affect the normal progress of the cutting action, there could be a slight kickback. Kickback could be sufficient to spoil the trueness of your cut if you are not prepared. Such a kickback is always in the direction opposite the direction of cutter rotation. To guard against kickback, plan your set-up and direction of feed so that you will always be thrusting the tool-to hold it against whatever you are using to guide the cut-in the same direction that the leading edge of the cutter is moving. The thrust should be in a direction that keeps the sharp edges of the cutter continuously biting straight into new (uncut) wood. PROPER RATE OF FEED Professional trimming and edge shaping depend upon careful set-up and selecting the proper rate of feed. The proper rate of feed is dependent upon:  the hardness and moisture content of the workpiece  Check the progress of each cut. Too-slow feeding can cause the trim router to take off in a wrong direction from the intended line of cut. Force-feeding increases the strain of holding the tool and results in loss of speed.  Notice the chips being produced as you cut. If the trim router is fed too slowly, it will scorch or burn the wood. If the trim router is fed too fast, it will take large chips out of the wood and leave gouge marks. Always test a cut on a scrap piece of the workpiece wood or laminate before you begin. Always grasp and hold the trim router firmly when trimming. If you are making a small-diameter, shallow groove in soft, dry wood, the proper feed rate may be determined by the speed at which you can travel the trim router along the guide line. If the cutter is a large one, the cut is deep or the workpiece is hard to cut, the proper feed may be a very slow one. A cross-grain cut may require a slower pace than an identical with-grain cut in the same workpiece. There is no fixed rule. Proper rate of feed is learned through practice and use. FORCE FEEDING See Figure 11, page 15. The trim router is an extremely high-speed tool (20,00030,000/min.), and will make clean, smooth cuts if allowed to run freely without the overload of a forced feed. Three things that cause force feeding are cutter size, depth of cut, and workpiece characteristics. The larger the cutter or the deeper the cut, the more slowly the trim router should be moved forward. If the wood is very hard, knotty, gummy or damp, the operation must be slowed still more. Clean, smooth laminate trimming and edge shaping can be done only when the cutter is revolving at a relatively high speed and is taking very small bites to produce tiny, cleanlysevered chips. If the trim router is forced to move forward too fast, the speed of the cutter becomes slower than normal in relation to its forward movement. As a result, the cutter must take bigger bites as it revolves. Bigger bites mean bigger chips and a rougher finish. Bigger chips also require more power, which could result in overloading the motor.  the depth of cut  the cutting diameter of the cutter. 10 - English