Dremel 231 router/shaper

[wickens]

I am new to scroll sawing and am completely addicted. I have three projects under my belt and hopefully many more to come. My cutting improves everytime I make sawdust but I find I am spending a lot of time sanding and contouring. I was wondering if anyone has used the Dremel 231 router/shaper. My next project will be a simple music box and I am thinking a small router will help with the joinery and edging. I have three dremel tools and can devote one to the router tool.

Any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.
Pat

[MinotBob]

i just bought one with just this in mind. but so far my projects haven't been ones that I can use it on. I'd be interested in how you like it.

[Gill]

We're talking about this sort of set-up, right?



I've got one of these and it's very useful for rounding over the edges of segmented work that isn't too small and doesn't have too many tight turns. You'll still have to sand the pieces after routing, but the finish will be much more consistent and you won't need to do a lot of work. I'd certainly recommend it as a valuable addition to any scrollers toolkit.

If you're going to use it for rounding over very small pieces, I'd suggest you make a small pad out of scrap material similar to the push-pads used for tablesaws. However, insert the very tips of some veneer pins into it so that those pins will grip the reverse of your workpiece as you feed it into the router bit. It's possible to fix larger workpieces to the pad with a small screw.

When it comes to joinery, the Dremel can be useful but be aware that the table isn't made of the most substantial material and will flex if you try to remove too much material in one pass. In the past, I've often needed to tidy up the finish by hand.

Whether you use the Dremel for shaping or jointing, my advice is to remove small quantities of material with each pass and pass a diamond file over the cutter often to keep it sharp.

Gill