I have just finished making 28 picture frames just like the one pictured, but in different sizes.  Some of the sizes are nonstandard and made just for one size. I made them out of pine and sculpted the curves, dips and edges on the round end of my belt sander. Flat black was the requested finish. I had purchased the "nail on" saw tooth type hangers. I ran out of the hangers and tried to make a horizontal key hole slot with my table mounted router.  I used scrap wood and it did not come out good. First it didn't seem too safe, I suppose it was, maybe it was just me. Second, I couldn't hold the piece in position solidly and it made the slot curvy. Short of removing the router from the table, is there is simple, safe way to make this bit work for me on the router table?

It can be done in a table Ron. You just need to be careful. You'll have to mark the fence where you want to start and stop. This part is a little tricky. You will have to hold your frame up at an angle and slowly drop the wood onto the bit as it turns. You will be bracing 1 side against the fence . Then you wll push the frame as far as you need to make your slot. Then turn off the router and wait for the bit to stop. Only after the router is stopped, you can bring the frame back toward you and then lift off the bit.

It is easier to use a router from the top with a fence. A plunge router is ideal. Clamp your frame to the bench and position your router and fence to cut the slot. Turn on the router and plunge it in the wood. Move it to cut your slot. Stop the router and move back to the beginning   to take out the bit.

hope this helps. Takes way longer to write it then do it. bob

 

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Bob Kloes
www.bobkloes.com

A couple of years ago for Christmas gifts my wife and I made some note pads that were basically a wood frame that surrounded a white ceramic tile that you can hang on a wall or outside a door, I did the woodworking and my wife did some spiffy painting on them. Once completed we attached a dry erase pen to the frame using a small square of velcro on the frame and then wrapped a piece of velcro around the pen. The tile is like a "Dry Erase White Board" and it was a cool gift that everybody liked and many still use today. On the back side I had to cut a "Key Hole" slot for hanging on a nail/screw on the wall. I used my router table and as was mentioned above and I measured the size and location of where the slot needed to be and put beginning and ending marks on the RT fence for the bit. I also maked the end of the frame on the flat part of the RT and clamped scrap wood stop blocks perpendicular to the fence so that the ends of the frame would butt up against stop blocks at each end when they were passed over the bit. I also clamped another piece of scrap wood parallel to the fence with just enough clearance so that the frame would side back and forth betweem the stop blocks and remain against the fence. I would fire up the router and place the back edge of the frame against the back stop block at an angle with the top edge of the frame against the fence and the bottom edge against the parallel piece while holding the frame above the spinning bit. Then I would carefully move/push the frame onto the bit until the frame was flat on the table after making the entry with the key hole bit. The back stop block kept the frame from kicking back and the parallel piece kept it snug against the fence. I would slide the frame through the bit until it hit the front stop block and turn the router off. Once the bit stopped spinning I would slide the frame back to the rear stop block and remove the frame. Everything was perfectly straight with no problems. I made about 20-30 of these that year and they were all the same size. I have used this same method many times for stopped rabbits/slots/dados and it works well and no kickbacks. 

Thanks Bob, I guess I was a bit unsure of it and that was causing my problem. I also did not shut off the router immediately. I think I will try again using your suggestions and I will use an Erwin clamp to hold it in place after I have made my cut..........when I am ready to shut it off.  In order to shut it off, I have to reach under the table and that is a distraction I don't want, as I may losen my grip on the piece. I love my fingers.......all ten of them.

Bob Kloes said:

It can be done in a table Ron. You just need to be careful. You'll have to mark the fence where you want to start and stop. This part is a little tricky. You will have to hold your frame up at an angle and slowly drop the wood onto the bit as it turns. You will be bracing 1 side against the fence . Then you wll push the frame as far as you need to make your slot. Then turn off the router and wait for the bit to stop. Only after the router is stopped, you can bring the frame back toward you and then lift off the bit.

It is easier to use a router from the top with a fence. A plunge router is ideal. Clamp your frame to the bench and position your router and fence to cut the slot. Turn on the router and plunge it in the wood. Move it to cut your slot. Stop the router and move back to the beginning   to take out the bit.

hope this helps. Takes way longer to write it then do it. bob

 

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Bob Kloes

www.bobkloes.com

I use my plunge router. Make a guide / jig from scraps to fit the frame. Lock the frame to the bench with scrap wood slats. add one more scarp slat where you want to stop the cut. back the router out the way it went through after turning it off. This method works if you don't have a fence set up with stop like I do. I made my own fence and if you want e mail me off list and I can send them to you. 40 % of it is my own design. Hope this helps.

 

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

This morning I reread all the suggestions..............thanks all of you.  Then I went out in the shop, used some of the things suggested and made me a hold down jig. It allows me to hold the piece securely, plunge and make a neat keyhole. By premarking the piece and the fence, almost all came out very good. The only problem I had was that the bit could not get rid of the waste and plugged up part of the slot.

This made it impossible to remove the piece from the router bit. All I had to do was turn the router back on and used the jig to gently reverse it back to my mark. It worked very smoothly and I plan to use it on my next frames, one slot each two sides for  mounting horizontally or vertically.