WOODWORKING ROUTERS

Basic & CNC Wood Routers

Wood Routers are the most common and adaptable tool in a woodworker's arsenal, and now today with the possibility of controlling its movement via a PC, CNC routers are becoming even more valuable and more versatile.

As with any tool the biggest challenge is in buying the RIGHT tool and getting started with professional and accurate information. Getting good guidance on how to use a router or the appropriate CNC training for it's more sophisticated cousin helps to maximize any tools' use and create a safe working environment .... so read on.

This web site is all about basic and CNC wood routers, written by those that have been in the industry for over 30 years.

Basic Wood Router:

A basic woodworking router is a hand-held horizontal motor with a shaft coming out the bottom adapted to hold small rotating cutters, and two handles on either side for motion control. It is used extensively in the woodworking industry for adding decorative edges to panels, trimming surface veneers, and adding dados and rabbeted edges for various forms of joinery.

Its an inexpensive and relatively safe tool for the casual woodworker and yet has enough potential to allow the skilled craftsman to build entire pieces of furniture with little else in the way of technology.

Start by reading the "buying wood router" section to familiarize yourself with the various types of routers and what features might be important to your style of woodworking.

CNC Wood Router:

A CNC Wood Router (C-Computer N-Numberical C-Control) is none other that a basic router for wood that has been mounted onto a gantry that allows either, the wood to move on a table below the CNC Wood Router, or the CNC router and the gantry to move over the wood that is secured to a table below.

It is a much more complicated setup if only because you need multiple motors and controllers to aid in the computerized movement of the machine and offer feedback so the software knows that the machine is headed to where it is suppose to be going.

To get started in CNC woodworking you might want to first read our section on "Buying a CNC Wood Router" to familiarize yourself about the various parts of the machine, and how the choices you make today, will affect the price, the accuracy and potential of what it can do, and the durability of the machine.