We finished off making the Slot Cutting template with the additions of height adjustment screws and then was rudely interrupted by the bad driving antics of the courier delivering our steel order (see Fence Broken by Delivery Driver).
Completed-slot-cutting-template-1
Completed-slot-cutting-template-2
After that little episode, we went outside and using the new calculated absolute positions of where the slot will be on each section of the Fascia boards, we drove in small panel nails at the starts and ends, ready for the chalk line to be snapped on later.
Nails-inserted-at-correctheights-to-snap-chalk-lines-too
After lunch, we took out all the equipment to have a go at cutting a slot into the “I” section of the Fascia (this being on the new raised wooden platform) using our new template guide ..
We first use the red chalk string to snap a straight line ..
Chalk-line-snapped
Then installed the template at the right hand end of the Fascia (the router needs to work from right to left), got the height adjusted nicely and clamped it down. We had to do the cutting in layers, 5mm at a time as Oak is much harder than pine ..
Slot-partially-cut
And then slid the template along to do the last half up to the corner.
Slot-cut-in-I
We now have our first slot in place!
But we decided that we will modify our template guide because of two issues, number 1 being the router would be easier to guide on its circle part of its base plate (and not the flat region) so there is more freedom to handle the router without it jumping out of alignment. The second issue was that the lower half of the template was not quite stiff enough to avoid bending very slightly under the weight of the machine. The second version now have a much wider lower section to stiffen it up and the guide now can take the machine on its circular parts of its base plate. We will try it out tomorrow!