Pathfinder instructions - The WoodRat

the Side should be thicker (in other words the side lies too low in
in the pocket, or too thick in the pocket and stands proud.
Say it is too thick by 1mm: You could of course plane it off, but
there’s a better way.
When you make the next trial, put the whole set-up back together
ready, with the stick in front of the drawer side, and the drawer
front pushed in against it.
Then loosen the Locking keys and pull the Drop-Pin Plate forward
by half a millimeter measured against the scale on the RouterPlate.
This will make the Side Tails one half mill thinner and the Pin pocket
one half mill deeper with a net change of 1 mm.
Conversely, if the drawer side is too deeply set, the Drop Pin Plate
needs to be reset away from you by half of the over-depthing,
because, as the bit moves away from you, it makes the tail at
the same time thicker, and the pocket shallower. So it is quite a
subtle adjustment.
When drawer side, stick and drawer front are cammed in place,
the whole structure should be solid, square, and ready for work.
Make sure that the drawer side lies flat against the machine face,
and that the inside face of the front is flat up under the half-plate.
Push upward with the fingers of the left hand before tightening
the Camlock and the Hand Lever.
Remember, the object is to track the minimum route, leaving nothing
behind and causing no breakout. It is tempting to go fast, but
we advise building up speed gradually, when you are sure of your
method.
The two pieces should come out from the cheeks and lock together
exactly, ready for glue.
Trouble shooting
Mis-match of boards
One crucial thing, especially with drawers, is the way the two pieces
marry up. Planing them up to correct a mismatch tends to make
the perfectly square drawer front into a parallelogram shape, which
does not properly fit the drawer opening. This should not happen
as you benefit from CNC cut Templates and they should be perfect,
but they will not fit exactly if the boards are of different width.
Slipping workpieces
WoodRat do not sandpaper the faces; we leave this job to you.
When applying sandpaper, use a synthetic rubber cement like
Copydex or the US equivalent which is easy to remove and replace
when needed.
The Pathfinder is very much “work in progress”. These three Templates
demonstrate what is possible. What we actually make as the
next generation of Templates will depend on demand from you....
Let us know what you think.
32
1mm oversize
If the Side stands proud of the Front by
1mm, move the Pin Plate forward by 0.5mm to
decrease the depth of the tail and at the same
time increase the depth of the pocket