A friend of mine has offered to sell me his Foredom/MMC checkering tool and he's let me borrow it to see if it will work for me but I've never used one. If you have advice on how to set up the work area and/or how to get the most out of this machine please post them here.

Thanks,

Like most power tools it's a great convenience and saves lots of time. However like other power tools you can screw up things faster too !Checkering ,hand or machine , is something that you have to practice to become good.Perhaps the better way is to lay out, start with hand tools and do the fill in with the machine .Foredom is an excellent tool.

John,

The hand piece needs to be moving anytime the cutting wheel is in operation. If you run the wheel at top speed it tends to burn the wood very quick. I usually run the spacer guide deep enough to cut only about 65 percent of a line on the first pass. The motor that I like is the 2 speed with the shaft running on the slow end. Check the cutter to see if it is sharp. I never use my wood cutter on steel. When spacing use a light on the wheel side to make shadows. Other than these things it is just practise on flats before trying a stock.

Hope this helps, it has worked for me. I have used the MMC and 2 speed motor because I use the NGraver tool with the slow speed also to engrave. I have used the Doiron electric hand tool also. If you are going to checker a lot of stocks I would probably spend the extra money and get the Doiron electric all in one set up.

The dust is thrown into your face with these little cutters. Use some type of dust mask or you will be like me with the alergy problems.

I should've mentioned that I already checker stocks using hand tools so I'm familar with layout and design. This power tool has a foot pedal for variable speed control. Should I hang the motor from the ceiling?

Thanks again,

Les,
Have you ever seen a flow bench used for optics assembly or a fume hood in a chemistry lab.
Depending on what you prefer you could get a set up to flood you with filtered air like the flow bench or use a fume hood to exhaust the dust away from you. You could use both. I hope you are not in Central, Texas allergy capital of the universe.

John, I made a holder that mounts on the edge of the work bench and is about 3 ft above the bench. I use a hanger that is about 9 inches long to hold the motor and above this is another rod that extends out for about 15 inches to support the shaft. This keeps the hand piece hanging close to hand reach.

Ireload 2

I am in the allergy area. The Juniper really kicks in this time of the year. I have problems with the walnut dust which started my last attack.

John,
I use mine a bit differently than Les. I don't set the guide so it cuts that deeply when I am laying out on the initial cut. Mostly so I can fix any mistakes without any deep cuts to tend to. Once I make the cuts all the way across in both directions, I start to deepen the pattern. When you are laying out with a right hand tool, you cut from right to left but when you deepen you cut from left to right. The reason for this is that cutting from left to right in established tracts will not add errors as any you happen to make to not transfer to the next cut.

Do not try to cut all the way to the border. Use hand tools or the Kennedy jointer to extend the line. You will learn in time that in certain circumstances you can cut to the border but don't try it right off the bat. I cut in both directions (Pat Taylor told me to do that when I had a training session with her years ago) to speed up the process. When things get critical I often go one direction ( as in pulling the tool to me versus pushing it forward). Once the pattern is filled in, go around the border in the direction you are cutting at that time and cut the lines back from the border with your hand tool to speed up the process and to keep you from running the tool to close to the end.

After 2 or 3 cuts when you are laying out (this is disjointed but I am thinking on the run) stop, just like you would by hand and check for errors and fix them before you proceed.

Watch at the edges with the hand tool so that it does not hook to one side or the other.

I am not sure what to tell you about light. Pat Taylor checkers on a room on her back porch with all the windows covered and only one naked light bulb. I use an old operating light on a long neck and change the angle. I would have to set it up to describe what I do as I don't know offhand. I am sure it will be a personal thing with you but I suspect you already have the light where you want it.

Make sure the cutter is square to the surface. It is more critical that with hand tools to keep it this way, or at least it is easier to screw it up by varying the angle and you will end up with a line that wanders regarding the lpi.

I hang my motor from an old hospital I V stand. I can adjust the height easily.

I may have more later, need to ruminate on it.

Les and 'Stox,
Thanks for putting up some of these simple tips. I'm getting one of Doiron electric jobs and will be doing the learning curve practice work this Jan.

Word of caution. New cutters are almost too sharp. They will dig and grab in a split second. Until they break in they may frustrate the heck out of you.

Thanks, guys. I figured hanging the motor was the way to go. I'll rig something to clamp to the edge of my bench. I don't have any instructions with this rig; what kind of maintenance/lubrication will keep it running right?

Thanks again,

Bill,

Are you refering to the round cutters? I never noticed this with these, but have had the new regular cutters by Doiron in carbide to grab. These work better for me after I touch them up with an Eze Lap diamond steel in the fine. I take the little ones Brownell sells and remove the plastic handle. File down to a knife edge to get into the fine teeth bottom. Carefully stone a little and the sharpness will change. I also recut these cutters if they don't fill right when checkering.

John try a little oil on the shaft and a grease kit with extra shaft is good to have on hand. I once had a MMC unit to freeze up while checkering. It broke the shaft and sent the hand piece across the stock with a big scratch. I use a Veiner that I make out of 1/8 in drill rod. I use this to go around the pattern edges after the spacing. Then switch over to the hand tools to pull back from around the edge. Finish with a carbide V fine.

If you have a problem spacing and the tool goes wide, STOP and correct the problem with a good V fine cutter before you go any farther. One problem that I have is with fiddle back wood being hard and soft in spots. Control is slow when spacing this type of wood.

Les,
I have had my worst situations with the hard and soft woods when checkering Maple. I use super glue and saturate the area I am checkering. When it hardens, the softness goes away. The soft areas seem to be more of a problem in the lower side of the grip. I get the glue in larger bottles and it goes a long way.

Chic,
I use the super glue for minor nicks on a checkering job to repair if I hit the end too heavy. A little lighter colored sanding dust than the stock will blend in well and most people can't find the spot.

Have you heard of people winding up in the hospital after using super glue? It has been reported with mainly eye swelling. I believe that this was discussed on AR sometime back.

The only thing I would add is that the lines tend to go crooked with my MMC. To keep tabs in this I use Dymo label tape to make sure I am staying straight. I also use the tape to lay out my master lines. I cut the master lines with a single line hand tool. When the lines do get crooked I use a special extra ling single line cutter, I made, to force them back straight.

Scota,
I also use dymo labelling tape - 1/4" wide. I first use it to lay in the master line and then I lightly scratch a line on the other side of the tape and lay another piece of tape adjacent to the one used to set the master line and scribe another line. Then pick up the master line tape and leap frog it over the adjacent tape and scratch another line. In that way you end up eventually with 1/4" diamonds all the way across the pattern. I use those lines as a guide for keeping my cut lines straight. That may be what you meant when you said you used it for keeping the lines straight.

I use the Dymo tape as well for laying out the guide lines, but I like your idea of 1/4" diamonds for keeping things straight. I'll do that on my next job.

Chic, where do you find the glue in large bottles?

I sure appreciate the info!

John, you can get it from Woodworkers Supply. They have a number of different type and some with accelerators.