The DIY thread
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does anybody DIY around here?
tldr: how do I mill long boards into baseboard, with a router?
A long, long time ago I asked on here for advice on running/fishing ethernet cable in my home and/or for my old office, where I was office/building/it manager.
Since then, I have actually bought a home and I am running full steam ahead on this project for my home. Basically, my approach is inspired by a Fine Homebuilder's article where they showed how to run electrical cables behind a finished wall, by cutting a slot out of the dry wall near the floor and covering it with baseboard.
Perfect.
The flooring downstairs sucks, but I have all the laminate flooring I carefully tore out of the top floor in the garage. I think it's more than enough for the bottom floor. I needed to get new baseboard for that project anyway, so wth, let's do it.
So I'm basically planning out a custom moulding project. I don't necessarily need to cut out so much dry wall that I'm getting into the cavity, but I will in some places (especially in the first room, where the network rack will be).
Basically, I plan on milling boards with a nice profile, and also putting in a large "channel" into the back side, to run the actual cables in. The baseboard is going to be tall enough that I can use architectural panel clips to fasten the boards to the studs. Also, I'll probably do the miters with the router.
My thinking with the architectural panel clips is that this should make it easy to get behind the baseboard if I have to expand later (and I will, since I'm going to do the flooring one room at a time so I have room to stage everything).
Questions: I have used power tools like grinders and saws, but never a router. I have what seems to be a nice Skil router. Based on what I've described, should I get a bench top router table to do the milling? Or can I just clamp the boards onto a sturdy table and mill with a jig? If that's the way to go, what's a decent way to clamp the boards, given that I'll have to run a tool over the top face?
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@Captain said in The DIY thread:
does anybody DIY around here?
tldr: how do I mill long boards into baseboard, with a router?
A long, long time ago I asked on here for advice on running/fishing ethernet cable in my home and/or for my old office, where I was office/building/it manager.
Since then, I have actually bought a home and I am running full steam ahead on this project for my home. Basically, my approach is inspired by a Fine Homebuilder's article where they showed how to run electrical cables behind a finished wall, by cutting a slot out of the dry wall near the floor and covering it with baseboard.
Perfect.
The flooring downstairs sucks, but I have all the laminate flooring I carefully tore out of the top floor in the garage. I think it's more than enough for the bottom floor. I needed to get new baseboard for that project anyway, so wth, let's do it.
So I'm basically planning out a custom moulding project. I don't necessarily need to cut out so much dry wall that I'm getting into the cavity, but I will in some places (especially in the first room, where the network rack will be).
Basically, I plan on milling boards with a nice profile, and also putting in a large "channel" into the back side, to run the actual cables in. The baseboard is going to be tall enough that I can use architectural panel clips to fasten the boards to the studs. Also, I'll probably do the miters with the router.
My thinking with the architectural panel clips is that this should make it easy to get behind the baseboard if I have to expand later (and I will, since I'm going to do the flooring one room at a time so I have room to stage everything).
Questions: I have used power tools like grinders and saws, but never a router. I have what seems to be a nice Skil router. Based on what I've described, should I get a bench top router table to do the milling? Or can I just clamp the boards onto a sturdy table and mill with a jig? If that's the way to go, what's a decent way to clamp the boards, given that I'll have to run a tool over the top face?
The best way to mill trim is with a router table. You can get a benchtop model one for about $150 if you already have a router.
