what a great couple of days

[doug the slug]

Jools (ele_13 on the forum) and i have just had a marvellous couple of days. we had to go to Brisbane to take my son to the airport to go to japan to work for 18 months. unfortunately we had to extend the trip a bit, because last week his grandmother (my late wife's mother) died and her funeral was held in Toowoomba on Thursday. the funeral was the only downside of the trip. we stayed just outside of toowoomba with the brother in law and family on the thursday night and had a great night of reminiscing and on friday we started a great "Woodies" tour.

We had Lunch on friday with ruffly rustic and her hubby in toowoomba and as an extra bonus Andy_mac turned up as well. it was great to meet these 2 forum members in the flesh and Ruffly's hubby was great to meet as well; he actually works in the timber industry and i couldnt believe what he does with coconut timber!!!

From toowoomba, we went to brisbane so we could drop my son at the airport this morning. Last night we visited Biotechy2k where we chatted about dogs, rats and horses before having a lovely family dinner at hogs breath cafe on the opposite side of gympie road from where we were staying.

After dropping Mathew at the airport this morning we went out to Archerfield to Eco Urban timber, run by craig (Exador on this forum) and came away with some nice silky oak. we would have loved to buy more but we had space constraints in the car.

Heading north from Archerfield, we called in to Carbatec and struck a good deal on a woodrat, something i had been considering for quite a while.

All in all it was a great trip and quite uplifting after the funeral, cant wait to get the woodrat going.

Thanks to Ruffly_rustic and hubby, Andymac, Biotechy2k and Exador for your contributions to a great triphttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon7.gif

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Doug, thanks! It was great to meet you and Jules. Nice pickup on the silky oak and WoodRat!

cheers
RufflyRustic

[Andy Mac]

Hi Doug,
It was indeed a pleasure to meet yourself and Jules, always good to put a face to a name! And it sounds like you had a mostly enjoyable trip, fruitful even. Can we expect a user report on the Woodrat?

Cheers,

[doug the slug]

Can we expect a user report on the Woodrat?

woodrat report: initial impressions.

A woodrat isnt something you can take straight out of the box and use. its not just the setting up of the gear but using it effectively is a bit of a learning curve as well. at the moment im a bit in awe of what it can do while a bit frustrated at having to buy and make bits to mount it on so i can start using it. the woodrat itself is smaller than i imagined it to be which is a good thing when you want to mount it on a mobile stand, as i do. dust extraction is gonna be a bit of a challenge but should be very effective once achieved.

so far im happy with my purchase but i havent mounted the router on it yet. still deciding whether to mount the makita or the triton. i can see advantages and disadvantages either way. anyway, enough for now, thats the initial impressions on opening the box, no doubt i will be posting more probably in the router forum as things progress, but im optimistic at this stage that i will be more than happy with my new toyhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Auld Bassoon]

Hi Doug!

Glad to see that you got a WoodRat - I'm sure that you'll have lots of fun with it.

Post some pics of Ratty in situ?

Cheers!

Late edit: I found that the Triton router wasn't very well suited to the WoodRat simply because of its physical size, and changing bits on it when mounted was a bear.

Similar issues with a Bosch GOF1300ACE.

I ended up with a DeWalt 625, and that was fine.

The WoodRat HSS bits are expensive - but worth it. You'll also probably want to buy or make the mitre box and whatnot that WR sell as accessories.

[doug the slug]

Hi Doug!

Glad to see that you got a WoodRat - I'm sure that you'll have lots of fun with it.

Post some pics of Ratty in situ?

Cheers!

Late edit: I found that the Triton router wasn't very well suited to the WoodRat simply because of its physical size, and changing bits on it when mounted was a bear.


if i decide to mount the triton, it will be by cutting the triton quick release holes into the mounting plate, copying the shape from other triton gear and recessing the bolthead at the bottom. that will mean that the handles will be on an angle, will that be a problem, steve? and will post photos when ive got it set uphttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif