On 6/7/2014 12:07 PM, Swingman wrote:
Got this in FWW's email letter this morning:
SUBJECT:Ultimate routing jig
Not that I necessarily think this is, as they say in their email, the
"ultimate" pattern routing jig; and I can say with certainly that I
don't think it is all that "clever" for a number of reasons - lack of
adaptability to size and provisions for backing up edges to prevent
tearout are a couple - nonetheless thought it was definitely germane to
this discussion and might be useful to have in your bag of tricks:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-t...orking-eletter
I was thinking about a more reusable jig when I made the two different
sets of pattern-routed parts. But it wasn't that difficult to simply
remake the jig in my case.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdguar...57644207411490
I made my MDF templates oversized, with a generous margin around three
sides. That made it easy to simply screw in the fence pieces from
underneath. I did need to countersink them, which added a step, but it
was still very quick.
Here are my (relatively uninformed) concerns about the Fine Woodworking
jig.
1. The toggle clamps are at a fixed distance apart. In the picture on
this page
http://www.finewoodworking.com/works...n-routing.aspx
the clamps look too close together for the span of the piece, at least
to me. I'd worry about something moving as the grain changed. Since they
have the clamps on blocks, rather than on a continuous piece of wood,
they'd be a drag to move. If I were to make something like this, I think
I'd make the clamps more easily movable.
2. There's no "end fence".
It seems to me that you'd get more repeatable (or at least quicker)
registration with an end fence of some kind rather than lining up the
template and the work by eye.
3. The router bit has to protrude further from the table. Does this
matter? Or, more personally, does it matter if your router table setup
is less than top quality? I'm not sure.
4. You can't see the work, without a mirror, anyway. I'm not sure why,
but I liked seeing the work piece itself, at least the top edge, as the
router did its job.
Having said all that, it does give me some interesting ideas. Thanks.
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