--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces. Setting the stops on the router fence
is easy enough for one set of slots but when you swivel a router fence all
of the stop positions change. So I set out to look for a retrofit fence kit
of some kind that would move the fence back and forth, parallel to the first
setting. Well the guys at the Woodcraft store said there isn't one! So I
made one; not totally happy with the results tho, i.e. it can still wobble a
bit but it's definitely better than nothing at all.
--Question: anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I still miss
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : rock and roll...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

The Incra fence system (and many others) do exactly that, plus a lot
more. Not sure who you talked too at Woodcraft but seems like just
about the quality information I get from the folks at my Woodraft too.
I think in their last job they were used to saying "fries with that?"


On Jun 4, 9:11 am, steamer wrote:
--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces. Setting the stops on the router fence
is easy enough for one set of slots but when you swivel a router fence all
of the stop positions change. So I set out to look for a retrofit fence kit
of some kind that would move the fence back and forth, parallel to the first
setting. Well the guys at the Woodcraft store said there isn't one! So I
made one; not totally happy with the results tho, i.e. it can still wobble a
bit but it's definitely better than nothing at all.
--Question: anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I still miss
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : rock and roll...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

On Jun 4, 9:11 am, steamer wrote:
--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces. Setting the stops on the router fence
is easy enough for one set of slots but when you swivel a router fence all
of the stop positions change. So I set out to look for a retrofit fence kit
of some kind that would move the fence back and forth, parallel to the first
setting. Well the guys at the Woodcraft store said there isn't one! So I
made one; not totally happy with the results tho, i.e. it can still wobble a
bit but it's definitely better than nothing at all.
--Question: anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I still miss
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : rock and roll...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

I'm not sure if the slots you're routing will be always a fixed
distance apart from each other, as it was in my case. I built a type
of sled that resembles a box joint jig. Cut a slot on the sled to fit
nicely around a collar mounted on the router table, push the workpiece
and sled across the bit for the first cut, then hot glue a piece of
scrap that'll fit well into the slot you've just cut the specified
distance from the cut onto the sled. Move the first cut on the
workpiece over onto the scrap to locate for the next cut. Does this
make sense to you? Tom

depending on the situation I might make a template with openings for
all of the slots, then take the template to each of the half-dozen
workpieces.

this would work well with an array of stopped dados.

--Question: anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

Depending on the project, I probably would have avoided the stops
altogether. Just set the fence for the first groove, rout all 6
pieces, and repeat for the rest of the grooves. There would probably
be situations where this wouldn't work, and it would be harder to go
back and do one more piece after you finished most of them. But it
seems like this mini-assembly line would be quicker and easier than
routing all the grooves in piece one, then the second piece, etc.
Regarding the parallel-moving fence, I agree with the previous poster
that your Woodcraft salesperson was misinformed - I know I've seen
fences that can be moved as you describe.
Good luck,
Andy

In article , steamer wrote:
--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces. Setting the stops on the router fence
is easy enough for one set of slots but when you swivel a router fence all
of the stop positions change. So I set out to look for a retrofit fence kit
of some kind that would move the fence back and forth, parallel to the first
setting. Well the guys at the Woodcraft store said there isn't one! So I
made one; not totally happy with the results tho, i.e. it can still wobble a
bit but it's definitely better than nothing at all.
--Question: anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

If I understand correctly, you're routing slots that don't go the entire
length of the workpieces, but you want them all to stop at the same distance
from the end (hence the stops on the fence), right? (If the slots do go all
the way from end to end, just rout slot 1 in each piece, move the fence, rout
slot 2 in each piece, move the fence, etc.)

First off, the guys at the Woodcraft store were uninformed. There are several
brands of fence on the market that do exactly what you want, but they're not
cheap.

There is a cheap, easy way to do just what you want, though. Position the
fence and stops for your first slot, then rout that slot in each workpiece.
Clamp stop blocks to the router table, touching the fence, one at each end.
Loosen the fence mounts, then use spacers at each end of the fence to move it
the proper distance away from the stop blocks. Tighten the fence mounts,
remove the blocks and spacers, and rout the next slot in each workpiece.
Repeat until finished.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

steamer wrote:

--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces.

Think I would have used a table saw with a sled, cleat, and a dado.

At least that is F Bingham's method when making teak cockpit gratings
for a sailboat.

It's all described in his book.

Lew

steamer wrote:
--Ran into a situation the other day where I had to rout a series of
parallel slots in half a dozen pieces. Setting the stops on the
router fence is easy enough for one set of slots but when you
swivel a router fence all of the stop positions change. So I set
out to look for a retrofit fence kit of some kind that would move
the fence back and forth, parallel to the first setting. Well the
guys at the Woodcraft store said there isn't one! So I made one;
not totally happy with the results tho, i.e. it can still wobble a
bit but it's definitely better than nothing at all. --Question:
anyone else been down this road? What did ya wind up
doing?

I wound up with the original Incra jig thing. About $30 20 years
ago...now they got fancy and expensive. Shame they didn't also keep
the original gizmo available.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

--Thanks for all the replies gang! Yeah, price is the issue it looks
like. Glad I made mine from the scrapbit. I can get relatively good parallel
action now. Although it can be wobbled a bit (less than 1/2" from end to
end) I can "feel" when it's out of whack. I'm thinking the next thing I'll
add will be a pair of peel-and-stick measuring tapes, one to either side of
the router table, so that I can measure the alignment more precisely; again:
cheap. Will post a few pics soon.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Mostly somnambulent,
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : occasionally brilliant...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

You can just use a framing square along one edge of the table and
across the fence as you make each adjustment. One embeded tape would
be good too.

On Jun 5, 8:47 am, steamer wrote:
--Thanks for all the replies gang! Yeah, price is the issue it looks
like. Glad I made mine from the scrapbit. I can get relatively good parallel
action now. Although it can be wobbled a bit (less than 1/2" from end to
end) I can "feel" when it's out of whack. I'm thinking the next thing I'll
add will be a pair of peel-and-stick measuring tapes, one to either side of
the router table, so that I can measure the alignment more precisely; again:
cheap. Will post a few pics soon.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Mostly somnambulent,
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : occasionally brilliant...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

They did, see Rockler.

"dadiOH" wrote in message
news:ewc9i.5276$554.2564@trnddc07...

I wound up with the original Incra jig thing. About $30 20 years
ago...now they got fancy and expensive. Shame they didn't also keep
the original gizmo available.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico