Trim routers or Hand Routers as they are also called have much less power than their larger, more powerful counterparts, so finding jobs for them to do that doesn't over-tax the motor is a bit more of a challenge. In this video, I am sticking with what their routers were designed for and that is trimming edges. The difference with the jig that I am making is that the base will be larger and more stable than the base that comes with the router, therefore a better chance of getting a good cut ...
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/F4V57ePSQEI
And with the fence guide, it means I can use any 1/4 inch shank edge treatment bit, either with or without a bearing, which is a huge advantage.
I decided to make this jig out of plastic, but thin, good quality plywood would also work fine.
The first thing I needed to do was to center the router on my plastic base which was 6 inches wide by 9 inches long, and mark, then drill pilot holes so that I can drill and countersink for the small bolts that hold the base to the router body.
In my case, the bolts are pan head so I needed to make the countersinks using my 1/4 inch Forstner bit, which worked well for this job.
Next came the cutting of the slots that would hold the anchor bolts that would be driven into the wooden fence. I decided to use the table saw with a 40 tooth Freud - 7.25-inch blade in it to get as deep a cut as I could into the plastic. I could have used a 10-inch blade but it would not have had near the penetration as the 7.25-inch blade because the 10 inch has a much larger diameter.
As you can see in the video this technique worked very well, in my case I wound the blade up 4 revolutions of the blade height crank on the table saw, and did the same on both ends .. then re-set the blade for the second cut and did the same thing. The result was 2 cuts on each end, about 1 inch from the side of the base, then I drilled the very end of each slot out using my 1/4 inch Forstner bit and finished cutting the slots using a fine tooth hacksaw blade.
Next, I marked and pre-drilled some holes for the hanger bolts to go into the wooden fence, then screwed the hanger bolts into place. At this point, the jig is basically done. All that needs to happen now is to attach some washers and wing nuts to secure the fence and attach the whole jig to the trim router.
The best chamfer bit I had to test the edge jig turned out to be a lettering jig, which is really only a chamfer bit without a bearing.
My first test cut went perfectly, A nice even cut with now jogs and the chamfer remained the same angle throughout the cut.
I am very happy with this jig, I know I will get plenty of use from it as I love the edge treatment of the angle cut with a small bead of flat grain left. It looks very good without being complicated. This will be one of my top jigs.
Woodworkweb Amazon Affiliate Store - https://www.amazon.com/shop/woodworkweb
Copyright Colin Knecht
Woodworkweb.com
