Brass bushings and template guides for my router

[Duane Bledsoe]

I was about to buy a set of brass bushings as well as a set of template guide bushings for my router today from Harbor Freight. I decided to wait though so I left without them. Then just now I saw a set from sears.com that are Craftsman and they come with a centering cone as well as the bushings. The ones at Harbor Freight do not have the centering cone. It makes sense you'd want them centered but I thought it would be pretty easy to get them aligned by just plain sight, not to mention I also though they would fit fairly tight in the opening of the baseplate anyway. Is this not true?? I don't know because I have not yet gotten to use the router (Craftsman model 17543), it is "supposed" to be a Christmas gift even though I was there and picked it out at time of purchase. Wife is making me wait. I've read that a bushing fitted as closely to the bit as possible (zero clearance) would make for a better cut by preventing tearout. If I got the cheaper set and didn't get a centering cone, am I going to have trouble getting them to be centered?? I'm figuring that it won't be much problem since I'll be able to see how it sets in relation to the bit in the chuck. Am I right or wrong??

[Bruce Wrenn]

Here, Woodcraft has their brass router bushings on sale for $19.99, almost all the time. They don't have a centering cone.

[John Coloccia]

re: centering
You don't center the bushing so much as you center the baseplate of the router. My centering cone came with my Jasper replacement router plate. It really is a very useful little tool to have, but I wouldn't buy bushings based on that. Those cones are readily available separately. Without the cone, you'd be surprised just how difficult it is to get the plate precisely centered. It's not a big deal if you don't need an absolutely precise cut, but if you do, the cone is a life saver.

re: zero clearance
Whoever said that is well intentioned but is a little confused. The bushing has no impact whatever on the cut, except that an overly tight bushing will turn already poor dust collection into practically no dust collection. The bushing and bit size is determined solely by how the maker of the template intended for the template to be used.