Dev Emch
11-21-2005, 1:38 AM
I have been a user of the micro fence standard router guide for more years than I have fingers to count with. Its a great tool and its made extremely well. It was designed with an oliver mentality. And the patented micrometer adjustment feature is just wonderful.
They have also had a similar product on the market for cutting circles. Equally excellent. I recently had a chance to borrow one of these and its on my list of new tools. But I needed to do some research before I pull the trigger because this tool has a "side effect" of note.
I call it a side effect because the tool is actually a circle maker and not a true linear guide. But, the beam of this guide attaches to a router base and by attaching high density plastic shoes to this beam, it can be made to track a number of guides. The pro-footers are covered and now so is the festool.
But here is what I have learned and just love. This setup allows the OF 1400 router to be used in conjunction with the festool guides without the purchase of the festool interface device. True, the unit made by festool to get the router to work with guides is the official item, the fact is, the micro fence kit is massively better made and massively more accurate. Not only does the 1400 work with the festool guide rails, I pick up that legendary micro fence micrometer adjustment system. This is killer accurate and way cool.
I have seen very little micro fence talked about here on this site. Being a very very happy owner for all these years, I thought it time to pipe up for this solution. This is esp. relavant now that they allow the the 1400 to be used with extreme accuracy.
But the fact is I have yet to justify the use of a guide rail in my operation. There are a couple of areas where this might come in handy but those jobs are more like April or March away so we will see.
They have also had a similar product on the market for cutting circles. Equally excellent. I recently had a chance to borrow one of these and its on my list of new tools. But I needed to do some research before I pull the trigger because this tool has a "side effect" of note.
I call it a side effect because the tool is actually a circle maker and not a true linear guide. But, the beam of this guide attaches to a router base and by attaching high density plastic shoes to this beam, it can be made to track a number of guides. The pro-footers are covered and now so is the festool.
But here is what I have learned and just love. This setup allows the OF 1400 router to be used in conjunction with the festool guides without the purchase of the festool interface device. True, the unit made by festool to get the router to work with guides is the official item, the fact is, the micro fence kit is massively better made and massively more accurate. Not only does the 1400 work with the festool guide rails, I pick up that legendary micro fence micrometer adjustment system. This is killer accurate and way cool.
I have seen very little micro fence talked about here on this site. Being a very very happy owner for all these years, I thought it time to pipe up for this solution. This is esp. relavant now that they allow the the 1400 to be used with extreme accuracy.
But the fact is I have yet to justify the use of a guide rail in my operation. There are a couple of areas where this might come in handy but those jobs are more like April or March away so we will see.