Routing Template Advice needed

[Paul Kinneberg]

Can someone tell me the best way to make a Routing Template for cutting the base plate hole in my new router table? Jointech sells one for $11 but wants $10 to ship it. I'm thinking I should be able to make one out of hardboard but was looking for the best way to do it. Any help would be appreciated.

[Dave Falkenstein]

Lay the plate on the table where you want to hole positioned. Draw lines, and make a rough cut with a jig saw at least 1/2" inside the lines.

Lay down long, straight boards on each of the four sides on the lines, and clamp the boards in place. You can do two adjacent sides at a time if clamping is a problem, but clamp a stop at the other two corners. Or you can make a template around the plate with three long sides and one short side, and use pocket hole screws to hold it together, and clamp the assembly to the top.

Use a router fitted with a template bit with the same radius cutter as the corners of your plate and a bearing on top. Cut the ledge (rabbet) for the plate to sit in. The depth of the cut will depend on your plate. Make two or three passes to reach the final depth. You have made a ledge that your plate will sit on.

Insert small, flat-head screws in the wood, wherever a leveling screw is positioned on your plate. These flat-head screws will prevent the leveling screws from digging into the wood.

[glenn bradley]

This is pretty much as Dave describes: http://www.shopnotes.com/files/issues/085/installing-a-router-plate.pdf

[Tom Darscheid]

I tried your method above and it works beautifully! But as you can see from the PICS the template on one side shifted slightly as I was routing and plowed at an angle towards the end of the cut. The result is a 3/8" wide gap. :eek:

Can anyone offer a solution for this? I've got alot of work invested in this top and refuse to start over. What can I do to fix this?:(

[glenn bradley]

I would glue in an oversized piece of wood and re-route that stretch.

[Bob Wingard]

Bondo .. ..

[Chip Lindley]

(prior planning prevents particularly poor performance)

A Bonafide Learning Experience! Now we see the importance of understanding how even a piloted bit will wander if not firmly guided against a template. The heartbreak of ruining a nice workpiece can be avoided by applying more elbow grease and anticipating which way the bit tends to pull when cutting inside or outside patterns. It's strongly advised to make test cuts on a mock-up piece before doing the Real Thing!

+2 on BONDO, or JB WELD to fill the gap!! JB is a bit more color coordinated with your RT. Bondo is noted for its PINK hue!

[David DeCristoforo]

"Bondo is noted for its PINK hue"

It's not the Bondo that's pink. It's the hardener that makes it so. You can get Bondo with white hardener that will set up a light grey color. Or you can use Minwax 2 part wood filler which is the same thing as bondo but that sets up to a kind of "mapleish" color. Of course, none of these things are going to match white p-lam. So the options are:

A) Make a new top and chalk this up to "learning experience" or

B) Strip off the p-lam, repair the bad spot with the afore mentioned Bondo and re-laminate the top or

C) Bondo in the gap and live with it.

It should be noted that if the top were wood, the repair possibilities would be completely different.

PS My preferred method of accomplishing the original goal is to make a one piece template out of plywood and use the router with a guide collar to make the cutout. The plywood template is easier to clamp in place and the risk of one side wandering is pretty much eliminated.

[Greg Deakins]

what David said... and I second the fix and then relaminate option, hide that mistake!

[Brian Walter]

You could also consider fixing the gap with Bondo and then placing plastic laminate over the top of the existing laminate. Of course you may need to raise any T-lock track or miter gauge slots to match the new surface. If your router plate doesn't have sufficient vertical adjustment simply put plastic laminate on the rabbit surface under the plate and you should be back in business.

If you don't fix the mistake you'll get mad at yourself every time you use the new router table.

Brian Walter