Working with Template guides

[Tom O'Donnell]

It has been a few year since I made my last post to the forum. I have been a great believer that with the guides in use will increase the outers versatility by 80%. It has been posted on another forum "90% of all routing processes can be produced with the router in the Table Mode"I would be interested on what Sawmill Creek members thought. I will be prepared to submit a number of projects that required a number of routing processes not achievable in the table mode. I would be interested if any member has completed a project without the aid of the table mode and using template guides instead.

Tom O'Donnell

[Jamie Buxton]

I use a router all sorts of ways -- guided by a template guide, guided by a bearing on the bit, guided by an edge guide mounted to the router, guided by a fence in a table, etc. It's all good.

Post away, however you use your router.

[Mike Cutler]

It has been a few year since I made my last post to the forum. I have been a great believer that with the guides in use will increase the outers versatility by 80%. It has been posted on another forum "90% of all routing processes can be produced with the router in the Table Mode"I would be interested on what Sawmill Creek members thought. I will be prepared to submit a number of projects that required a number of routing processes not achievable in the table mode. I would be interested if any member has completed a project without the aid of the table mode and using template guides instead.

Tom O'Donnell

If 90% of all routing processes can be done in the "table mode", it's because many people do not own a Shaper.
The router put the shaper bit "in hand", on a lightweight scale, for a reason.
In the table, in hand or mounted to a vertical jig. Only a persons individual creativity can limit how a router is used. To leave it solely in a table is a waste of a valuable tool.

Here is a book case I posted 10 years ago. There are over 700 different M&T joints of one type or another in this project, and it's complimenting smaller case. Almost all done with a router.All of the shelving and curve work was done using full sized templates. Virtually all of the flat work was finished with a router.
Very little of this project used a router mounted in a table. The interior support posts in the lower section were done on a router table.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hed&highlight=

[Curt Harms]

How big is the project? It's possible but difficult to route small pieces using a hand held router and bushings/bearings. It's easy on a table. OTOH putting a profile or dado on a long shelf might well be easier with a handheld router.

[Justin Ludwig]

IMG_3440.JPG IMG_3441.jpg IMG_3442.JPG IMG_3443.JPG IMG_3583.JPG

[John Sanford]

If "table mode" includes a horizontal mortising fixture, then one could likely accept the 90% figure. In reality though, a horizontal router is generally not what one thinks of when they think "router table." Plunge cuts, specifically speaking, mortises CAN be done on a router table, but it's one of those operations that scares the hell out of me. I'd much, much rather use a handheld router for mortising. The scary factor of using a standard router table setup for mortising is exactly why the plethora of horizontally mounted router solutions for mortising have come about.

Aside from plunge operations, one can reach a point where the size of the workpiece makes it impractical to bring the work to the tool, and thus the table mounted router is impractical. Of course, if you have unlimited space and resources, then you can do the inlay work in the top of that 6' x 25' boardroom table using a table mounted router, but aside from being able to say that you did such a thing, why would you?

Note: In all of these considerations, a CNC using a "router" as the spindle is not being included in the "table mounted router" category. When looked at from the perspective of "more the tool over the work" or "move the work over the tool", a CNC is a hybrid. You bring the work to the tool, but the tool moves over the work. Aside from the high cost and high learning curve, plus the limits of the tool's work area, it's a solution that has the best of both worlds. For a huge variety of projects, one could easily do 90% of the router work on a 4'x8' CNC machine.

[Jim Dwight]

90% seems too high to me too. I have two router table setups and usually use the stand alone table. I consider it very nice, it has home made height adjustment by turning a screw (1 turn to 1/16 inch). But I wouldn't want to do 90% of my router work there. Big pieces should be cut hand held. Mortises should be cut with a plunge router by hand. Edge molding of big pieces should be by hand. Dados in large pieces should be done by hand (with the appropriate jig). Drawer dovetails should be done hand held (with the appropriate jig). I would think I am closer to 50/50.

[Mike McGrath]

Hi Tom. I am sure you will be pleased to hear that Trend will ship their metric template guides to the US. Used with the Trend UniBase they will fit many of the routers available here. I talked Whiteside into producing a metric bit set; in fact the shop foreman custom ground the first 12 mm bit for me from one of their 1/2" bits. Whiteside's 460 bit set includes a 6, 10 and 12 mm bits. A mutual friend made me a set of guides for my Makita router.
006.jpgWhiteside set 460.jpgMakita GB.jpgTrend bushings.jpg

[Mike McGrath]

I led that "other forum" for 10 years. The "90%" quote is from Bob Rosendahl of the Router Workshop TV series that ran on PBS for 14 seasons. I use the "Keep it simple" methods that Bob taught most of the time. Many companies have copied Bob's designs: his box joint jig and miter sled are the two most commonly found. Jigs and/or an auxiliary table top attached to the table and used with a free hand router are included in Bob's quote. One example of this is the Oak Park template guide system which included templates with different shapes and a jig to hold them in the table.

"Template Tom" who started this thread has devised some templates that allow you to rout parts that would take many hours of hand work in a matter of minutes. Working with Tom's methods are very safe; Tom has even taught blind students to work with routers, templates and guide bushings and their work is excellent.

There are many ways to accomplish most woodworking tasks and people should work with what they are most comfortable with. The more methods you know about the easier it is to decide how you want to perform a task. There is no wrong way to go about a project as long as you are safety aware.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Well Mike that is great news having the metric guides available for use. Just as a matter of interest I produced a DVD for the Carb-i-Tool company here in Australia as they decided to include the Imperial Guides in their router cutter catalouge. Glad to see you got a nice present of 4 metric guides to fit your router.

Mike I have continued to produce projects / processes with the aid of the guides material not suitable for producing in the Table Mode. I will post some details here for those who may be interested. All produced by the people who are blind. I have also submitted over 40 videos on Youtube for all to see

Template Tom

I led that "other forum" for 10 years. The "90%" quote is from Bob Rosendahl of the Router Workshop TV series that ran on PBS for 14 seasons. I use the "Keep it simple" methods that Bob taught most of the time. Many companies have copied Bob's designs: his box joint jig and miter sled are the two most commonly found. Jigs and/or an auxiliary table top attached to the table and used with a free hand router are included in Bob's quote. One example of this is the Oak Park template guide system which included templates with different shapes and a jig to hold them in the table.

"Template Tom" who started this thread has devised some templates that allow you to rout parts that would take many hours of hand work in a matter of minutes. Working with Tom's methods are very safe; Tom has even taught blind students to work with routers, templates and guide bushings and their work is excellent.

There are many ways to accomplish most woodworking tasks and people should work with what they are most comfortable with. The more methods you know about the easier it is to decide how you want to perform a task. There is no wrong way to go about a project as long as you are safety aware.

[glenn bradley]

I use a router all sorts of ways -- guided by a template guide, guided by a bearing on the bit, guided by an edge guide mounted to the router, guided by a fence in a table, etc. It's all good.

Post away, however you use your router.

Yep. What Jamie said. If you don't want a router table, that's fine. There is always more than one way to skin the cat. The router table is integral in how I approach a project, saves time, adds repeatability and eases consistency but, I cold work without one.