When you first start using a router, you’ll mostly use it for dealing with edges—
straightening, profiling, or making them more interesting (see “Five Ways to Guide a
Router” on p. 54). These everyday tasks are a great way to get familiar with the router, but you’ll soon find other uses. One of my favorite router applications is making identical parts from a template. Once you have a good
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A template secured atop the workpiece guides a bearing mounted on the bit’s shaft. If the bearing’s diameter is equal to the bit diameter, it produces an exact copy of the template.
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Tip-mounted bearings usually run
against the workpiece’s edge or against a template. They’re often used for molding decorative profiles, for cutting rabbets, or for use with templates mounted below the workpiece.
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A collar screwed in the base plate runs against a template or guide, offsetting the cut from the edge. There’s some math involved to position the cut correctly, but collars offer a wider depth adjustment range than bits with bearings.
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Some router baseplates feature a straight side to run along the fence. If yours doesn’t, put a mark on your base and keep that point against the fence.
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A fence attached to the baseplate makes simple work of routing lines parallel to edges. Modify the guide for less contact surface, and it will follow a curved edge.
Router 55
template, it’s easy to run a straight bit with a bearing around the edge for perfect copies.
With the right jigs and bits, routers can solve a multitude of problems. They can cut perfectly fitting inlays—either thin ones for decoration or thicker ones to fill a knot hole or make a structural repair. Mounted on an arm pivoting around the center point, the router is an accurate and secure way to cut a perfect circle. A router can cut the classic joints of hand woodworking—the mortise and tenon and the dovetail (see the top left photo on p. 53)— and it can straighten and smooth as well.
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hen you set out to buy router bits, you’ll find they come with either a 1⁄4" or 1⁄2"shank diameter. The 1⁄4" size is
fine for small bits, but use the larger shank diameter whenever you have a choice. It’ll give a cleaner cut because it runs with less vibration, and it’s less likely to bend or break under load. Although they’re offered for sale in some places, avoid 1⁄4" shank bits
with outside diameters of more than 11⁄2". The shank is too thin
for best performance.
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