mortise and tenon

GRB, I know there are many solutions to the problem you posed. Im sure Tom would design a template. I know Bob and Rick make nice centering jigs using a pin on each side to center Mortises on the work. Starting out with limited accesories I would build a fence for the router. Its not difficult to do. Get a piece of 1/4" Masonite, plexiglass or acrylic that is at least as wide as your router base and say 18" long. Remove your base plate and mark your hole pattern onto the "fence base" material. Drill and countersink the mounting holes, make the center cut out large enough for any bits you will need to use. Attach your router using screws an 1/8th inch longer than the factory ones. Mount a V groove bit in the router. Mark your centerlines on the wood and place the V bit on the line. Next attach a short piece of wood to your fence base with a couple screws to ride along the edge of the wood. Now you have a custom edge guide for your project. When working with a different thickness just relocate your guide block and screws. As a bonus you can simply remove the guide block and flip your fence upside down with a V bit installed and measure from the center down the fence 1/2 the diameter of any circle you want to cut. Remember to add half the bit diameter to this measurement. Drill a small hole for a centering nail or screw and you have a circle cutting jig. This is a fast, easy and useful project. The fact that you can make several of these for about $10 is the icing on the cake.

Mike

grb101 said:

Thank you Ed. I do not have a plunge router. I made a router table and wanted to use this for mortising as I have a fence to guide and steady the material. The peices are 3" by 3" by 4ft. long and will require steadying. I don't quite understand your suggestion about using a smaller bit. Is this a drill bit or router bit you are referring to ????
Gary

Click to expand...

As soon as I saw Tom's question about a router table I knew I should have included that in my post..... The task is quite simple with a router table. If don't already have a plunge bit I would still get one, as for the cutting operations it is now a matter of locating the fence to get the cuts where you want them, mark the edges of the bit on the fence, dropping the wood onto the bit and routing to the second mark. Do all the pieces that have that set-up then raise the bit and make a second cut etc. If you would like more details I or someone else can fill you in.

For reference if you want to use a hole to start a bit, and I do this, you must always have the hole larger then the bit that you want to start. If the hole can be hidden as in your case I might drill a 5/8" hole and use a 3/8" bit to do the operation. You of course must have a template/jig that allows you to cut the width you want with the smaller bit.

(This is now a little off subject but: I know some people tilt a router in to the wood to make plunge cuts with non-plunge routers. That never seemed safe to me as you don't always have a positive stop to work against. Hence the need for well designed jigs and templates.)

Ed