I have done this with my Bosch 1591 barrel grip router and it works very well. It's not as good as a bandsaw but I had very good luck making precise, on-the-line cuts as long as I didn't try to cut material thicker than maybe 3/4" to 1". Also, if you try to get too tight with the curves it's a little tricky but that can be said with a bandsaw too. I think the biggest chance for success can be using a higher quality saw such as the Bosch. The model 1590 and 1591 use a unique blade clamping/guide mechanism that makes it cut more precisely than any other saw I've ever used or heard of. I think it's only competition is the Festool but I've never used one so that's just what I heard.
I didn't bother with a complicated method of attaching the saw to a plate. I just removed the plastic cover for the metal base of the jigsaw and bought some longer screws that matched the holes. I made another table mounting plate from 3/8" MDF using my Woodhaven phenolic plate as a template. I placed the plastic base of the jigsaw onto the MDF plate where I wanted the saw and marked the screw holes. I drilled and countersunk the MDF plate and screwed the saw to the plate. I then marked where the saw blade would come through, drilled a small hole about an inch behind where the blade will end up and cut a 1" slot for the blade. Screw it all back together, insert the blade through the slot into the saw, plug it in and saw.
Now, as has already been mentioned, this leaves a completely exposed blade and I've never made any sort of guard for it. I figure that it's no more exposed than a bandsaw blade and they don't have guards. But I still think that if you don't feel comfortable with the completely exposed blade then you should add some sort of guard and I don't think that would be too hard to do. Also, the 3/8" MDF isn't the most ridgid material for this application but my saw hasn't made it sag visibly, yet. Also, I haven't used this very often at all and if it was going to see regular use then I'd buy a blank phenolic plate from Woodhaven and just repeat the process. I wouldn't use the MDF for any router because they are generally heavier than the jigsaw, (at least mine are) and the router is a lot more sensitive to having a very flat plate than a jigsaw is anyway. Worked for me quite well and it was easy. Aside from the trip to the hardware store for the metric machine screws, it might have taken me 10 minutes to make the plate and another 20 or 30 minutes to mount the saw. The MDF was a scrap I had so I call that free.
Bruce
I didn't bother with a complicated method of attaching the saw to a plate. I just removed the plastic cover for the metal base of the jigsaw and bought some longer screws that matched the holes. I made another table mounting plate from 3/8" MDF using my Woodhaven phenolic plate as a template. I placed the plastic base of the jigsaw onto the MDF plate where I wanted the saw and marked the screw holes. I drilled and countersunk the MDF plate and screwed the saw to the plate. I then marked where the saw blade would come through, drilled a small hole about an inch behind where the blade will end up and cut a 1" slot for the blade. Screw it all back together, insert the blade through the slot into the saw, plug it in and saw.
Now, as has already been mentioned, this leaves a completely exposed blade and I've never made any sort of guard for it. I figure that it's no more exposed than a bandsaw blade and they don't have guards. But I still think that if you don't feel comfortable with the completely exposed blade then you should add some sort of guard and I don't think that would be too hard to do. Also, the 3/8" MDF isn't the most ridgid material for this application but my saw hasn't made it sag visibly, yet. Also, I haven't used this very often at all and if it was going to see regular use then I'd buy a blank phenolic plate from Woodhaven and just repeat the process. I wouldn't use the MDF for any router because they are generally heavier than the jigsaw, (at least mine are) and the router is a lot more sensitive to having a very flat plate than a jigsaw is anyway. Worked for me quite well and it was easy. Aside from the trip to the hardware store for the metric machine screws, it might have taken me 10 minutes to make the plate and another 20 or 30 minutes to mount the saw. The MDF was a scrap I had so I call that free.
Bruce
