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JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Pattern routing skills can substantially improve your woodworking in both creative and technical areas while improving the quality of your work.

Here are some examples of pattern routing use in everyday woodworking. Use it to cut out holes in the backs of cabinets to access electrical outlets.

Make numerous types of mortises like standard leaf hinges, regular mortises for joinery and double mortises for loose tenon joints, sliding dovetails; dadoes, rabbets and grooves. Use it for repetitive hole drilling. Pattern routing for curves can produce chair legs, fancy table aprons, table tops with radius corners and various radius edges.

Use a curved template for making arched raised panel doors. The list could go on and on. Your first consideration when pattern routing is how you intend your router to follow the template. You router pattern guide king two router pattern guide king use a straight router bit with a bearing of the same diameter mounted on the top or bottom or both of the bit; or, use straight bit with no bearing in combination with a guide busing mounted in the router base.

The only real difference is router pattern guide king you make your template. With a bearing mounted bit you will make the template to the exact size and shape of the cut. The router pattern guide king for a router guide bushing set up requires a template to be sized to accommodate the offset of the dimension difference between the bushing outside diameter and router bit diameter.

The calculation is straightforward:. Router pattern guide king Making. Regardless of size or shape of your cut the template must be sufficiently larger to support the router base and provide places to clamp or nail the template in place. If you nail your template to your work you can often nail to the back or underside side the work. Make templates for square-cornered cuts by gluing together four correctly sized parts.

Just take care the parts are carefully positioned during clamping. Templates for curved shapes are more complicated. Prepare thin stock that will provide a consistent bend along the length. Drive two nails near the length of curve location and a third nail mid-way between at the extremity of your arc. Place your stick against one end router pattern guide king, then on the opposite side of the middle nail and then on the other end nail.

The stick should stay in position without being held. If you have a smooth or fair curve, draw a dark pencil line along the curved stick. Next, carefully cut to the the line using a jig saw or bandsaw. When done, sand the edge smooth and remove any high spots.

Take care to keep your template router pattern guide king as square to the face as possible. Make the Square Cut. In most cases square cornered cuts will be inside cuts. First, carefully position your template on the work and secure it with clamps or brad nails.

This will eliminate the need to plunge the bit into the work. Make sure the depth of cut allows the bearing to contact the template edge. If you are using a guide bushing setup, you can easily set the depth of cut to make a couple passes which is preferable to cutting the full thickness in one pass. Now set the bit in the hole then start the router.

Move toward the template edge holding the router firmly until contact is made. Route in a clockwise direction while maintaining contact with the template edge. When done, clear out any debris build-up as it will interfere with the bearing or bushing contacting the template edge. Adjust the router depth setting and repeat the process for a second pass to cut fully through the work.

Make the Curved Cut. Curved cuts are most often outside cuts. Bigger pieces, like table tops, are done on a workbench using a hand-held router. At the router table a top mounted bearing top of the bit when protruding through the table is a good choice. Choose a bottom mounted bearing when routing by hand. In each of these situations the template will be mounted on top of the work.

To prepare the your stock for routing, trace the shape on the work with a pencil. Next, mount the template on top of the work and secure with clamps or nails. In some cases, a quality double-sided tape can be used. At the router table use a starter pin if you can to ease the part into the cut.

In hand held routing simply start by moving the router until the bearing contacts the template edge. Instead, take the safe option and power sand the ends to your pencil line. Pattern routing applications are only limited by your imagination. About the Author: Steve Shanesy was editor and publisher of Popular Woodworking magazine for 19 years.

Router pattern guide king to that he spent 15 years working in and managing high-end furniture and cabinet shops in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. For pattern routing projects, Woodpeckers features router tools like routersrouter tables and many versatile router accessories for your pattern-routing enjoyment and success.

Thank you for reading! Home Router pattern guide king Guide to Pattern Routing. Guide to Pattern Routing. By Steve Shanesy. No comments. Guide to Pattern Routing Learn How to Make Perfect Curved or Square Shapes Using a Router Pattern routing skills can substantially improve your woodworking Router Pattern Guide User in both creative and technical areas while improving router pattern guide king quality of your work.

Our Fluting Jig for Straignt & Arched stock makes it easy to add reed and flute details. The 3-pc. Corner Radius Template Guide is the perfect solution for rounding the corners of stock at the router table for signwork, boxes, and a variety of other project tasks. Router Jigs, Router Joinery Guides, and . Mar 23,  · Make the Template. Draw a pattern into a piece of plywood. Cut out the shape using a jigsaw. Then, sand the template to create smooth contours. The silver band surrounding the bit in this example of a plunge router is a template guide. With a template guide and a fluted bit, bear on a router template and cut a piece below the template easily.

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