How To Make Template For Router

Making & Using Router Templates

By: Ted Raife

When it comes to making odd-shaped or identical parts for your projects, a router and a template volition assist y'all get loftier-quality results.

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It's hard to overestimate the value of a router in the workshop. Oftentimes, the tasks y'all can perform in seconds with a router would take much longer with whatsoever other tool. And one fashion to get the most out of your router is to use it for making perfect duplicate or mating parts for a project. Usually this involves working with a template.

You might already be familiar with the idea of template routing from using a dovetail jig. In this application, a router equipped with a guide bushing follows the fingers of a dovetail template to cut perfectly spaced, tightfitting dovetails in minutes. This same concept opens upwardly a lot of possibilities for creating matching inlays. Once you acquire to make pieces, tight-fitting joints, or seam your own templates and choose the right router chip for the task at hand, there are near no limits.

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SELECTING ROUTER $.25. Chances are, you already have at least 1 of the most common template routing bits. A flush trim bit, like one shown in the photograph higher up, is the perfect pick for templates designed to fit below the workpiece. With a begetting at the tip riding against the template, a flush trim bit levels the edge of the workpiece to match.

This aforementioned combination works in a router table as well. Only at the router tabular array, you tin can have the template on peak of the workpiece instead of below. A skilful instance of this is routing matching top rail for "tombstone" chiffonier doors.

But in some instances, when using a template with a hand-held router, you'll need to adhere the template to the elevation of the workpiece. For this state of affairs yous take a couple of options. Usually, I turn to a pattern chip, also shown in the photo above.

Often mistakenly called a flush trim fleck, a blueprint fleck has the bearing on the shank of the bit instead of at the tip. This allows you to secure a template on top of a workpiece and clamp them both to your bench to rout the shape. And design-style bits aren't limited to straight cutters. The bowl-routing bit shown beneath is simply a different contour with a bearing on the shank to follow a template.

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GUIDE BUSHINGS. The other mode to rout a pattern from above the workpiece is to use a guide bushing. The bushing locks into the hole in the baseplate of your router to follow a template. Bushings are available in several different diameters so you lot can employ a variety of router bits with them. (You lot can see an example of a guide bushing in the router inlay kit shown in the box below.)

The thing to keep in heed when using a guide bushing is that it will create an outset between the template and the workpiece. This means you'll demand to account for the distance from the edge of the bushing to the cutting edge of the bit in your template design.

MAKING TEMPLATES. With a design and the right flake in mind, all that remains is to make a template. In that location are commercially made templates for all kinds of tasks and patterns. But it's worth taking the time to learn how to make your own, not only to relieve money but to accommodate the designs of your own projects. And it's not a difficult skill to master.

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MDF. Templates tin can be fabricated from many kinds of textile. MDF is a readily available selection, and it's usually my beginning pick.

The reason I prefer MDF is that information technology'south perfectly flat and very easy to shape with files and sandpaper. The template I use for making curved track for cabinet doors shown in the photo above is a good instance. To make it, I simply laid out the curve with a compass, cut out the shape at the band saw, and smoothed the bend, first with a file and and so with a unproblematic, shop-made sanding strip, seen below.

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OTHER OPTIONS. Hardboard is another commonly used material. And occasionally I employ acrylic, especially for those applications where I need to see more of the workpiece to orient the template to the grain of the wood.

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On the other hand, a template can be every bit simple every bit modest pieces of hardwood joined with pocket screws. This is an piece of cake technique for making a template that conforms to a rectangular shape. All you lot need to practice is fit the pieces together to form a template with the inside dimensions equal to the desired size and fasten them together.

With a little imagination, you can brand a template for but about any shape you need for your projects. Whatever the application, you'll find that learning to brand and employ templates with your router volition guarantee peak-notch results.

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Worth a Expect: Router Inlay Kit

One of my favorite ways to spice up a project is to add a decorative inlay made from contrasting forest. A specialized guide bushing with a removable sleeve makes this an easy operation. With the bushing installed, yous can cut both the recess and the inlay slice using a single template.

ROUTING THE RECESS. After selecting a template for your blueprint, start by positioning the template on the workpiece and securing information technology with double-sided tape. And so, with the sleeve on the bushing, simply rout the outline of the recess and the remainder of the waste past following the template. If necessary, foursquare upward the corners with a chisel.

THE INLAY. Now you tin can attach the template to the stock you've chosen for the inlay. Afterward removing the sleeve, but rout the outline of the inlay and lift the router. Complimentary the inlay from the board by resawing the slice at the band saw. With just a fiddling practice, you tin make perfect-fitting inlays in no time.

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