Sleds, Jigs and routers oh my!

[mindwave]

Team,
The D sized template post on this board is worth its digital weight in imaginary gold.
Really an awesome resource, now Id like to compile one on everyone's most useful jigs, sleds router templates etc.

About 10 years ago I worked with Ben from Crimson and had the most AMAZING video course compiled that anyone could ever imagine. Then the Lord decided I was to be named Noah and well, bubye.
But inb these video lessons were how to make the most awesome and useful templates, jigs router sleds etc, and they work, consistently and last.

He still has a few lessons from that series available but most of them have been taken down.
So this week I have spent several hours searching archives and libraries and other sources for plans, videos and how to's.
That brings me here. If you have a link to a DIY Router Table, or radiusing jig or planing sled that you have built, used and found to be worthwhile, please let me know. I cant make them all, but I will do my best to find out which ones might be the simplest, safest and most useful and if the sysadmins allow will post them here for safe keeping.
I know guys that can take a tree out of the garden and free hand with a COLT and entire strat that you would LOVE....I'm not that guy (Hey Shaun!)

So for those of us NOT blessed in those skills help a fella out! I look forward to your suggestions!
Thanks
J

 

[eallen]

Here are a couple in my shop I use that have been staples.
The Bill Scheltema neck contour jig revolutionized consistently with increased speed. My variation of George'', @old wrench, compound radius fretboad jig and a variation of a flattening jig. Nut blank thicknessing jig.

 

[old wrench]

Here are a couple in my shop I use that have been staples.
The Bill Scheltema neck contour jig revolutionized consistently with increased speed. My variation of George'', @old wrench, compound radius fretboad jig and a variation of a flattening jig. Nut blank thicknessing jig. View attachment 1094120 View attachment 1094121 View attachment 1094122 View attachment 1094123

Those are nice solid-looking jigs!

I'm always drawn to the small details -

I really like the way you used zip-ties for stops to limit the "X" travel of the carriage on your router/planer flattening device

That's a good idea, and the zip-ties won't beat-up the bearings in the slider blocks - that's certainly elegant enough for me!

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[eallen]

Those are nice solid-looking jigs!

I'm always drawn to the small details -

I really like the way you used zip-ties for stops to limit the "X" travel of the carriage on your router/planer flattening device

That's a good idea, and the zip-ties won't beat-up the bearings in the slider blocks - that's certainly elegant enough for me!

I Hate to admit it but the zip ties were meant to be temporary until I could drill and tap the ends of the rails for a screw with a large rubber washer on the end as a stop. I forgot I hadn't finished it until you mentioned it!

 

[telemnemonics]

Here are a couple in my shop I use that have been staples.
The Bill Scheltema neck contour jig revolutionized consistently with increased speed. My variation of George'', @old wrench, compound radius fretboad jig and a variation of a flattening jig. Nut blank thicknessing jig. View attachment 1094120 View attachment 1094121 View attachment 1094122 View attachment 1094123

I like your router sled "flattening jig"!
I have all the parts plus extra to build one and it is behind several projects, but yours looks better than my plan to make a box construction base.
Open steel with bottom looks better from my house.
Selling my house now so screwed for a while on projects.

 

[telemnemonics]

Yesterday I made a one shot jig to widen a neck pocket, ended up moving it twice for three trim passes to get fit and alignment dead on.

 

[eallen]

I like your router sled "flattening jig"!
I have all the parts plus extra to build one and it is behind several projects, but yours looks better than my plan to make a box construction base.
Open steel with bottom looks better from my house.
Selling my house now so screwed for a while on projects.

It was originally an aluminum 2 post IT rack I couldn't even give away so I cut it, rotated the top have rails the opposite direction, drilled pivot and storage holes and slapped a bolt in it. I fold it & store in the upright postion when bot using it. I could cut the router base rails shorter but am leaving them long to use for a wider sled when I get more space .

 

[old wrench]

I Hate to admit it but the zip ties were meant to be temporary until I could drill and tap the ends of the rails for a screw with a large rubber washer on the end as a stop. I forgot I hadn't finished it until you mentioned it!

It looks like they are working just fine!!!

I did what you are talking about - drill and tap the ends of the rails, and then fasten a washer as a stop - but I used steel fender washers

I like your idea of using rubber washers instead of steel, because if you slide the carriage back against those steel stop washers and your finger happens to be in the way - it'll get pinched and give you a blood blister - take my word for it, it hurts !!!

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[telemnemonics]

It was originally an aluminum 2 post IT rack I couldn't even give away so I cut it, rotated the top have rails the opposite direction, drilled pivot and storage holes and slapped a bolt in it. I fold it & store in the upright postion when bot using it. I could cut the router base rails shorter but am leaving them long to use for a wider sled when I get more space . View attachment 1094271

Better still!
I was trying to decide on legs or something I could stand on end like that.
The idea of the base not also being the frame really frees up the design possibilities.

 

[GunsOfBrixton]

It was originally an aluminum 2 post IT rack I couldn't even give away so I cut it, rotated the top have rails the opposite direction, drilled pivot and storage holes and slapped a bolt in it. I fold it & store in the upright postion when bot using it. I could cut the router base rails shorter but am leaving them long to use for a wider sled when I get more space . View attachment 1094271

That's a nice sled. I would be a little concerned about the unsupported rails sagging just a bit when and if you make it wider. I know they are strong but there is bound to be a little flex with a router attached. Where there any specs given on that when you bought them?

 

[old wrench]

That's a nice sled. I would be a little concerned about the unsupported rails sagging just a bit when and if you make it wider. I know they are strong but there is bound to be a little flex with a router attached. Where there any specs given on that when you bought them?

I built my own router/planer jig which is quite similar to Erics

I can see why you might be concerned with rail stiffness, but I haven't experienced any real problems with deflection (either up or down) with the smaller diameter rails (16mm) that form the "Y" axis in my jig, and the bottom "X" rails (20mm), supported by the aluminum extrusions don't have any flex

Granted, the span is relatively narrow the way the jig sits in the picture - but I have run it with the wider rail spacing that the jig is capable of using -

I have threaded inserts installed in the jig's base so I can spread the rails out for planing wider pieces if needed.

Both sets of rails (X and Y axis) on my jig are made from heat-treated and hard-chrome plated steel equivalent to U.S.A. 1045 alloy steel, which I understand is commonly used for this type of rail.

The aluminum extrusion supported X rails (20mm) are super-stiff, and the un-supported Y rails (16mm) are stiff enough, even when the X rails are spread out to their maximum width, to handle the weight of the router and the normal loads incurred when planing, without any appreciable deflection.

By "without any appreciable deflection", I mean this -

When I checked planed test pieces, measurements showed there was only a few thousandths of deflection - I accepted that result as "not perfect - but good enough"



Although, with my present hind-sight - I would recommend going up a size larger on the Y axis rails - I believe doing that would eliminate the few thousandths of deflection that I've experienced when measuring some of my planed pieces - up-grading the Y axis rails from 16mm to 20mm shouldn't be too expensive, but with the recent substantial price increases, I'm not so sure about that !!!



As I recall, when I built the jig in 2020 I had only about $100 bucks (or less) tied up in both the X and Y rails, including all of the slider blocks

I bought the Wen router new from a guy on CraigsList for $50 bucks cash - I was a little leery about using a "Wen" brand router, but surprisingly, it runs very smoothly with very little shaft runout - it also has plenty of power, variable speed, and soft-start - not bad, for the price!

All things considered - pretty good performance for such a low-buck jig

Plenty of accuracy for milling lumber for guitar bodies, and necks as well



Here is a link to my router/planer jig build thread -

New and Improved Precision Router/Planer Jig

I finally got around to assembling my new router/planer jig. The plan was floating around in my head for awhile and I began buying the parts I needed a couple of months ago. My old jig, which was a pretty simple design, actually nothing more than a couple of aluminum straight-edges fastened to...

www.tdpri.com

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[eallen]

That's a nice sled. I would be a little concerned about the unsupported rails sagging just a bit when and if you make it wider. I know they are strong but there is bound to be a little flex with a router attached. Where there any specs given on that when you bought them?

As George said, the two 5/8" diameter 1045 Chromed steel rods combined are quite stiff for minmal deflaction in the wider span. In my case use the jig to level one side before running it thru the planer to flatten the other. Then I run the jigged side thru the planer to clean up any variations on that side as well.

@old wrench, good tip on the fine finger pinching capabilities of the metal washer stop! Hard to find a good one of those when you need one!

 

[old wrench]

As George said, the two 5/8" diameter 1045 Chromed steel rods combined are quite stiff for minmal deflaction in the wider span. In my case use the jig to level one side before running it thru the planer to flatten the other. Then I run the jigged side thru the planer to clean up any variations on that side as well.

@old wrench, good tip on the fine finger pinching capabilities of the metal washer stop! Hard to find a good one of those when you need one!

For sure!

Rubber washers are far easier to come by compared to fingers


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