Making a template for a router/guide bush

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Adam

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After seeing Andys cabinet - I ordered some of the little oval tags, as I thought they make a nice touch for future projects.

What I'd really like to do, is to have a template which I can use with a router and guide bush, to recess the plate into the surface.

Thing is, I'm not sure how you go about making a template like this.

Anyone know about this sort of thing?

Adam

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This is how i would go about it ..... Take a piece of mdf bigger than the base of your router and big enough to take 2 g clamps . in the center draw around your oval tag and cut out the shape with a jig saw. then select what cutter and guide bush you are going to use and you will be able to work out how much bigger your hole needs to be . because you've already cut the hole it will be easy to scribe round and mark your bigger oval . i would use a jigsaw to recut the hole but you can use a rasp or whatever you like . Jig made :lol: now you can clamp it onto your work and off you go putting your name on everything you can get the router near :D You may have to put your tag on the work before it is made in some cases as the jig may not fit inside some places . By the way where did you get the tags from ?
 
Adam,

Just stick the tag to a piece of 6mm MDF with double sided tape and using a smallish diameter guide bush rout round it. Then with a bigger guide bush, you can rout inside the hole you have made to make a perfect fit - always provided that you have the right combination of bit diameters and guide bushes.

You can also buy little inlay kits from various sources that effectively provide the wherewithal to do the same thing - usually a small diameter bit (typically 1/8 inch, a guide bush and a bush that slips over the outside of the guide bush for the inside cut). Trend do something like it.
 
That's an easy one Adam. You take the shape you want and cut a hole in a piece of MDF to match the shape but offset by the correct amount to allow for the guide bush.

Let's work with a few numbers. Outside diameter of your guide bush = 20mm. The dia of the cutter is 12 mm. The sum is, 20 - 12 = 8. Divide 8 by 2 = 4. This 4 mm is the offset required.

To cut out a square recess (e.g., a mortice) in a piece of wood 60 mm long by 20 mm wide by 10 mm deep you cut a rectangular hole in a piece of suitable MDF 68mm long X 28mm wide.

Put this over the spot where you want the recess and clamp it in place. Put the guide bush and cutter on and in the router. Drop the router on your pattern with the guide bush in the cut hole. With the router switched off push the cutter down until it rests on the wood you want to cut. Call this zero. Set the depth of cut required, i.e., 10 mm.

Raise the cutter off the wood. Switch on the router and push the guide bush tight against the side of the slot in the MDF. Plunge in. Move the router clockwise around the MDF pattern. You're done with a round cornered mortise 60 X 20 X 10 mm. Move on to the next one.

In your case you want to drop an elliptical decal into a shallow recess. The principal of making a pattern is the same though. I'd use something like a 30 mm outside diameter guide bush and a 6 mm cutter which would give you an offset of 12 mm. You could use an 18 mm guide bush and a 9 mm cutter giving an offset of 4.5 mm.

You simply need a means of drawing the elliptical decal shape onto your intended pattern. Often a washer of the right diameter can be used to trace the offset. Place the washer next to the decal, a pencil in the hole in the washer and roll the washer around using the pencil thus transferring the oversize pattern as needed. Cut this out and off you go. Slainte.
 
Adam
If you decide to go with the inlay kit, one word of caution.
If the 1/8" bit is solid carbide and you drop it on a concrete floor, you will never get to use it as it will break into 2 pieces. Don' task me how I know this. :oops: :oops:

Travis
 
Nice one Adam, not thought of recessing them.

One thought could be use a pin router set up and follow the nameplate itself with the pin, the router bit width then dictating the size of the offset for the guide.

Mind you doing making a template by hand would not be too difficult.
Also from memory the Markers Mark people can do round ones, so all you'd need would be the corresponding Forstner bit, pity now I've ordered enough name plates to cover the next 20 years worth of production (30)
 
Hi Folks

Sorry to resurrect an old post - but does anyone know where I can get a number of furniture badges made up like the one in the photo in Adam's post?

Cheers

Paul
 
Having worked out the major and minor axes of the ellipse you want, add to each the guide bush/cutter diameter difference.
Use e.g. Microsoft Word to draw an exact ellipse. print and glue to template stock, cut out with a jigsaw and finish with files. Thats how I made the handle recesses on my avatar
 
I really like the washer idea... very neat - and you can bore the hole in the washer to give you whatever offset you need.

Si.
 

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