Homemade router bases

[JimD]

Does anybody else prefer homemade router bases? I have 1/4 plexiglass and wooden router bases for my PC690 and Bosch Colt routers as shown. All are made of scraps. The 1/4 waferboard are the crudest, obviously. Probably the most complicated one in the picture is for cutting circles and is from the February/March 2007 American Woodworker issue. One of the waferboard ones is blank, the other is for cutting stopped chamfers on the inside edge of flat panel doors (after assembly).

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[eezlock]

homemade router bases

Sure is handy to have extra router base plates when you need to do a different job with the router...isn't it?

[Pappy]

Nice collection. The only one I have done is my circle jig.

[Slik Geek]

Nice collection. The only one I have done is my circle jig.

Pappy,
Is the board under the circle jig a hand-me-down from a few generations? That is one gnarly board that has seen alot of use (abuse?).

JimD - care to describe the rationale for so many bases?

[Pappy]

Slik, that chunk of particle board saw a bunch of wood go across it. Finally had to replace it with a smooth piece of MDF!

[lrogers]

You really got fancy there with a couple of them. I have made a circle jig similar to yours. Amazing how well those thngs work.

[JimD]

I made clear bases so I could see better. They are handy for cutting dovetails. The Bosch base does not support template guides so it needed new bases. The hole in the stock PC690 bases supports template guides but has a small hole which is not big enough for some router bits (so I made a base with a bigger hole). The bases with an offset are for edge routing. I find it easier to keep the router flat if I have one hand well away from the edge this way. The plexi was a bit too flexible to suit me so I made one of oak and cherry scraps. Circle cutting jig looked neat in the magazine and I'm sure I'll use it some day. The maple/walnut base used up some scraps from a gunstock and is a significantly bigger base for the colt. None of this was totally necessary. I just like them better.

Jim