DIY Router template inlay jig

[John Rumm]

Following on from Phil's question about door repair, I thought it might be interesting to try DIYing a jig to do accurate inlay work with a router - either for the original purpose of repair to a surface, or for decorative work using contrasting materials.

Here is how it went:

[Phil Addison]

Amazing dedication John, above and beyond the call or duty. I think you might put Trend out of business (at least for their 50 quid template kit)!

I'll have to read it a couple more times tomorrow!

Thanks,

Phil

[John Rumm]

Part of the attraction was seeing how good it would be for decorative work, or doing variations on things like bow-tie inserts used for stabilising cracks in timber.

I has scope, but one of the main limitations for fine work is the minimum radius of the inner curves.

If one got a smaller bush, and a finer cutter, then you could do more detailed templates. (although you would probably need to hog out the rest of the rebate with a larger cutter, just to avoid tedium).

(Still not going to match what you can do with a CNC setup though)

[Thomas Prufer]

You know about the "Shaper Origin Handheld CNC router"?

One sticks a coded tape on the workpiece, a camera uses this to locate the cutter head in space. One moves the router frame, by hand, along the path given on the screen. All the inaccuracies and squiggles are adjusted for, as the cutter head is moved within the frame by servos. Get too far away from the programmed path and the cutter goes up...

There's also some sort of speedometer to show the feed rate (which you programmed along with the shape).

It conceived for things which can't be put in fixed CNC machines, like floors.

Horrendously expensive ($2500), but they offer them to maker labs at cost to get the feedback, and to profit by what the geeks think of as they play.

Alternatively: a sharp chisel, cut out a diamond shape with a mild taper, fit plane-tapered plug by hand. (I know people that can pull that off and make it look easy. One trick is to compress the plug lightly with hammer taps, so it swells into place at the surface, once the glue moistens the wood...)

Thomas Prufer

[John Rumm]

Yup I have seen them... I can see the attraction for some jobs, but not sure if I would go for one over a fixed CNC table style setup.

(although the reduced space to setup and use would be a big win in many smaller workshops)

Indeed - and inlay work on existing fitted woodwork would be a good use case.

Yup, hand work will do things (corners basically!) that are hard to replicate with a CNC setup... for fine furniture making that's fine. The router inlay kind of level is more applicable for "building" level work perhaps.

[newshound]

Does anyone else often feel inadequate after reading the wiki!

[John Rumm]

Headline:

"Essex Man in shed makes small ring out of cheap laminate flooring..."

Hardly the stuff of legend is it?