Router depth gauge

CW wrote:

yeh. I have several such fixtures... as often as not I'll make a one-off for a given operation. mostly I make 'em quick and dirty and reuse the parts I don't pitch when it's done. some have proven more portable than others. probably something like Ed Bennett's device would be most portable, but I've never been able to justify the cash outlay for one.

don't get me wrong- indicators are great tools for machinery setup. but for general application in adjusting a router they are a bit fussy and overkill. I use one sometimes for adjusting the router table fence, especially in situations where I need to make numerous small adjustments including being able to come back to zero between non-zero settings. there the indicator works a treat.

for adjusting a router for handheld use it seems like a pain, though.

| in practise, you might be able to rig something up with a dial | indicator, but leaving it set up all of the time on the router while | running seems like a bad idea; dust and vibration and all that, and | setup and takedown time is a bit much for each cut.

It's easy with a 1-2-3 block and calipers or depth gauge. I've posted a pair of photos to ABPW showing the fastest/easiest method I've found.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

I posted a couple of photos of a homebrew height gauge over on the binaries group. It took three tries to get both photos to post, sorry.

Regards, Ed