Well, after trying the angled base w/ laminate trimmer method and having less than stellar results I decided to build a binding jig. I went the easy route first and built one similar to what Taylor shows in their factory fridays video. Unfortunately I found that it was much too difficult to keep the guitar firmly planted on the guides, and so my test pieces would end up with very visible gouges in the purfling channel. So, after browsing some other designs posted here I came up with this, my third attempt at a binding jig!
All of the materials are available at lowes, including the dewalt laminate trimmer which comes with the roller bearing guide. The only exception might be the 3/8" lexan which I had leftover from a router table insert. The drawer slides are standard 16" length, although 12" would work equally well. For the base, I superglued a couple of plastic washers around the bit opening, and made a 1" hole for the bearing guide to stick through. The bit is a 1/4" spiral cut and I've had zero tearout so far. I make one pass around the entire guitar starting at the headblock, no need to make only downhill cuts. Also for the body chassis, I just used wing nuts as I couldn't find enough of the black knobs. All in all I spent about 2 hours building the jig and I couldn't be happier with it!
and some shots after it's first use!
