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Hey Paul. I love that setup. I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I see that you have the edge guide vs the circle jig. Does the edge guide have a hole that a pin can be inserted to cut circles? And what router base did you get from StewMac? Thanks Paul W.

Hey Paul. That is a great set up. I remember you showing that before.

On that set up how small of a diameter can you cut? I have the bigger cochran base and I absolutely love it, but I can't always get circles small enough to make the rosette and cut out the sound hole.

I would be very interested to know.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Brock - by the bigger Cochran base, you mean for router or laminate trimmer? I'm considering the one for dremel to do my rosettes... I don't imagine it wouldn't cut a small enough circle for a soundhole, at 85mm? How do you like the depth adjustment on that base?

best wishes,
Joshua French

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Grrrrr... I posted a response to you guys but the server demons got me...

So I bought the circle cutting jig for the Micro-Fence, it has an index hole right on the center bar, the jig is poly-carb and that's just the Stew-Mac router base without the base (I needed the screws for it). If I could find someone to CNC up the parts I'd consider selling them as a small kit, it took about 4 proto-types to get the setup right, I can do pretty small circles with it and the precision is to die for...

-Paul-

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

That Cochran base is one of the best tool investments I have ever made. I use it for tons of things, it is heavy, solid as a rock, and has micro level of control for both depth and distance of cuts. Mine uses the PC 310 trimmer.

I absolutely love it.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Sprocket
Get in touch with Dave Skowron over on the 13th fret. He has a small CNC at home. I think he does small projects for luthiers.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

That's an idea John, I've been looking to get one for the shop, it's on my list of things I just gotta have at some point.

Found this site: K2CNC Machines they seem to be very nice machines and very reasonable as far as CNC goes.

I'll contact Dave and see what he says...

Thanks

-Paul-

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I have only looked at the web site, but the K2's are well thought of by a lot of people. If I had a reason to make money with a cnc router, I'd probably go with one.

Don't know how such a machine would work for making things like your router holder parts. A mill would be a lot better. Too bad my bridgeport cnc rennovation is still in progress.

Paul--is that micro fence still available? Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong catalogs. Seems like I haven't seen it in a while. Where should I look?

Thanks,
Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Paul--is that micro fence still available? Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong catalogs. Seems like I haven't seen it in a while. Where should I look?

Thanks,
Steve[/QUOTE]

Steve, I too wondered if it was out there. It is, at www.microfence.com (I think). Do a Google search on micro, fence and woodworker. It should be the first hit.

I have another question though, Stew-Mac sells a base and circle jig designed for a flex-shaft tool. I happen to have one of these do to my jewelry background and the higher power and light weight seems intriguing. Has anyone used this set-up?

Steve Brown

I'm a beginner at this, but this is how I approached the small radius problem. I have a Proxxon rotary tool with a router base. I could not get a small enough radius for a uke sound hole using the Proxxon base, so I made a heavy steel base for it. The steel center pin is solidly fixed in a board that the sound board is mounted on. Using a down cut spiral bit I got very clean cuts. The heavy base gives a lot of stability, but obstructs the view of the cutting operation.TomS38401.2531365741

http://www.microfence.com/

Thanks, guys!

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

The Micro Fence looks like the business....I might have to check into that!

Guys...this thread got me thinking about the micro-fence so this weekend I went to a woodworking tool show and they were there..Oh My Goodness is it a sweet setup. I couldnt resist and bought. It is pricey (micro-fence jig is $179, centerbar and leveler kit is $39 and adapter base for laminate trimmer is $29). If you are using a full sized router you dont need the trimmer base but for rosette's a laminate trimmer is more friendly than swinging a full sized router. While it is pricey, everything is precisely milled and top quality. It will last a lifetime, so I amortized it.

They have a ton of accessories and addon's so if you are doing other types of woodworking as well, this makes sense.

I have been currently using the stew-mac modified to take my PC 310 (as other are doing). This is so much better that I cant tell you how cool it is. I use a micrometer to measure the diameter that want and dial it in on the jig using the micrometer head that is part of the jig and that is it...no, wait, it gets better! they have stop collars that can be set so that you can get back to a previous setting (only for inside and outside diameters) but for me as I am putting in classical rosettes, that is all I need. In addition when used as a straight edge guide, it can reach the center of a 12 inch panel so it would be good for inlaying center strips for backs.

It comes with an edge guide (2 point standoff from the edge) that when combined with tapered base (you would have to make) would be able to handle binding/purfling as well.

They are putting together a "luthiers package" that will be out this summer. One thing that they dont do at the moment is plunge...there Cochran has it but by summer they will have a plunge base as well.

The cool thing is that they have adapters for any type of router so with the one setup I can change from rosette cutting with my PC310 to cutting for trussrods with my PC690.

One caveat...I dont have not seen a Cochran up close so I went with this as I could see and touch it. If I were doing the typical 2-3 ring steel string rosettes maybe I would go the drill press route.

A big thumbs up for me.

EDGE GUIDE - With Center Bar & Levelers Kit (For Small Circles)

http://www.microfence.com/Images/ForSmallCircles2.jpg
    
With Center Bar & Leveler Kit: This set up provides circular capabilities with the MFC Edge Guide, (as opposed to our Circle Jig Attachment). The Center Bar mounts in the same holes used for the wood fences and half rounds. It provides a pivot pin, (requiring a 1/8" pilot hole), and two brackets fitted with adjustable levelers which support your router's base over and parallel to the work surface. Circular cuts as small as 3/4" diameter and up to about 12" can be accomplished. Great for plinth blocks, guitar rosettes, speaker cut-outs, desk grommet installations and toy parts.

Shawn, thanks for the update. I'm sure glad Paul shared the micro-fence with us. I'm sold on this setup, but now I have to decide whether to go ahead and buy or wait for the luthier edition. Decisions, decisions

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

It's a great tool, as you can see from Shawns picture it's hard to see what the router is doing which is why I made my little attachment for it. I'm still thinking about making a little kit for the dremel attachment, I think even a PC310 is overkill for doing a rosette, I like the fine control that a dremel gives me and I can actually *SEE* what I'm cutting. The tops we use are pretty soft which is the other reason I made a little flat plate instead of the little feet Richard provides.

I'm glad to see other people getting use out of it, Richard is also working on a micro-adjustment for depth and I told him the minute he had it to let me know because I'm thinking about ways to use that with doing purfling channels...

Cheers

-Paul-

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

The cool thing about the jig is that it has tapped (threaded) holes for attaching other plates and accessories. the way that they adapt for different routers is to just add another bar that is drilled for the fense rod spacing that that router uses. I have already been thinking of ways to adapt it. Once I had it all together the first thing I thought about was changing the trimmer plate to plexi as yours is for the dremel.

Because I still have the dremel/stew-mac jig, I will be fitting mine to the micro-jig as well.

     Here's a "Little Plunge Router Base" designed especially for
rosette inlay. It's made to fit the Dremel or the B & D Wizard
(which is a much better tool). I use several of these for various
jobs and some of mine have been fitted with micrometer barrels
for precise depth adjustment. They are available from LMII,
and I'm working on a design for basically the same type setup
for a DeWalt laminate trimmer and much heavier construction
for those who find the little rotary tools underpowered.
             

Here's a "Little Plunge Router Base" designed especially for
rosette inlay. It's made to fit the Dremel or the B & D Wizard
(which is a much better tool). I use several of these for various
jobs and some of mine have been fitted with micrometer barrels
for precise depth adjustment. They are available from LMII,
and I'm working on a design for basically the same type setup
for a DeWalt laminate trimmer and much heavier construction
for those who find the little rotary tools underpowered.


2005-
02-20_201837_aw

Is this it Roy? A jpg link to your site.

Right, Dickey, I'm trying to post pictures, but they are rejected
for some reason. Maybe because I'm an Apple user?

This is the rosette cutter I use myself. The other one was
designed in collaboration with Duane Waterman for LMII a few
years ago but I prefer a massive drill press cutter. I run it at
2000 RPM, and have a 1" thickness of Plexiglas between me
ant the tool before I turn it on. The red thing is a bushing set
thru the top for precise centering, in case I want to take the top
out and then put it back in. It alighns perfectly centered every
time. The top is held down with a dual chambered vacuum
device, so that when I cut out the soundhole, both the
soundhole center and the rest of the top are independently
held firm.

Roy, I've never seen anything like that. A good combination all around. Is this something you made? Are there various size bits or do you just scoot it over and cut to desired width. Looks like an fine thread screw?

This is the latest incarnation of a tool I first made over 30 years
ago. My machime-tool skills as well as my equipment is
constantly being upgraded. The cutter is interchangable but I
use one cutter (3/64) for just about everything. The tool is so
tightly made it doesn't even have a locking screw. The
adjustment thread is a !/4-40. I have to make my own 1/4-40
threaded rod. It can only be bought in large quantities. A
digital caliper can be used for precise
settings.        &nb sp;   21_224400_DSCF1307.JPG">RoyNoble/2005-0 2-21_224513_DSCF1307.JPG">Roy Noble38404.9483217593