I’ve never known a router be sold without a guide bush so don’t see it being an issue to say to use one. I’ve seen some deeper than others but don’t think that’s an issue for what you’re suggesting.

The trouble is @tej is that a lot of the time those “extra bits” you get when you buy a router can get lost somewhere, never to be seen again. It would be sensible to put them somewhere safe for the time you do actually need it but that doesn’t happen. Ask me how I know. There is the possibility though that this could just be me. 😳 

those “extra bits” you get when you buy a router can get lost somewhere, never to be seen again

This is partly the reason I started saving up for tools that come in a proper hard case, I’m sure I’ve thrown out rarely used tool attachments I’ve come across purely through having no recollection of what they’re from or for!

It would be sensible to put them somewhere safe for the time you do actually need it but that doesn’t happen

Ahhhhh - I *do* do that @boo.

All those little bits and pieces that come with a new tool, they all get carefully put away “somewhere safe”.

Can I ever find them???

Can I ever find them???

@tv101 They are in the workshop somewhere. 🤣

All those little bits and pieces that come with a new tool, they all get carefully put away “somewhere safe”.

@tv101 I really don't know why physicists spend millions on telescopes and LIGO to observe faraway black holes or billions on particle acclerators.

If they really want to go beyond the boundaries of our current understanding of physics they could just come round my place and investigate "somewhere safe"s.

Things in my flat pop in and out of this universe all the time.

I was in at work yesterday machining some birch ply.........

So here we have the final version (so far as anything is final!) of the Flattening Jig complete with clamp holes on the rails (front and back) and channels on the slide to take square nuts for increased surface contact area. I have managed to squeeze a little bit of extra width out of the sheet of ply so the finished dimensions are now 415mm (inside rails), 390mm (routing aperture), 700mm (length) and with 53mm of clearance.

Costs wise, this is going to be a little more than the fret slotting or neck jig, due to materials and packaging costs so I think £85 inc. VAT. This also gives Mark and Carol a reasonable reseller margin should they decide to list it in their shop. Does this sound a fair price? Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Darren

@darrenking. 

Thanks again Darren for all your work on this. From my inexperienced eye, it looks great to me. 

🙏🎶🎸🙂

I'll be buying one, it's a more than fair price, and it's just cool.

Is your neck pocket jig available through Mark and Carol, or would I order that from you? (I have to sort out a Bailey order soon).

Hi Jonathan, You can get them both from me direct at the moment. I have already said that for every three neck jigs I sell direct I will credit M&C with the cost of another, so I am not trying to do them out of their margin on sales generated form their site, and the same will apply to the flattening jigs. If you email me your delivery address to darren.king@bagpress.com I'll check out the best method to get them to you.

Thanks again Darren for all your work on this

Thanks for your appreciation Russ, its much appreciated!

I feel like I should buy one, just because it's another beautifully made and functional jig.

But I don't need one, because I already made my own!  

(Darren's is much nicer - mine is just a couple of aluminium section rails on some chipboard, with a steel sled.  Probably cost me more in parts than Darren's charging too!)

Just in case anybody thinks that my woodworking is limited to things controlled by a keyboard I thought I should put the flattening jig through it paces.

I picked an old lump of ash measuring 200mm x 460mm and almost exactly 50mm thick, so I am glad I added those extra 3mm of clearance. The timber was screwed to the base with its slightly hollow side down. There are predrilled holes in the base but I am sure that most people will end adding some of their own to accommodate individual pieces of timber. The cutter was 24mm diameter and the guide bush 30mm. It's important to observe the direction of rotation of the cutter and always fead against it. In my case I wanted to cut on the push stroke so I started machining on the left hand side of the jig. Don't be tempted to take cuts in both direction as the cutter will tend to grab, which can cause unnecessary excitement. Another good practice which helps with chip clearance, and therefore reduces cutter wear, is to only take a width of cut half the diameter of the cutter with each pass and to do this you can just line up the limit of the previous cut in the centre of the routing aperture before taking the next pass.

I took a cut of about 3mm crosswise and then a much shallower cut of less than 1mm running the router lengthways on the jig. It really didn't take very long to do both sides, only about 16 minutes, which also included stopping to take the photos.

I must say that it was really a very straight forward and satisfying process and produced a surface that, although still showing some machining marks, wouldn't take a lot of sanding or planing to make it perfect. I will be keeping one of these to use myself as for flattening timber of this size it is a much faster and simpler method than setting up to do the same thing on the CNC router or putting it through the belt sander 20 or 30 times!

so I am glad I added those extra 3mm of clearance. 

😉 @darrenking

The jig looks awesome and I want one but it will have to wait a bit... any idea what it’ll cost to send one my way? 😬

So, now what are you going to make from that nice flat piece of Ash?

what are you going to make from that nice flat piece of Ash?

Hi TV, Actually not that nice if you look closely! It has significant worm damage down one side so I would need to find another piece to match so that I could trim the affected piece off and then stick the two halves together. Now, if it had been a big lump of Rio then there would definitely be a Tele project forming in my mind!

Hi TV, Actually not that nice if you look closely! It has significant worm damage down one side

OK - it's a lovely flat piece of Ash .... firewood then.

Or it goes in the big box of "that'll come in handy one day" bits ... you've got the space for a very big box of those bits!

@darrenking.

Hi Darren, I've just been watching your Bagpress laminations videos on Mark's courses. It is so hypnotic and therapeutic to watch. I'm now chilled for the rest of the day. Your Acoustic guitars are so beautiful. 

Cheers,

Russ

🙏🎸🙂🎶

I've just been watching your Bagpress laminations videos on Mark's courses

Hi @russ,

I'm pleased that you've enjoyed them and thank you for your comments. If you feel your high subsiding I have a YouTube video of me pressing a pair of Maccaferri sides using a vacuum press and moulds with heater pads that may also interest you.

There is quite a bit of duplication in content and commentary between Mark's videos and my one so you may feel the need to fast forward to the exciting bits!

Cheers

Darren

@darrenking

Thanks Darren. I'll give that a wee watch later. 👍😁 

🎶🙂🎸🙏

I have a YouTube video of me pressing a pair of Maccaferri sides using a vacuum press and moulds with heater pads that may also interest you.

@darrenking. Just finished watching. Even more informative Darren. Thanks again. Now I'm convinced that laminations are the way forward when I get around Acoustic builds.........and a wee investment in a Bagpress.

Cheers,

Russ

🙏🎸🙂🎶