# jigs from aluminum?



## meanbee (Jan 15, 2013)

hello i am new to routing and fairly new to woodworking, but thanks to you guys and a shrinking scrap pile and growing dust pile i am finding my way around the router. I am to the point i think were i would like to start playing with jigs. now i know people make money selling jigs and plans/templates and if i could i would love to get a few. but after disscussing my new router with a coworker friend who works in the machine shop and that i couldnt afford the jigs. he told me he could probably make me alot on the 3 axis haas machine with aluminum or stainless stock. i am not sure which would be better. i can pay the company there price for the stock and have a few jigs to play with. i ask what he would need and he said a coding, or a plan,or measurments somthing to go by and he could work from there. i have been thinking on plans and serching the forums and now asking you pros !! also i should have said earlier i have a craftsman fixed base router, im hoping i will be able to build a router table in the coming months. any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance for inputs


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## samurai (Aug 14, 2011)

i have started a series how to make hybrid pantorouter on youtube
all the dimension gonna be free of cost.


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## greenacres2 (Dec 23, 2011)

The book "Router Magic" by Bill Hylton (Router Magic: Jigs, Fixtures, and Tricks to Unleash Your Router's Full Potential: Bill Hylton: 9780762101856: Amazon.com: Books) contains enough jig plans, descriptions, uses and good info to keep you busy for years. Most are built of wood, but could easily be adapted to an aluminum base if you chose to go that direction. Great investment in my opinion. 

This forum alone probably has many times the number of jig plans as found in Router Magic--so i often see something in the book, find another way someone did it on here, then meet it somewhere in the middle.

Best wishes!!


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## meanbee (Jan 15, 2013)

I will definitly look into both asap thank you both


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## Quillman (Aug 16, 2010)

Jigs for aluminum and routers?
This one is for sizing to length, to the nearest .001".
Its cousin, not shown, sizes bandsawn samples to a net width, also to + or - .001"
Would I try this with a Sear's tool? I might but working aluminum is only for those with priors & hands-on instruction. I would not venture into this without somebody showing me. A big router is better; the cutter traction in Al. is high and requires a lot more power than cutting wood.
The sizing and machining of aluminum is quite manageable with woodworking tools but doing it is full of surprises. The end cut, e.g. was done in a climb cut!


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Welcome aboard. If I want jig plans I usually go to the library and borrow a book. Seldom follow the plans, but it give me a starting point. I make all my own jigs and templates out of 1/2" plywood, then another layer of 1/2" plywood. Suprising to a lot of people just how accurate I can make these. But I also need to make a lot of minor changes to get the results I want/need, so often wind up making two, three, or even more, before I get what I want. I think I've got an example of what I mean I can show you. They can get intricate at times. The one on the left is tacked down to the piece being routed. The two on the right, the piece being routed is held in by finger pressure. And any special instructions I make sure to mark on the master.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

A lot of woodworkers use 1/4 to 1/2" ply or mdf for jigs. My favorite jigs are the ones that are simple and cheap (often made from scrap) so that when I am done I just take apart and reuse what is good and toss the rest. Many jigs only get used once or very rarely and to keep them clutters your shop eventually. Many only cover a narrow range of sizes. I would wait until you know what you want to build before you have any jigs made and the ones you have a machine shop make would need to be used often to justify the cost.


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## meanbee (Jan 15, 2013)

thank you all for your inputs so far, and an update! while asking prices on the stock from my boss and then explaining what it was for he informed me that if i could find what i needed in the scrap and end cut bins then i wouldnt have to pay!!! so i looked around on lunch break in the bins and smiled. so from what im seeing and haveing my machinist friend look as well im looking at anything from 1/8 to 3/4 inch aluminum and from 2" to around 24" lenths some where up to 12 feet long but like 1/2 inch wide as they are shear cut offs!! for free i got excited then i thought uh oh i bet these scraps are warp or something. so back to machinist friend of the three test pieces from scrap i brought him he looked then checked level then tested around with calipers. the scraps he said where as good as the stock setting in the machine getting cut right then! so im happy about how that turned out, and i know i will make one time jigs from scrap woods i started one today in fact, but for jigs that will be used several times or more this sounds good for free  i was looking at some of the jigs i couldnt afford and they are made mostly of machined aluminum. thanks agian and ill keep updating!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

meanbee said:


> thank you all for your inputs so far, and an update! while asking prices on the stock from my boss and then explaining what it was for he informed me that if i could find what i needed in the scrap and end cut bins then i wouldnt have to pay!!! !


OHHHHH the envy....
yur killing me here...


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

meanbee said:


> thank you all for your inputs so far, and an update! while asking prices on the stock from my boss and then explaining what it was for he informed me that if i could find what i needed in the scrap and end cut bins then i wouldnt have to pay!!


Yes. I used to buy stock from a supplier. Then I found for what I really needed, if I went to one of the welding shops I frequent, I talked to the owner, told him what I am looking for... he sends me to his scrap bins, where cut offs are sorted to size and material and he gives me a break on it.

Has saved me a lot of money changing "how" I buy things. Not free for me, but still at a much lower price!


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## camoz (Jan 31, 2012)

meanbee said:


> im hoping i will be able to build a router table in the coming months. any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance for inputs


If I had this kind of opportunity, I would be asking him to make a table top and fence, after all the router table is the best router jig. I am so jealous


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## meanbee (Jan 15, 2013)

camoz said:


> If I had this kind of opportunity, I would be asking him to make a table top and fence, after all the router table is the best router jig. I am so jealous


Yes it hit me thursday night about the table. so i have researched various brands of aluminum plate inserts. from that and info i have gathered here from you guys i have drew up a table plate insert. do you think i should make the whole table top aluminum too? and i had the thought on the fence as well but wasnt sure if aluminum would be better. thanks for inputs


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## camoz (Jan 31, 2012)

meanbee said:


> Yes it hit me thursday night about the table. so i have researched various brands of aluminum plate inserts. from that and info i have gathered here from you guys i have drew up a table plate insert. do you think i should make the whole table top aluminum too? and i had the thought on the fence as well but wasnt sure if aluminum would be better. thanks for inputs


The key to any good router table is that it is flat and ridged. Clearly depending on the thickness of the aluminium available (I am assuming you are talking more than sheet material, given you are looking at getting him to do an insert for you), and of cause the cost, making a full top out of aluminium would be far superior to anything that you are going to achieve yourself with MDF, etc.

In my opinion you have a great opportunity that many just don't have:yes4:, sure you can make your own top (I have and it has served me well, and given me great satisfaction knowing I made it myself), but a full aluminium top with precisely machined mitre slot and channels for the fence (which I would definitely have made out of aluminium, add a sacrificial fence to the front if you like), insert plate that fits perfectly (because the same guy machined it to fit), cut some groves to fit some stainless steel rules flush with the table.....etc....etc....drool......drool.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers,

Camo


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## meanbee (Jan 15, 2013)

Okay that sounds great, thanks alot guys ill have a conversation about this as well he seems more than happy to help plus ill owe him a few favors back its like currency in the shop haha. I think 3/4 maybe as thick as i can find maybe 1 inch ill look tonight. Thanks again


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