# Tom.... Question On Template Holder..



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

I received some templates for Christmas.... patterns I guess.. not sure what you call them. The outside dimensions are all the same size. These are made of plastic or resin. I also got a inlay guide and bits to do the inlay carving. Got a diamond shape, oval etc. I want to use these on box lids. 

Just thinking, if your pattern holder could be made adjustable to different sized patterns etc. Have you ever made one that was adjustable? Am I making sense here to you? 

Corey


----------



## template tom (Sep 18, 2004)

challagan said:


> I received some templates for Christmas.... patterns I guess.. not sure what you call them. The outside dimensions are all the same size. These are made of plastic or resin. I also got a inlay guide and bits to do the inlay carving. Got a diamond shape, oval etc. I want to use these on box lids.
> 
> Just thinking, if your pattern holder could be made adjustable to different sized patterns etc. Have you ever made one that was adjustable? Am I making sense here to you?
> 
> Corey


Corey
You can make a simple Jig Holder to hold most size Templates. If the templates are the ones I am thinking about there should have been a means of positioning them to achieve the desired results. What about posting a pic or two.
I have never really made any of my Jig Holders adjustable. If the size changes and it will not fit into one of my original holders I make a new one. The next project may fit into the new one so there is no waste.
Tom


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks Tom, these are the templates I am referring to. At a second look, the 3 I have are all different sizes. 

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12315

I guess more importantly you have to build the holder to hold the stock being inlaid. I have to give this more thought. I would like to use your jig holder idea to do my inlay and carving work. See this is the type of work that interests me. I am not really much of a pattern routing guy. I primarily do boxes and i want to do more of the carving and inlay work on them. 

These templates are 1/4 inch thick or 6mm. I guess that is where I get confused on all this is that the template needs to sit up level with the holder so it's travel isn't impeded by the sides of the jig holder. How tall is your jig holder, is it 45mm tall? 

So I would build the holder to the size of the material being routed. Say 1/4 material 8 x 10 inches. The patters are 1/4 inch this so I need a piece of material 1/4 thick that is 8 x 10 and a cutout in the center to hold the template, right? That is 1/2 total of material at this point. So how tall would you make the template holder? I hope I am making sense here to you. I don't really understand the whole shelf thing? 

One of the things I want to achieve is to do a box ( knife box for my son) with an oval inlay and inside the oval inlay I want to do some carving of initials. Same thing for a jewelery box for my daughter. These are to be Christmas 07 projects so I have time 

Perhaps I will have to make a template to carve the letters I want to use. I need to use the letters EJH and HJH so I will basically need to make three letter templates. I am not sure what exactly the font I want to use yet but I want something fairly fancy looking. 

Ok, enough ramblings  

Corey


----------



## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Corey, this isn't as tough as it seems. You will start out by deciding on the size of your box lid. Lets say 8" x 10"? For doing inlay work you will most likely want a lid that is 1/2" thick at first. The main consideration is that the 8x10 fits into the frame with a way to secure it like the cams. If you use 1" hardwood dowel to make your cams allow an inch all the way around your project or in this case you frame will need to be at least 10x12", 11x13" would be better to allow a bit more room for adjustments. How deep does this need to be? We know the material you will be routing is 1/2". We have to allow clearance for the double sided tape that will be underneath it.(call it 1/32") This means your frame must be 17/32" in height to work. You may want to inlay on 3/4" thick material at a different time, so the frame would need to be (3/4" + 1/32" = 25/32") in height. Since the template will be supported by the frame it does not have to sit on the material. Why not make it simple and use a 1" height? Having your wood 1/2" below the template is not a problem since your router will plunge more than this. Does this help you picture the frame and how to design one for your project size?


----------



## template tom (Sep 18, 2004)

challagan said:


> Thanks Tom, these are the templates I am referring to. At a second look, the 3 I have are all different sizes.
> 
> http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12315
> 
> ...


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Mike, yes thank you, it does help some. Sorry don't mean to make this so difficult  I guess for box work I was thinking it would be just as simple to make the holder the size of the work piece. So if my lid is 8 x 10 then why not make the holders inside dim 8 x 10. Then you could just center up the pattern on the top of the work piece. For my box work my panel would most likely be a 1/4 thick and inlaying 1/8 material into it. Center the template up on the material and trim it out with mdf or what ever to the necessary dimensions so it is supported on all sides and can't move. I guess that makes more sense to me than messing with all the cams and shelf supports etc. 
Probably making more work out of it but I guess that's how I envision it anyway. 

Corey


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Tom, thank you for that. We were both typing posts at the same time I think. My friend it is starting to sink in a bit  between you and Mike! 
You answered a couple of my questions here and the new template for the template is what I was thinking originally. I just wish I could finish the kitchen and get to work on some of these things. 

But I have some ply to make a base to attach the jig holders to and I can start messing with the holders anyway. On the letters.... I don't like the "sign lettering templates"... they look to much like road sign lettering. Maybe I can be a pioneer here. If I can get the templates made of the scroll saw to get the letters to look right the way I want them to... I think the holder is the best way to do the actual routing. 

Anyway thank you Tom for your help and time. 

Corey


----------



## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Corey, here is another thought. You might simply rout out an oval shape on your lid, then glue your scroll sawn letters in place. You can then add a tinted epoxy filler to the void areas. This would create sort of a medallion appearance. If you want this to be true inlay work the letters will have to be pretty large, remember you will be working with a 1/8" down spiral bit.


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Mike, the scroll saw idea I have thought about but I was actually thinking of carving those in the oval if possible. If I was real good I could inlay the oval and then do a scroll saw inlay with the letters, but my eyes won't let me do all the fancy scroll work like I used to do. It's hell getting old! LOL. 

Corey


----------



## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hey old guy with bad eyes 

Here's a tip I got from whitewoft710, get the saw up to your chest and tip it forward that's to say put a block of wood on the tail end of the scroll saw so it's at about 20deg.or so ,the stock will slide off and all the saw dust will also.

I used a 4 x 6 block of pine, this works great for old guys like me that have bad eyes and a bad back on top of that. 

Now I can see and sit at the saw for 2 or 3 hours at a time without getting off the chair and saying that's it I done for a week or so.

Bj


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Hey that is a good idea Bob, will have to try that. Last time I made a scroll saw box I had my glasses off and down so close that I took one in the nose from the arm of the scroll saw  Didn't do that again! Had to look around and make sure no one saw me....lol! 

Corey


----------



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

*Routing patterns on a box lid*

Corey, I don't know if I am missing something, but if I am doing a one-off, or several of the same at the one time with a non standard size commercial template these pics show my fast method, forget the length of the stock, it was too good to cut for the photo-shoot. Draw the X Y lines to assist centring the stock and template holder, pin four bits of scrap around stock, centre the holder and pin or screw four pieces of scrap to hold in position. We are now after only a few minutes, ready to insert the template, in this case a four way 3D one. I shall try to find a pic of something that I have done with this type of set-up. Harry


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Oh thanks for that Harry. That is very neat! This is the kind of thing I want to do. The pics help a bunch! Thanks HArry, got to run off to work but want to look more at this tonight. 

corey


----------



## Joe Lyddon (Sep 11, 2004)

Harry,

That is an excellent & clever way of using a template to carve that design!

That took a little study!

Do you use the computer to help you with something like this?

That is sure pretty wood!!

Thank you.


----------



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

*3D router carving*

Hang on there Joe, I had no part in designing the template, it is, together with the special conical guide and cutter a commercially available kit, several different templates are available albeit at a price. the kit appears to be available world-wide, I recall Bj mentioning it a couple of weeks ago. The principle of the 3D template is quite clever, if you take a close look at the photo you will notice that the width of the cut-outs varies, so that the wider it becomes, the deeper the cone and cutter will go. I am only capable of designing simple type templates and because I generally make boxes and balloon clocks I make my templates 300mm x 400mm (12" x 16") and use boxes as designed by Template Tom and shown in several posts also in Tom's sticky. If I require a complex design that needs a CAD programme I contact Tom and say something like: "Tom,I bet you couldn't design a template for such and such" and knowing how pig-headed he can be I know that he will produce a drawing within a few days!
The set-up that you referred to I use as a fast method when using odd size templates. I hope this has clarified the situation and not sent you to sleep.Harry


----------



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Corey, whilst my hands are not steady enough, a comparative youngster like you should be able to draw the writing and the rout it free-hand, I have seen it done with perfect results. Harry


----------



## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks Harry again for posting the info again. I have a couple commercially available templates and the Milescraft set up that I want to play with but that is what I intend to do. At least I want to try it........ 25 years ago I could have drawn it out no problem of course that was when i was a starving young artist and no one wanted my artistic talents except for free gifts etc. Thanks for calling me young  

Corey


----------

