I misunderstood one of topshelf's questions. We route around the outside of the housing, and clean up the rest with a chisel. Even if the depth is only 1/2" (like in the knee brace housing shown in the photo). If you try to do the center, the router will 'fall into the hole', since it's riding on the template base which has a hole in the middle. The exception is the knee brace housing, which is only 2" wide, so the router easily reaches the center.

Also note the "full metal jacket" of safety gear used in the video (ear, eye, lung protection).

daiku.

My partner is in town now picking up a router.

We are lucky to have a friend/relative who has access to a lazer metal cutter and pretty sharp guy so he can make our templates and clamps.

You photos and videos will be a great help thxs.

Pegs:

Metal templates will be strong and durable, but I would not make the base plate out of metal, as the bit is likely to come in contact with it. Perhaps a metal framed template would be stiff enough with just the walls, and without a base, and the router could ride directly on the timber. This is better anyway, as there will be no hole in the center of the template for the router to fall into. With the fixed size templates that I've been talking about, only half of the router is supported by the template base, and the rest floats over the housing. This is why you can only route the perimeter of the housing. If your router rides directly on the timber, you can remove more of the housing with it. Just leave some "islands" for your router to ride on. CB.

I've gotten some emails about these templates, asking how hard they are to make, and how many you need. They're pretty easy to make, and we have about a dozen for our most common sizes and locations. An 8x8 housing that's flush up against the reference face requres a different template than one that's 'centered' on a 10" timber - the fence is offset by 1" to place the housing 1" from the reference face. The point is that you will often find yourself in a situation where you don't have the template you need, and for whatever reason, don't want to take the time to make one. That's when you wish you had a universal housing template.

It has the advantage of the router riding directly on the timber, as I described in my last post. The disadvantage is that it's a little heavier, and takes a little longer to set up than the one-size templates. Also, the "walls" are not as tall, so it might be easier to slip over the edge (hasn't happened yet).

Here are two videos that show the thing in use. This time, we used a better camera, and made .avi files. I'm narrating the video (I kinda felt like Norm :-), and I mention that the steel plates are 16 guage. Actually, they're twice that thick, about 1/8".

Part 1 (57M)
Part 2 (31M)

I apologize for the large file sizes. It might take a few minutes to download. CB.

Hey guys,
Some mostly permanent does all templates may be just the ticket but when you are on the distant job site the master is not in the truck,
Lesson learned, improvise.
The challenges which occur on TFG projects are good examples. On the Colbath barn a while back we had to cut ramped housings very precisely and at a funny angle. the housings were rectangular in overall shape and ran from 1/2" deep to nothing at some shallow angle I don't remember.
Solution: temporarily screw two pieces of scrap stock on each side of the timber describing the plane of the angle to be cut. Using a wide base plate and set the plunge depth at the deep end. Gently push the router up the ramp and voila, ramped housings to spec. Set up time per housing about 1 minute. Routing time according to the skils of the driver but in any case consideralby faster and more accurate then an eyeball driven chisel.
A little time thinking toward a solution pays dividends.
deralte

Hello all,
Thought I would throw in my thoughts.
While I will agree with Gabel and the other hand tool users out there that is a valid way to cut housings (more peaceful too) and it is also valid to have a template or the beloved housing router.
However, I prefer free hand use of the router and with time I have gotten better with the half moon error. I think the key is finding the pattern that works well for the wood and thus grain. Also not taking too much wood at one time is also the trouble and the art of it.
I find I only need a sharp bit, dust mask, face shield, hearing protection, eye protection and of course my good ole' Hitachi router.
Brice
Brice