Circle Cutting Jig for OF 1400 Router

[texan63]

Travis,
I used the 2 larger predrilled holes in the 1400 router base. The hole on the side of the plunge lock knob lined up with the large predrilled hole near the 4 7/16 mark on the the  Jasper 200 jig.
I drilled a hole for the other hole between the 4 13/16 hole & the large predrilled hole.

   

Chris;
Thanks much for posting the photos and info. My Jasper model 270 holes don't line up with any router base holes, unfortunately. I'll figure something out. Thanks again!
Travis

 

[brandon.nickel]

You could take your jig to a local Festool dealer and borrow their LR32 baseplate.  Take along a Sharpie and mark the location of the holes on your jig.  Take it home, drill, and voila.  That's how I marked my 1/2" plywood that I used for a trammel arm.  Except I already have the LR32, so I didn't have to leave the house...

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Brandon's suggestion brought this idea to me.  Remove the brown sub-base from your 1400 router (four small Torx screws) and use it as a template to mark your Jasper circle cutting jig to correspond to the two 6 mm tapped holes in the aluminum base of your 1400 router.  These are the same holes used to mount a 1400 router to Festool's hole drilling jig.  Then drill one or two holes through your circle cutting jig and connect it to your router with 6 mm screws.  I keep several pairs of 6 mm screws in both pan head and flat head (with countersunk taper on the underside) screws in different lengths with my router accessories so I can mount my router to different shopmade guides or jigs, or in a table.

Dave R.

 

[texan63]

You could take your jig to a local Festool dealer and borrow their LR32 baseplate.  Take along a Sharpie and mark the location of the holes on your jig.  Take it home, drill, and voila.  That's how I marked my 1/2" plywood that I used for a trammel arm.  Except I already have the LR32, so I didn't have to leave the house...

Thanks, Brandon. Good idea and I may pursue that. After all, I used to work at the Woodcraft store, where I bought my Festool stuff. Travis

 

[texan63]

Brandon's suggestion brought this idea to me.  Remove the brown sub-base from your 1400 router (four small Torx screws) and use it as a template to mark your Jasper circle cutting jig to correspond to the two 6 mm tapped holes in the aluminum base of your 1400 router.  These are the same holes used to mount a 1400 router to Festool's hole drilling jig.  Then drill one or two holes through your circle cutting jig and connect it to your router with 6 mm screws.  I keep several pairs of 6 mm screws in both pan head and flat head (with countersunk taper on the underside) screws in different lengths with my router accessories so I can mount my router to different shopmade guides or jigs, or in a table.

Dave R.

Howdy Dave;
I did a similar method last night by removing the sub-base screws, put double side tape on it, then placed the Jasper jig on top of the sub-base. The Jasper jig was properly centered to the 1400 collet, since I had a centering dowel chucked up and placed through the center of the Jasper jig. I then carefully removed both the sub-base and the Jasper jig, then marked the two 6 mm holes (the ones you mentioned for the hole drilling jig) from the router sub-base to the jig. I'll now use a drill press to make the countersink holes in the jig get the screws and see how it fits. I'm thinking I should have a properly aligned jig that I can use. Do you see any problems w/this method?
Thanks, Travis 

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Travis,

I don't see any problems with your technique.  As a precaution, you might drill only one of those holes (or both) undersized and peek through them to confirm your alignment before enlarging them.  If your layout was off center, you could then make adjustments as you enlarged them.  I recently mounted my Freud 1700 VS router to an undrilled JoinTech mounting plate.  To work correctly with JoinTech's inserts (much like those offered by Woodpeckers), I had to get the router shaft centered.  Even though I carefully made a paper template to use in marking the mounting holes, I did not drill them all at once.  Instead I drilled one and mounted the router with a centering mandrel (cone-shaped tip) and compared the point of the mandrel with the center pin hole in the DIY plastic insert supplied with my router plate.  Then I checked and remarked the location of the other holes to be drilled.  A slight adjustment of some was needed.  The base of that Freud router is designed such that ?only one? of the mounting holes go all the way though the aluminum base, and thus you cannot insert a drill bit to use as a marking tool from upper side of the base, and the plastic sub-base did not have accurately registered holes.  If you miss your intended centering mark, you could slightly enlarge one or both holes, then use your centering mandrel when mounting your Jasper jig.  Please keep in mind that I do not have a Jasper jig.  Other members of FOG may have some better ideas.  I am not a machinist or expert in how to achieve precise mechanical layouts prior to machining operations.

Dave R.