Did you think your router could only cut slots or rounding edges?

Then you are wrong.

I’ll show you when you think out of the box that you can do so much more with your router.

UPDATE!

I made an extension on this jig which allows me to make opposite cuts.
Interested?
Check out the blog and video “Awesome extension on last week’s router jig“

There are also FREE PLANS available!

Get more out of your router

Discover new possibilities and improve your woodworking techniques with this router swing.

With this router jig, you will be able to make totally different cuts than you are used to, like cove cutting and so much more. 

You can use the free plans, that you can download in this blog, as a guide to build your own router swing.

In this blog, I will show you how to make this genius router jig.

What actions you can do with it, I leave completely to your imagination.

Watch the video here

Before we dive into the blog, you can watch the video first.
In that video, I will show you how I build this router jig.

In the blog post underneath the video, I will describe step by step the actions you need to take to make this router jig.
Also, I will list up the materials and tools you need for building this project.

Building the router jig step by step

Now that we have gone through the list of what we all need for this project, I will explain step by step how to make this router jig.

Let’s go!

Step 1 | Preparation

Before you can start building, it is best to cut all pieces to size.
Use the dimensions that you can find on the free plans.

I used my table saw to cut all the parts.
First, I cut the pieces along the fence to the correct width, and then shortened them with my crosscut sled.

Step 2 | Making the base

The base of this router jig is made up of two C-shaped legs from which the swing can be hung.

To make these C-shaped legs I connected the parts with wood glue and brad nails.

If you do not have a nail gun, you can alternatively use regular nails or screws.

Now that the base of the router jig is made, the part that holds the swing can be made.

By drilling holes at different distances, the swing can be infinitely adjusted in height.

I attached these two parts together with masking tape.
That way, the holes I drilled in each part were the perfect mirror image of each other.
This will keep the swing in balance.

These parts were attached to the C-shaped legs with wood glue and brad nails.

Make sure that each part is mounted at right angles to each other, and also check the correct dimensions.

This is very important for the correctness of this router jig.

Now that the legs are complete, they can be joined together.

Here again, I used wood glue and brad nails to connect the parts.

Once the connections have been made, the base of the router jig is ready.

Step 3 | Making the swing arm

I made the arms of the swing arm in the same way as the height-adjustable parts of the base.

The two arms were fastened together with painter’s tape, and the holes were drilled an equal distance.

The bolts I used for this are M8, so all holes were drilled with a diameter of 8mm.

At the bottom of the arms, you can already pre-drill a small hole, in which later the screw can be placed for attaching the router holder.

If you also work with 18 mm plywood, you can drill a hole that is slightly smaller than your screw, at 9 mm from the bottom of the arm.

Now attach the adjustable arms to the base of the router jig.

I used M8 bolts, washers, and nuts for this.

Cut a piece of plywood to fit the router holder.

Attention! If you have a different router than the Makita 3709, you may have to adjust the dimensions on the plans.

First, I pre-drilled the holes where the screws will come in to attach this router holder to the swing arms.

Place the router perfectly in the center of this baseplate, and mark the outside of the router.

Do this very accurately, so that the router is properly secured when it is placed on the bottom plate.

I set the saw blade to the same height as the thickness of the base of my router.

With the crosscut sled, I was now able to easily make a slot by cutting everything between the two marks.

Now that the bottom plate is ready, it must be ensured that the router can be clamped onto it.

Because the base of my Makita router has a round shape, I made 2 pieces that perfectly fit this round shape.

I did this, by taking a piece of plywood the same width as the diameter of the hole drill I used for this.

By placing the hole drill in the center of this piece of wood and drilling through it, I obtained two blocks of wood with a semicircle cut-out.

I cut away 1 side of the c-shaped recess.

To work safely, I clamped and cut these blocks on my crosscut sled.

When you have cut these blocks in this way, the router can be slid into the bottom plate, and the circular back ensures that the router is held firmly.

Now place the router in the bottom plate and attach the blocks.
Let it connect perfectly to the router so that it cannot deviate from left to right.

I secured these blocks with wood glue and nails.

To clamp the router at the front I used an L-shaped aluminum profile.

I attached this to the bottom plate with screws.

Now that the router is in a perfect position, you can make a mark with the tip of the router bit.

I enlarged that marking by making the hole bigger with a Forstner drill bit.

I did this to have a better view of where the router bit will cut into the wood.

Because the bottom plate is fixed at a central point on the swing arms, there is the possibility to tilt it.

To clamp the bottom plate in the tilted position, I made a circular slot by making an outer and inner ring in wood.

With a hole drill of diameter 80 mm, I made a circle.
I saw another hole in this circle.
This time with a hole saw of diameter 59 mm.

This gave me a wooden ring that I could use for the outside of the slot.

For the inside of the slot, I sawed a circle with the 40 mm hole saw.

With my homemade center finder, I determined the center of these circles and saw them to size.

Pay attention! When cutting the circles, take into account your half-thickness of the plywood of the bottom plate.
The pivot point of the bottom plate is in the center of the wood.

I almost made this mistake, so you have been warned.

To attach these parts, this time I do not use wood glue but CA glue.

A powerful and fast adhesive that is ideal for fixing small parts.

I attached the bottom plate to the swing arms for the first time. 

In this way, I was able to determine the correct position where the hole had to be drilled.
In this hole, later the bolt has to go through to clamp the bottom plate.

After drilling the hole, the bolt, washer, and nut could be placed.

I made homemade star knobs to clamp the whole thing.

The router jig itself is now ready.

To make it even more user-friendly, I made a simple fence along which the workpiece can be slid.

In this way, the place of the incision is always the same.

This is simply attached to the router jig with a few small clamps.

How to use this router jig

Using this router jig is very easy.

The principle is, the longer you make the arm, the further the router can swing, so the bigger the curve you make.

Do not let the router bit cut too deep into the wood, but take the wood away in small steps.

Always hold the router firmly.

Now that I have made this jig, I see a lot of possibilities in this and will investigate this soon.

So keep an eye on my website and YouTube channel.

Here you can see an example of the first tests I did.
At the top, you can see the curve I made with the arms of the jig in the highest position.

The curve at the bottom is made with the arms of the router jig almost in the lowest position.