I need to make a simple rip guide for my skil saw…. nothing fancy…I don’t have a table saw and just occasionally need to rip something.
TIA!!!
I use a piece of HARDBOARD (1/4" Masonite?) and glue a 1/4" x 1-2" x L" piece of hardwood as the guide strip. The idea is to run the SkillSaw along the hardwood strip. The width of the hardboard is as wide as the base of your saw, plus the width of the hardwood guide, plus another two or three inches to allow clamping the assembly as necessary.
Shows 1/2" plywood and screws, but hardboard's cheaper these days and you don't want the guide strip/fence too thick as it can interfere with the saw if too 'tall." And, the thicker the base, the less depth of cut you would get.
When the glue dries on the hardwood guide strip, you lay it out on some support and run the saw down it's length trimming the 'excess' hardboard to the right of your saw blade. Now, position the edge of that cut on the line you want to rip (clamp the assembly/guide as/if necessary) and let her rip.
There must be better explanations and even videos of this jig/trick and pictures and plans. It is a real OLDIE
"The hardest part in making these is ensuring that the guide is perfectly straight, and you don't warp it when attaching it to the base."
HARDBOARD is relatively stable stuff. If you cut the (2" wide?) guide strip from the hardboard, it should lay straight and flat while the glue dries. I suppose you could 'seal' the working edge of the guide - to harden it a bit, but for most of us it doesn't wear much from 'constant use'
" prevent tear out " When cutting plywood, cut your boards with the SHOWSIDE down or lay (and firmly press down) a strip of masking tape along the cut line; use appropriate blade; use sharp (and clean) blade; and so forth and so on.
"When using it with a router, care must be taken to not rock the router"
If you have a section of hardboard (or whatever material you used for the base) left over/laying about, you might be able to fix it to one side of your router base (Double Stick Tape?) to support the router squarely as it travels along the subject material.
There is a Flip-up guide design that works with routers -
search YouTube "flip router guide" to find at least three videos. With it, you avoid the instability and always rout right down the center - cutting half the diameter of the bit along each side of your layout line
*. With the saw guide, first above, you cut right at / along / to your layout line.
One issue, you need to remember which edge of you router base needs to
ride the guide because your base may not be perfectly symmetrical e.g. might be a bit oval, etc. You can test this (on a scrap) by carefully rotating the router as it travels along the guide to see if the result looks straight - couldn't hurt.