Router baseplate and bushing set

ralitaco

Jim
Senior User
Not sure if this is the right part of the forum, so please forgive me if I posted in the wrong place. Please keep in mind that I am fairly new to woodworking although I have done a fair bit of construction. So while this may be simple and basic to you, it is new to me.

I am looking at getting the Milescraft Baseplate and Bushing Set from my local big blue box; however, I have never used any bushings on my router. From what I can tell, these come in handy when you set up a jig and you only have to account for the bushing not the entire baseplate. I am thinking this will help me when I cut my notches for my shelving project (2x4 Office Shelving). I want to make a jig so I can essentially make 1.5" wide by 3.5" tall notches for my horizontal 2x4's to lock into my vertical 2x4's on their 3.5" face. I am doing this to have the 2x4 support the weight as opposed to the 2 screws. Anyway, I will be doing this at least 40 times so I wanted a jig so they are consistent.

With all that said, will this baseplate and bushing set work for my application?
What else can you do with these bushings? I have seen tons of videos for cutting dadoes and some for cutting letters with another Milescraft kit/jig.
Any tips for using bushings and jigs?

Thanks in advance,
Jim
 

JohnnyR

John
Corporate Member
Never heard of them before but looked on the Lowe's website and the reviews were not favorable. What kind of router do you have? It's not too early for you to learn one of woodworking basics, If you buy a cheap tool you'll be buying a better one soon so don't throw your money away.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
If you have a table saw or a circular saw you can cut each notch by cutting the outside line edge with the saw set at the correct depth. Then, just clamp a guide that centers the router bit between the 2 cuts and remove the inside area. This is easy, usually if in the field will do this but, I will also make a 2-3 more interior cuts between the outside line edge to remove more material to speed up the process with the router. In fact, you could just do it with the saw, but it is not as clean.
 

ralitaco

Jim
Senior User
Never heard of them before but looked on the Lowe's website and the reviews were not favorable. What kind of router do you have? It's not too early for you to learn one of woodworking basics, If you buy a cheap tool you'll be buying a better one soon so don't throw your money away.
Thanks Johnny. I saw a mix of reviews as well. I think I'm ok with spending less now to see if I need/want to spend more as I get used to the tools in general.
 

ralitaco

Jim
Senior User
If you have a table saw or a circular saw you can cut each notch by cutting the outside line edge with the saw set at the correct depth. Then, just clamp a guide that centers the router bit between the 2 cuts and remove the inside area. This is easy, usually if in the field will do this but, I will also make a 2-3 more interior cuts between the outside line edge to remove more material to speed up the process with the router. In fact, you could just do it with the saw, but it is not as clean.
Thanks Casey. I have to cut about 40 notches and they need to be lined up so they are at the correct heights. If I was cutting edge to edge, I'd use the circular saw, but since I want them in the center and not to edge, I want to try the router. Also, from my research, seems a bit like cutting mortises which I have never done before either.
 

Joe Scharle

New User
Joe
They do work as well as brass bushings with one caveat; they can be overwhelmed by excessive lateral pressure, whereas metal bushings not so much.
As with either one, a centering pin through an appropriate size template is required to center the collet/bushing/baseplate.
Here's another use for bushings when using a circle jig. I used a Porter-Cable brass here, but either will work. The jig pivots beneath the router and the router remains in the same direction. Bruce Wren shared this years ago. Eliminates knotted cords, vac hoses and changing hands.
FYI I found that steel bushings will loosen after extended use but haven't had brass loosen.

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junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
For many (20+ years,) I built cubbies for local Y's. They were basically 16 X 16 (nominal size) boxes that stacked upon each other. Because every dimension was the same, I build a router jig to insure accuracy. The router was guided by the edge of the base plate. To insure accuracy, I made my own base plate. It was square, with rounded corners, and symetrical within a couple thousandths. Look up dado jigs the use base plate for guiding, instead to bushings. Build a jig with as many as needed dado guides, spaced to match your shelving needs. Be sure to ALWAYS reference off the same end. What you are doing in one thing that a radial arm saw shines at doing.
 

ralitaco

Jim
Senior User
Thank you both Joe and Bruce. I appreciate the insight. I will have to wait until after the holidays to start my project, but I wanted to get a bit of a head start on the planning.
 

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