Stew Mac Binding Jig

[Bob Connor]

I used to have the same problem with the Stewmac cutter. I shifted to the LMI router bit when the other one wore out and it's much deeper so it doesn't really matter which channel is cut first.

Regards

[Trevor Gore]

I use the LMI cutter rather than the Stewmac, so vertical depth of cut is not a problem. Another thing that is important is where the "doughnut" rides on the horizontal surface. Depending on the exact geometry of your doughnut vs the curvature of the top/back panel, if you cut the purfling channel first there may be nowhere for the doughnut to get a decent, consistent ride, so you can then get an uneven depth of cut when you do the binding channel. If your doughnut registers too far in to the panel surface, you no longer get a cut that follows the edge height. Something to keep an eye on. Also, if you use the same bit to do both binding and purfling channels, if you do the binding channel first, you get to see how your cutter performs on the top wood before you do the purfling cut. This gives you an opportunity to change cutter, sharpen current cutter etc. before you do your purfling cut, which you want to be really clean.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks for the tips Trevor and Bob.

I have madeup the template for the Stew Mac binding jig to suit my Makita. There are two pictures below. Have I got it right? I've found there is only about 10mm of the cutting bits shaft in the chuck so I hope that is ok.


I have a 1/4 roundover bit that I would like to use on my latest archtop to get a uniform edge on the guitar. Is it ok to use this type of bit in the jig?

The blocks that hold the guitar in the cradle are not all that secure as a few 0f you have pointed out. Looks like I need to make my own.

Cheers

Alan

[ozziebluesman]

Hi again,

I am still having trouble getting my Makita laminate trimmer to work with the Stew Mac Trubinding jig that holds the trimmer. The only reason I can see why I can't get it mounted successfully is that the trimmer base is not the right one for it. I bought it at cashies so that is possible they have just stuck this base with it. If you look at the pic there is a plastic part pertruding in about 17mm on the plastic base and this stops the trimmer from fitting right down to the bottom of the base. When the trimmer is fitted to the base I can only get about 3mm into the chuck and that just don't work.

As a possible solution to my problem I have ordered a plasic base from a guy in Hong Kong who sells the trimmer bases on ebay to suit a 3703 Makita. Mine is a 3702 so I hope it fits. If not it is only a $10 outlay. Looking at the picture of that base it looks like the pertruding piece of plastic on mine is not on this one.



Has anyone else her tried to fit a a Makita 3072 to the Stew Mac jig or can offer som further advice.

Cheers

Alan

[Lillian]

Alan, this was the only one I could find.
http://www.ereplacementparts.com/trimme ... 15603.html

At this price and with shipping, I have to wonder if it would be easier for you to get another laminate router.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Lil for the link. I have ordered a base off eBay for $10 shipped which is cheap as long as it fits my trimmer. If it doesn't, then I will buy another laminate trimmer. I have a routing table setup to cut neck trussrod and carbon fibre channels using the Makita so the base I have now can stay screwed to the table.

Cheers

Alan

[liam_fnq]

I had to drill and tap to get my trimmer base to fit the SM jig. As a side note I own a heap of trimmer bases from eBay. I leave them attached to a bunch of jigs so I don't have to own half a dozen trimmers or move a single base to a heap of different jigs.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Liam for your comments. I thought I was doing something wrong and it's good to know you had to modify your base to fit the Stew Mac jig.

Cheers

Alan

[Trevor Gore]

The good news is that most of the common laminate trimmers are the same diameter and are interchangeable between bases. I have four different makes of trimmer which all have there own bases, but I have about half a dozen Ryobi bases dedicated to different jigs and any of the trimmers will fit. The Ryobi base I use was convenient because the bolt holes were in a square pattern on a pitch circle centred on the cutter axis which made fitting it to jigs easier. But not all Ryobi bases are the same and my preferred one has been discontinued.

[Dominic]

Take the bottom part of the base off the trimmer and bolt the rest to the SM base which is already pretty thick. I used the old base as a guide to drill new holes in the SM base so I could use similar bolts. Take that bit of clear plastic off the top of the SM base as well. I also filed off any bits inside the plastic sleeve part that stopped the body dropping down lower. I filed a notch in the body near the fan outlet as well so the collet now drops below where the original base was. And lastly I lowered the donut and reshaped it. Each of these gave me another 5mm or so to stick the shaft further in the collet.
Mine is a cheap Ryobi and I keep it on the SM base all the time.

BTW, I buy the Bosch colt routers from the US and run them on the step down transformer I have. They cost about $110 compared to the nearly 300 for the local version and the US one has variable speed and soft start which make it great for things like routing saddle slots, cutting rosettes channels and inlay because it won't jerk around on start up.

Cheers
Dom