Edge Guide - Drill Press Fixture

Intro: Edge Guide - Drill Press Fixture

Here is a guide that can be used with a router or also as a guide on a drill press.

STEP 1: Router Guide

I built this guide for my router years ago. I wanted a quick way to guide the router across hollow core doors so I could stuff wires inside. The guide is very simple, a very thin strip of plywood for a base and a thicker strip for the guide. Glue and tack together and you are done. The router can cut the base plywood the first time you use it.

STEP 2: Drill Press Guide

So if I'm doing a project with exposed screws I like to put them in a straight line and have them evenly spaced. So with the router guide clamped to the drill press table it would be easy to keep the holes an even distance from the edge. Then I put Sharpie marks on the fixture for the first and last holes. I also put marks to space the holes 12 inches apart. ( You can see those marks in the cover photo. )

See also a corner fixture:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Corner-Location-Fixture/

STEP 3: Adding Tape Measures

The 12 inch spacing was fine for the long strips I was drilling. But when I started the shorter strips I wanted shorter spaces, but still even. So I remembered some stick on tape measures I had found at a fabric shop. So I cut two strips so the numbers would get bigger from the center out. This made quick work of putting one hole in the center of two previous holes.

Here are some sources:

https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/124/2302

https://www.ebay.com/p/150cm-Vinyl-Silver-Adhesive...

https://www.missouriquiltco.com/shop/detail/56554/...

Hope you find this simple fixture fun to build and use. I sure did.

Be safe out there. Carl.

Comments

[Alex in NZ]

Neat! I love the stick-on ruler. I don't have that, but a laser-printed measuring line or even graph paper (both sealed over after fitting) would do that job. Thank you for the idea :-)

[carl5blum]

Hello Alex: I saw a copy of "Shed" Magazine in NZ during a visit. Too bad subscriptions to the US cost so much. It reminded me much of "Popular Mechanics" back in the 1960's when they really built stuff. Now they mostly have articles about installing commercial products. Thanks, Carl.