Woodworker's Central Woodworker's Gazette Gazette Archive

Tool Review #1 Evaluation EZ-Route Universal Slide Guide by Rick Fox When I first heard of the EZ-Route Universal Slide Guide, my question was, "What does it do?". Before requesting a unit for an evaluation, I decided to visit the website and see what information I could gather about it. As it turned out, very little. I found a sketch, a list of router tasks that it would make easier and some photographs. But I still came away with the same question. The promo made claims of simplifying dados and rabbets, and I was beginning a cabinet-type router table project which was infested with both. I wondered if the Universal Slide Guide (USG) would help? One way to find out. So I requested and received a USG shortly thereafter. Being a gadget freak, I couldn't wait to get it out of the box and see what it was, and what the instructions said I could do with it. Uh-oh. The instructions consisted of a half-sheet of paper with 6 steps (see the website for complete instructions.) So, the only way to find out how this fixture would simplify routing tasks was to head out to the shop. (It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.) The USG is basically a 7" X 10" router base plate made from clear acrylic with enough countersunk holes to allow mounting it to most routers. On each side of the plate is an oak fence, approximately 1" X 1" X 10" long, mounted in slots with wing nuts which permit the fences to be adjust anywhere from near centerline of the bit to 2" from center. To make it simpler, imagine a router edge guide on both sides of the router (each with a 2" maximum distance.) As it turned out, most of the construction of the cabinet could not make use of the USG's design intent. By far, the most practical use of the USG is in routing a mortise into the edge of a workpiece. For routing dados in the middle of a panel, the fences provide no help, and rabbets around the edges of plywood are much easier on the router table. Judging from the pictures on the box and on the website, the USG is most beneficial to those who mortise for locksets on the edge of doors, although it seems to me that in order to be really helpful for mortising the edges of doors, some type of auto-centering mechanism needs to be incorporated into the design. While watching a Marc Adams video on router jigs, I saw a perfect use for the USG. The demonstration was how to trim strips of inlay that had been installed proud of the groove. Marc had designed a C-shaped router base plate from wood, and used it to follow the inlaid strip with a dado bit, trimming the inlay flush with the surrounding piece. But before doing this, he had to use a chisel to trim a small section of the inlay away to allow his plate to sit flat on the panel. With the USG, the two fences will easily straddle and follow the inlay, eliminating any preliminary chisel work. The only drawback to this use is that the bolts that attach the fences to the plate are not counterbored into the oak fences. A quick trip to the drill press solved that problem. (Since the bolts have a distinct shoulder, I then had to stack a couple of washers below the wing nuts.) With this small modification, I was able to use the USG for a completely different application. (Perhaps a design change may be in order, hint, hint.) Unfortunately, my projects so far do not seem to fit into the major design intentions of the USG and I was not able to make use of the types of mortising that created the need for this well-made jig. But, with the first use, it became apparent that it fills a void in the router accessory market. If your work involves edge mortising or inlay trimming, I highly recommend the USG. With a list price of $30 including S&H, you can't go wrong. Rick Fox -*-*-*-*-*- Tool Review #2 Evaluation EZ-Route Universal Slide Guide by Joe Johns Overview - The EZ Route is an accessory designed to be used with a hand-held router and adapts to the various manufacturers.  It is the brain-child of Brian Miller, obviously a woodworker who encountered his share of difficulties while performing various cutting procedures with a router and the concept behind the EZ Route is to minimize the headaches that accompany some of these procedures. Requirements - Basically a router and a plunge type at that.  Yes, you could get by with a fixed base but in some operations these types will severely affect the quality of the cut.  I'll explain later on. Construction - The EZ Route is made from clear acrylic and wooden components with the foot plate being the acrylic while the guides are wood. The foot plate has four slots, two opposing each other, with one set being longer affording a greater distance of offset.  This feature means that an infinite number of adjustments can be made for a wide variety of material widths. The guides have holes that are drilled in them to accept locking bolts that ride in the slots.  These bolts can be loosened so that these guides can be moved in relation to the slots and adjusted to the material being worked.  One guide has its holes drilled offset to its center, meaning that it can be turned around to achieve an even greater flexibility for the material being used.  The inclusion of this concept alone makes the EZ Route friendly to use. The fault I have with regard to construction is the thickness of the foot plate.  In my view acrylic that is only 3/16" allows for too much flexibility; something not needed considering the nature of the EZ Route.    The foot plate comes pre-drilled with various hole patterns making it easy to attach it to a multitude of routers.  The installation couldn't be simpler; you remove the base plate, align the proper set of holes of the EZ Route to your router base and secure it with flathead screws.  I ran into a spot of difficulty here because the screws that were provided with the EZ Route didn't fit my PC 690 - just be sure to check that the screws you get will turn easily in the threads so that you don't strip them out. Purpose - The purpose of the EZ Route is to provide the router user a more confident means of performing some basic routing procedures.  For instance, how many times have you installed a rabbeting bit in your router and ran it along the edge of a board, fully cognizant of the fact that your router was tipping back and forth as you progressed around the perimeter of the piece being worked?  Well, with the EZ Route attached to your router problems like these are virtually eliminated because the EZ Route gives the user a greater degree of assurance as it guides the cutting processes.  Another thing that it eliminates is having to perform these operations on the router table.  That being said and since most of us already have a router table then I'm certain you're saying, "Huh?  Joe's a dork!"  Allow me to explain... Let's say you intend to route a mortise on the edge of a board and it's to be offset to the width of the board.  Okay, well in this situation using a router table means that you'll be working blind because this cutting operation requires several passes and some very precise setups in order to ensure that you don't overshoot the intended parameters of the mortise.  With the EZ Route and its clear acrylic plate, you're allowed to see exactly what is being done and ensuring that the cuts are precise.  You equip the EZ Route with both guides, adjust them so that the cutter is delineated properly with respect to the material being worked, and have at it.  In this case, this is where a plunge type of router will certainly be needed in order to give the best quality of cut. In whatever position or application you use your EZ Route, there is a very real requirement for a way to adequately support the piece being worked so that it doesn't slip or give away during the cutting operation.  So be sure that you're comfortable with it before starting the cut.    General - You can use the EZ Route with either one or both of the guides and when you would opt for either depends upon the operation being performed.  One project I used it on required some rather large tenons and although I could have milled them out several different ways, I enlisted the EZ Route for the task.  Well, it couldn't have been any easier.  I equipped it with one guide, adjusted the offset and milled the tenon in seconds.  It was all quite painless and the tenons fit perfectly, of course being able to keep my mind clear of impure thoughts helped considerably too. Remember when I said that a plunge type of router is recommended?  Well, in this particular application a fixed base router was perfectly suited for the operation, but as I indicated above, a plunge type in that application was the best choice.  So, you can see that both routers will work in different operations but only a plunge type will work in all of them. Overall - The EZ Route has the capacity of providing the woodworking enthusiast with quite a few attributes and once you begin using it, more and more of them will become apparent.  However, with all of this I'm certainly not suggesting that experienced woodworkers should forego using their router tables in exchange for the EZ Route, merely that I view this accessory as something a novice to intermediate woodworker would be able to use with confidence and accuracy while offering something to the veteran woodworker as well. If you'd like to take a peek at it then point your browser to the EZ Route WEB site. If you care to order it or purchase it direct, then you can call or visit the following locations or mail order companies: Clyde Hardware 4808 N.15th street Phoenix AZ.85014 Timber Woodworking Machinery 935 E. Southern Ave Mesa AZ.85204 Woodcraft 1538 East Southern Ave Tempe AZ 85282 Woodworkers Source 3441 S.Palo Verde Tucson AZ 85713 Woodworkers Source 5402 S. 40th Street Phoenix AZ 85040 Woodworkers Source 17641 N. Black Canyon Hwy. Phoenix AZ.85023 The Shop 8322 N. 7th Street Phoenix AZ.85020 According to Brian, he has basically given up on Internet sales and is looking for more retailers.  Until then, you can expect to pay from 32.50 to 39.95 depending upon who you deal with. I give this shop accessory 3 1/2 stars in terms of usefulness and simplicity of use. I feel that if the foot plate was a little more substantial with regard to thickness, then an improvement will have been made on an already handy gadget. Joe Johns