Edge banding trim jig

[Cherryville Chuck]

I'm doing some counter tops and they'll have a 45 degree bevel with a hardwood edge exposed so I glued just a bit bigger than 1/2 by 1/2" squares in rabbets on the front top edge of the tops. Once trimmed they'll be 1/2 by 1/2. I've tried various ways of trimming the top edge flat but all so far have left a little to be desired. Plus the main top is too big to pass over a table saw on edge or a router table. So I thought a flush trim bit in a router would be the easiest. But there isn't much edge to support the base of a router and it's easy to wobble which can leave a divot in the edge that is hard or impossible to fix.

So I had an idea for a jig to attach to a router that will support it on the top surface. The jig uses the guide rods for attachment which makes attaching it and adjusting it easy. I took a 2 by 4 and split it into a 1" strip and a 2.5" strip. Then I drilled the 1" side for screw holes and with the two pieces lined back up to each other I screwed the two halves back together. Then I drilled holes down the split for the rods that fit in that router. I added some heavy paper between the halves before I screwed them together so that without the paper the clamp would hold the rods tighter.

Then I built a box that attached to the 2.5" wide block. The box sits on the top of the counter top and therefore keeps the router stable on the edge. The box has to be notched when it will go over the edge banding. In order to adjust the box to sit at the right height in relation to the flush trim bit you just hold a straight edge across the edges of the box and adjust until the straight edge is touching the bearing on the bit, same as you would adjust a router table fence. One photo shows me setting it. I've done 2 of the tops so far and it works slick. Much easier than the other ways I've tried. It took me about 2 hours to make it.

[Cherryville Chuck]

The jig in use.

[Herb Stoops]

That is a good idea, Chuck, it is always real chore to get a free hand flush cut.
Herb

[Stick486]

nicely thought out Charles..
here's two other variations...
.

Flush Trimming with a Router.pdf

flush-trim-jig.pdf

[Cherryville Chuck]

nicely thought out Charles..
here's two other variations...
.
Flush Trimming with a Router.pdf
flush-trim-jig.pdf

I've made the jig in the first pdf before and it works but you have to be very careful to always maintain enough pressure on the tail end of the jig to keep the bit from diving into your work. If it does that you have a disaster on your hands. Even being careful I got a few swirl marks so you want to only have enough of the bit exposed that you can't accidentally rout into your ply or lam behind the banding and leave the banding a little proud and smooth to finish with a scraper or sanding jig. I've made sanding jigs that only have enough sandpaper exposed to sand the banding and not the top behind it. I'll post some other jigs in another topic that I've used for making counter tops and the sanding jig is a variation of the one that will be in it.

The jig in the second pdf is a variation of mine except that you have to have the panel in a vertical position or it's hard to use. Mine works better on a horizontal surface or it's hard to use. Since you have so little edge surface to support your router you need to support it on the 90* side. The concept was never the problem. That part was obvious. The problem was how to attach it and be able to adjust it. That's when I got the idea to mount it to the guide rods.

The 3rd version is a tall fence on either router table or table saw and leave enough gap between fence and table to run the banding below the fence. I know I've tried the router fence method, I did that one last year or the year before. I think I've tried the table saw method but it's been a while if I have. Both of those work okay too. They just seem to take a little more effort and you are limited in size what you can do that way. I did the banding on some cupboard doors but that way wouldn't work for a 91 inch by 25 plus inch counter top. That's too much for me to manhandle like that anymore.

[Stick486]

another plan...
instead of cutting dadoes use spacers...
.

FLUSH TRIMMING.gif

[Cherryville Chuck]

Each method has its pluses and minuses so it's good to know them all. The minus on that one is that all the panels must be the same width so that when on edge they are all the same height but if you banded a set of shelves say then that would be the easiest and fastest method to do them.