# It's Hard to Beat Simple



## cutworm (Oct 2, 2010)

Sometimes I see a fixture that's so simple it impresses me. Sometimes we get caught up in the next newest "got to have" gizmo. I love simple and effective tools. Here is a good example from a recent Woodsmith tip.
http://www.woodsmithtips.com/2012/09/20/cant-miss-router-table-fence/
I would like to see more of these ideas floating around.


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

The K.I.S.S. method. *K*eep *I*t *S*imple *S*tupid!!!

I saw the same "tip" yesterday and liked the simplicity.


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

If my wife knew that I could do everything I need with JUST that "fence," well…that'd take all the fun out of it for me!


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## Tootles (Jul 21, 2011)

Interesting. I have just done something similar on a very simple router table except that to make the notch for the router bit, I simply turned on the router with a straight cutter and wiggled the fence from the back to the front of the table. That gave me a notch that is just a little wider than my bit. It works great.


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## WoodWorkWarrior (Sep 21, 2012)

Simple is awesome. Often I have to do stuff like this simply because I don't have all the neat gadgets, just have to make due with what I have in the shop. This is a great tip I'll have to remember.


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## cutworm (Oct 2, 2010)

Lots of time when I see a good tip, technique, jig, etc I print it to a pdf file and save it to a folder in my pc. I'm getting quite a collection. I have gotten a lot of good ideas from LJ's, Woodsmith, Wood Magazine, and WWGOA to name a few. Had a guy put me on a $40 spray gun that works like the expensive ones. Great stuff here. 
I've got less in my shop than some have in a tablesaw. It's not the best but neither am I….

Jason,
You can glue a piece of formica to the outfeed section of that fence and use your router with a straight bit as an edge jointer. I tried it and it works but takes a little practice. You have to keep the board tight against the outfeed fence as it goes through the router.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

This sort of thing is one reason I've never bought any kind
of fence for a router table. I did make one out of MDF some
years ago however and still use it. It has sliding faces and
a dust port on the back. Sometimes I just make a single
piece sliding face and cut a hole for the bit in order to take
advantage of the dust collection. I also put a t-track on the 
top to mount hold-downs on. There's an old article by
Gray Rogowski about a bargain router table build and that's
where I found the fence design.


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