The ultimate jig for making jigs
Apr 23, 2015
Pat Warner's new router table is designed to produce precise parts, in wood, metal, and plastic, for an army of new jigs.
Pat Warner’s zero-compromise approach to routing isn’t for everyone. But it is amazing. He was most recently in FWW in 2000, with this micro-adjustable router fence. But he hasn’t stopped inventing, or pursuing router perfection.
His latest router table has no fences or work surfaces at all! Instead he uses two moving carriages to hold the router and workpiece respectively, letting him rout perfectly square items and precise slots of any size. The carriages are so solid on their sliders that Warner can rout aluminum or even steel with his setup. He uses it mostly for making parts for more jigs! And his jigs require amazing precision. Like I said, his goal is shopmade perfection, and he never rests.
To rout wood without tearout, he reverses the work carrier, and places a sacrificial stick behind the workpiece. A dial indicator tracks the position of the router carriage. And everything (except the bolts) is shop made, from hardwood, aluminum and acrylic plastic
Have fun looking at the photos and figuring out all of the stops, tracks, clamps and other thoughtful touches from the incredible mind of Pat Warner. If you want info about Pat’s other jigs and the classes he teaches, check out his site. Feel free to contact him at [email protected].
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Pat Warner's new router table is designed to produce precise parts, in wood, metal, and plastic, for an army of new jigs.
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A dial indicator tracks the position of the router bit in 0.001-in. increments. You even get to watch the dust blow through the clear dust hood.
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The crosscut sled runs between aluminum guides. Note the sled's stops, locator blocks, and toggle clamps. Recently Warner added a second work carriage, which travels perpendicular to this one.
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This is latest generation of the router fence that Warner built for FWW, back in 2000. It worked amazingly.
Comments
Great jig when is he going to make them , I live in the uk 20 years ago the Woodrat was designed as router jig and has been very successful
I agree 100% with the comment "titmitchell" wrote.
The woodcut was a real success in the UK and outside in US
and Canada
Woodcut should read Woodrat
I suggest this rig be named the Warner OCD, which could stand either for "Overly-Complicated Device" or a clinical diagnosis of its inventor.
Wood Movement must drive Mr. Warner nuts. Hope he'll let us know when he has solved that problem.
Asa, this is a disappointing report. A brief video showing how the jig works and what it can do or at least a diagram labeling all of the important parts would have be useful. "Look at the photos and figure everything out" doesn't really cut it.
-- Jim
I agree with Jim (JLMinRI). It is a waste of pages and ink to not give the reader enough information fully understand the project.
-- Wassy
Ah...Even though I lived in San Diego for many years and now live in Ohio, Pat was a friend of mine and we still occasionally kept in contact over the years.
Pat passed away a couple of years ago. He was without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable experts on the router and it's uses.
Pat's email and website no longer exist.
In reply to richardross, Pat Warner passed away in 2017.
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