The next video is in the oven. In the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity to post some pictures of the guide bushings of my plunge router machines. A few days ago I was asked by meil what it was and how to get it. The guide bushing is a plate with the copy ring that is screwed or snapped onto the router base. It has a hole surrounded by a ring that protrudes from the base of the milling machine. The function of this ring is to rest against whatever we use as a guide to get our router cutter to describe the desired path (something almost impossible to do freehand without any kind of guide). Each brand of milling machine has its own model, so it is advisable to make sure that it comes with the milling machine you buy.
If you have a router, one of the most useful power tools in a small workshop, and you didn’t know what the guide bushing was and you can’t find it, you may have stored it somewhere in your workshop. If you can’t find it, maybe the technical service will get one for you. Another option is to buy a universal base for milling machines, which usually come with bushings of various diameters.
What I don’t know anymore is how a universal base would be installed, if it would be screwed directly to the base of our milling machine or if the base would have to be removed and the universal base screwed to the guides.
When using the guide bushing, make sure that the edges of the router bit does not rub against the ring (easy if the ring hole and the router bit diameter are almost the same) or you risk damaging the copy ring (and maybe also the router cutter, but a new router bit is easier to get).
