What Every Woodworker Should Know About Guide Bushings

Many woodworkers are not familiar with Router Guide Bushings, but they should be. A guide bushing attaches to the router base allowing woodworkers to guide the router bit as it cuts without having a bearing. They are perfect for cutting parts to shape using a template without needing a bandsaw or even a router table.

While some router brands have their own guide bushings, the Porter-Cable style guide bushings have become standard. They feature a 1-3/8” ring diameter with a 1-1/4” through hole and are secured to the router base with a screw-on ring.

Many router manufacturers include a router subbase plate that can take the universal guide bushing or offer one as an accessory. Others brands make a guide bushing adapter that can be attached to the metal base of their woodworking routers.

If your router does not have either of these guide bushing options, there are several aftermarket universal base plates with mounting holes to accommodate multiple router brands and models. They have charts to tell you which hand held router models they fit. You can even make your own plate in the shop or with a 3D printer.

The MatchFit Grid Router Guide works with these guide bushing baseplates so virtually all routers can be fitted on our guide. No guide bushing needed, our Grid Guide fits your router base in place of the bushing. Unlike many universal base plates our Grid Guide can work with 1 to 3 horsepower routers, and fit bases from 4” (100mm) to 7” (180mm)

Because the MatchFit Grid Guide fits the circular fitting in your router base, you can position your router at any angle on the base so you can position the router grips, controls and dust ports where they best fit your needs. You are not limited to mounting screw locations. Your router is held firmly and accurately at the 4” (101.6mm) spacing for our Dovetail Grooves, the included clamps simple keep the router on the ring. Having your router set up to use our self-indexing router base also means you will be able to use your router with all the various sizes of router guide bushings as well.

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