Method and apparatus for preparing mortise cuts with a pantograph router

A system for producing mortise cuts with a pantographic router having a guide bearing on a shaft for guiding a cutting bit on a workpiece, comprising:

• a template holder adapted for use with the pantographic router;
• a template adapted for releasable attachment to said template holder;
• and
• a plurality of guide bearing stops adapted for adjustable attachment adjacent said template on said template holder, said template holder having measuring and locating indicia thereon for gauging positioning of said template, said plurality of guide bearing stops being adapted for use in setting limits of travel of the guide bearing in at least two directions of engagement along said template to limit the travel of the cutting bit relative to the workpiece, each guide bearing stop comprising:
• a frame member comprising a stop portion adapted for limiting travel of the guide bearing;
• each said frame member defining at least one hole adapted for receiving a releasable fastener for adjustably fastening said guide bearing stop to one of said template holder and said template;
• each said frame member further comprising cutting bit-related indicia thereon adapted for enabling accurate positioning of said stop portion of said frame member relative to the measuring indicia of said template holder adapted to limit travel of the cutting bit while the guide bearing is being manipulated along said template up to said stop portion according to a user selected cutting bit size and desired cut extent.

A method of setting adjustable stop locations for a cutting bit relative to a workpiece adapted for cutting differently-sized mortises using a template-guided pantograph-type router system having a cutting bit, a guide bearing, a template holder with measuring and locating indicia thereon, and a guide template, comprising the steps of:

• determining the length, width/thickness, and depth of the desired mortise cut;
• selecting, centering, and securing a workpiece relative to the router system;
• selecting and installing an appropriately-sized cutting bit to cut a desired thickness mortise;
• selecting and installing a guide template having a mortise cutting portion that is approximately twice the length of a largest-length desired mortise cut and that corresponds to the desired thickness of the mortise;
• and
• installing a plurality of stops by aligning bit size-related indicia on each of the stops with indicia on the template holder template for enabling reducing of mortise length constraints by enabling stopping of the cutting bit according to the selected bit size and a desired mortise length shorter than the possible largest-length mortise for the chosen template.