# Attaching Plaques To Bases & Walls...And A Tea-Light Jig



## PeteG (11 Aug 2015)

I hope this helps a few folk but I have to say one of the machines isn't cheap. I bought it last year with other plans in mind which didn't happen and It's only in past couple of months I've been putting it to good use. I've been using a Festool Domino but no doubt the same could be achieved with a dowel or two.

I stacked a few sheets of 3mm ply under the plaque to get it level with what will be the base, and then used an engineers square drawing a line across base and plaque.
I draw straight on to the pattern and tape up so the pattern is protected from the Domino cutter. Then it's just a case of changing the cutting depth on the Domino for either cut.





I'm still working on the one above so here's one from earlier. Once glued up these are very strong.









Haven't decided what base to put this cross on yet, but you see the tenon on the pattern that you would originally cut on the scroll saw.
It might not suit every situation as you need at least 12mm depth of wood for this size of Domino.





I bought a set of router cutters last year which included a key hole cutter, again I hadn't used it until last week when I suddenly realised it would be great
for hanging plaques. Pop a screw in the wall or where ever the plaque is going, and with a key hole cutter, you can a very flush fitting plaque against the wall etc.
Saves fitting "D" rings and looks very neat and tidy. Another advantage which I thought of although haven't done it to prove it is, this might work off centre of the plaque
and the plaque will still hang correctly because the screw can be adjusted for a very tight fit as mentioned  





And finally a Tea-light jig, I feel a bit cheeky calling this a jig as it's as it's a piece of MDF with a hole in, although there is three  I don't like using Forstner bits for tea-lights, you get that little hole in the bottom and never get a nice fit. I measure the width of the glass holder at the depth I'm planning to have it, which is usually just above the metal candle holder, but this does depend on your thickness of wood.
I made the first jig with a single hole cut on the scroll saw and then cleaned it up on the bobbin sander and it worked really well. I put a "V" cutter in the router table and made a tiny cut top and bottom on the MDF making sure the same side ran against the fence. You can just about see this on the jig below. With a line drawn down the centre of the work piece it was very easy to line the jig up using the little "V" cut in the jig. You'll have to forgive the burn marks, but I'll come to them!

Once I was happy with my little jig, although it has to be big enough to be able to clamp it down, I would cut the first hole remove the clamps and repeat for each following hole. At this time I made the hole in the jig the same size as the hole to be cut and used a bearing guided cutter, and depending on the depth I might have to use two jigs stacked. Lately I've made several tea-light holders the same size, around a foot long using nice big chunky bits of oak, so to speed everything up, I now have a jig with three holes in it, once it's clamped down I can cut each hole in turn with out removing and re-clamping. I'm now using the guide bush on the router instead of a bearing guided cutter, and last week asked how to calculate the size of the hole I would require the jig, https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/how-to-calculate-jig-size-for-router-guide-bush-t90924.html 

Now to the burn marks. With cutting three holes in one jig I wasn't sure using the scroll saw that all three would be exact, so I looked to see what size holesaws were available in the Bosch range as I already had the arbor, and settled for the 70mm. Trying to remember how I did this now, I think I changed from a 10mm 1/4" shank to a 19mm 1/2" shank cutter, with a 30mm guide bush on the router inside a 70mm hole in the jig. Sounds about right, but I ended up with a near perfect fit for the top tea-lights in the image, and after changing routers and using a 10mm bearing guided cutter in the 70mm jig, I got a perfect fit for the large tea-light holders with the apple scented candles. But no matter how gentle I was using the holesaw, I ended up with nasty burn marks in the MDF. I'll make these again in a couple of weeks using some sheets of birch ply, once I get a replacement pillar drill!


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## beganasatree (11 Aug 2015)

Hi Pete,
I love the fancy glass holders are they expensive ??

Peter


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## DiscoStu (11 Aug 2015)

Nice info. Thanks for sharing.


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## PeteG (12 Aug 2015)

beganasatree":20ig1i8p said:


> Hi Pete,
> I love the fancy glass holders are they expensive ??
> 
> Peter



They are very nice glass holders and were quite expensive, between you and me beganasatree, they're 35 pence each in Ikea  



DiscoStu":20ig1i8p said:


> Nice info. Thanks for sharing.



You're very welcome Discostu


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## Claymore (12 Aug 2015)

Excellent Pete and as a newcomer to the router the info will come in handy! I only have a cheap basic one in my diy router table but have had some great fun testing the different bits.... I once bought a top of the range Trend router and turned it on once and nearly took my finger of and sold it on Ebay! frightened the life out of me lol but after watching many videos on using them on Youtube I decided to get another and give them another go and i feels a bit safer now but you still have to be careful with the pippers........ having use of one hand doesn't help but the table helps greatly and i'd recommend them to anyone now.
Cheers
Brian


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## PeteG (12 Aug 2015)

Hello Brian  I love using the router both table and freehand. I have the big Triton in the table and until last week I always used a Trend T5 1/4" freehand, I can't explain why but using the Trend always felt like the love was missing. A bit like someone making you a manky brew! Anyway, last week I bought the Dewalt 1/2", and loved that from the moment I switched it on.
If you get in to using a router more Brian it might be worth you looking at a Makita 3601B, it's designed for one handed use, here's a link to amazon but ignore the price,
you'll get a lot cheaper elsewhere. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-3601B-240V-0-5-inch-Router/dp/B00004YOD8


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## bodgerbaz (13 Aug 2015)

Very good article as usual Pete. Well written and a good explanation. Nice one.

Barry


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## PeteG (13 Aug 2015)

bodgerbaz":256i8215 said:


> Very good article as usual Pete. Well written and a good explanation. Nice one.
> 
> Barry



Appreciated Barrie  How's you new workshop coming along?


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## bodgerbaz (14 Aug 2015)

It's BarrY Pete and it's coming along very well ;-)

I'll post a few pictures now that I've given it a good dusting  

Barry


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