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I've not used collar guides but needed a set to work with the jig I built to cut the tail graft cavity. Since I wanted to make progress over Memorial Day weekend, I looked locally and found a set of collar guides made by MilesCraft at Lowes. The set had a universal base and the collar guides twist and lock into the new base. It was all they had so I bought it......but I wondered how well the plastic collar guides would hold up.

Turns out, they don't hold up. The side of the plastic collar guide chipped off and I cut a swath out of the edge of my new jig......which also cut the channel in my tail graft too wide. Luckily, it was roughly 1/16" or so.......salvageable, but too wide for my existing ivaroid tail graft. John Hall is getting me some Ivaroid material where I can make a new tail graft a little wider.

So what collar guides do you use? What should I avoid? Should I go with a brass set (the way I'm leaning now). I have a Bosch 1613EVS router and a Porter Cable 310 trim router.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

PC's are the industry std size (1 3/16) .. even Bosch makes a base adapter to accept PC guides on their stuff .... I have some PC steel guides, as well as a host of brass ones, both stock and custom milled to different diameters by a friend .... try Lee Valley or similar places, should be easy to get, about 40 bucks for full boxed set

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I've got the steel PC kind too and they have worked fine. Be aware though that this is not a precision tool. Unless your base is perfectly mounted, the bit will never end up perfectly centered in the collar. And on some routers, it can change every time you adjust the depth of cut. It's not a problem for most applications but it's good to be aware of.

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Now you tell me Kent! Learned that the hard way....

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Rob

on pc 7310, make sure to tighten things up first. You'll mess your pants if you don't.

I use the Woodcraft ones also. I think they are called Green River or something like that. I'm sure they are made in China but the quality, fit and finish is pretty good.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

I have been using a great set of brass Freud's for 25-30 years. They fit all my different brands of routers.

Bob

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... uter+guide I have 2 of these and found them to work well. I don't often use HF stuff but this did the job

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

You may also want to see this thread I started about using guides: viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=27079&hilit=bushing+guide

I also ordered this base plate, which came with a centering pin: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200485 ... g-Pin.aspx

I used to do the dovetails for a cabinet shop using a PC dovetail jig and the collars, I like to use channel locks to snug up the collar, and then would run the router through the jig, turn it 180 degrees and run it back through, that seemed to deal with the out of center issue. Otherwise you can mark the router base and attempt to keep the router in the same orientation during the cut. I did find that I could get the collar to bit acceptably close to centered with a bit of attention.
Rob

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