Routers and CNCs

Making signs is a fun project home or even as a business. It’s also a great gift idea. And there are a ton of applications such as address signs for homes, cabins, or businesses, signs for your workshop, for kid’s rooms, or to label public spaces. The Rockler Signmaker’s Template Kits are easy. The thing that makes using these templates so easy, is our Signmaking Wizard. You simply type in up to 20 characters of text and the wizard gives you the combination of templates you need to make your sign. And you can make more than just signs, we recently made these clocks with the 2-1/2” State Park Kit.

This clock project is fast and easy to make. It’s a perfect gift project because once you’re set up, you can make multiple clocks very efficiently. We used the Rockler Compact Router Ellipse and Circle Jig to cut the circle shape and the Rockler Signmaker’s Template Kit in the 2-1/2” State Park Font to form the numbers.

Making a clock is a fun project that doesn’t necessarily require a lot of tools. You can make the clock face out of just about any piece of lumber. All it needs is a hole for the clock mechanism to fit through. You can also be as creative as you like with the clock face. Keep it simple and clean with a clear finish and no numbers. Or, enhance it with applied numbers or techniques such as carving, painting or woodburning.

Are you considering getting started in the world of CNC projects? In this demo, we'll show you how the new affordable Shark SD100 from Next Wave Automation works. And, we'll make a nifty Mid Century Modern clock in the mix.

In this Rockler demonstration, we take a closer look at the versatile Convertible Router Table and how it can also be used as a benchtop spindle sander .

In this Rockler Saturday Demo Video we take a closer look at the popular Rockler Compact Router Ellipse and Circle Jig .

Whether you use a router made long before you were born, like the 1950s Stanley or one of the technologically advanced models built today, either machine can perform a range of essential woodworking tasks that can’t be bested by any other power tool. If you’re a woodworking novice, I’ll go so far as to say it should rank near the top of your “short list” of tools to buy first, even ahead of a table saw — routers are that useful.

Putting together your own cribbage board project is a good use of a lot of different workshop talents, and the end result can be almost as fun as making it. During those long, cold winters I spent growing up along the shores of Lake Vermilion in the far north of Minnesota, one of the ways that we wiled away the long dark evenings was playing cribbage.

To save a bit of money and get more use out of his workbench, the author constructed his own quick and easy router table. A router table doesn’t have to cost a fortune or weigh a ton to deliver professional results. My version’s 1" thick top doesn’t even require a cabinet base or legset. It simply clamps to my workbench. The project features an adjustable split fence with dust collection, plus a router lift made from ordinary home-center hardware. By removing three pairs of carriage bolts and wingnuts, I can remove the lift, router and fence easily for convenient storage.