How to PROPERLY use a plunge router's depth gauge 

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3:53 I recently saw on another channel (Lincoln St) where he used an appropriate diameter drill bit to set the depth. I thought that was a pretty quick and clever way to do it, for those who don't have precision setup blocks!

Never thought about using my set up block on the stop. I like it.

In the short amount of time, I watch you your video's I learn so much more than reading the books or articles because most of the time I do not know What question to ask. I love where you discussed about Stop blocks and where to get them. Thank you looking forward to watching more of you to find out what questions to ask.

As always, clear and concise delivery of techniques beyond what we thought we knew. Keep 'em coming!

I've been using power tools for over 50 years. I learned a couple new tricks here. Thanks.

As a newbie, this video was super helpful!

Always a great teacher. The best woodworking instruction on the Internet.

You have GREATLY expanded the use I've been putting to this stop mechanism. THANK-YOU.

I am brand new at wood working. Your tip on using the hinge placed between depth rod and stop as a measurement guide... so freaking simple but brilliant. Thank you!

Another excellent video that has informed me about the PC plunge router that I bought in 1990!! I thought I was so smart!

There is barely a video here that I don't learn something new from - thank you for this channel.

I love it when someone knows what they are talking about! I started using your channel for extra help for interns. Sometimes they want to know something from me after the internship. You come in very handy.

Thank you. I was one of probably many who didn't think of the full benefit of the step stops. Now I am a little wiser.

You just blew my mind with the hinge. Excellent video, sir.

Great explanation of this underutilized and usually poorly explained feature. I never had it explained to me well until now. Thanks James!

I watched another of your videos that showed off the universal gauge from Bridge City. I don’t have a wood shop or anything like. But I do like to do little DYI projects. I also like to collect tools that look as much like a piece of art as a practical tool. And that this hits those marks in spades. So, despite not “needing” it, I pulled the trigger and ordered the lefty version. Thanks for introducing me to such a gorgeous tool!

Fantastic, thank you! I bought a router with a fixed and plunge mounting last year as i knew it would come in handy, but had no idea how to use its features properly.

I have always been aware of the depth stop turret but this tutorial showed me several good ways to set it up. 👍👍 Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂

I’m amazed how many woodworkers I’ve come across that try to set the depth by moving the router up and down instead of utilizing the depth stop. Great information.

Wow James you wrapped this important topic up like a Christmas present for us with a big red bow on top.

That looks like a Pentel Graphgear 1000. I got myself one about 6 months ago and I love it. :) My router had a plastic depth stop. After watching this vid I swapped it out for a bit of carbon fiber rod that I had. Big improvement indeed. :)

These tips are awesome - especially using an object to set to its depth. Also the "staircase" is fantastic.

Informative video. What you point out with regards to a plunge router and using all of its features is true of a lot of tools in the shop. Learning the features is so important.

As always, quick, to the point but packed with good info!

I rely heavily on my depth stop. I am able to get consistent mortises over and over without ever having to think about it. It is so nice not having to sit there, turning it upside down and trying to push the plunge down to measure with a ruler. I even have my own custom setup block thing made for other depths I commonly use that aren't in 1/8in increments. The depths are cut down into some glued up MDF so that I can just plunge in, instead of pushing the based down when it is flipped up. No measuring required. It's a one and done.

My first router was a plunge type and I soon got used to using the stepped stops, but I always thought it was the 'poor cousin' compared to the fixed base ones. I now have both types but thanks for confirming that the plunge router is not an inferior tool but rather a valid and valued member of the team.

Almost come across ya before I get notified. Always gotta hit like and say your my boy blue lol. Another great video and tip!

Brilliant video James. As i have said before I'm just getting into using a router so videos like this are invaluable for me. Thank you so much. Take care James. Cheers, Huw

Excellent tips James, never thought of using the depth stop that way !

Great video. So glad I found your channel.

Wow... I've never really been all that good with plunging. Thanks for this lesson.

You always teach me something! Thanks, James!

A very informative vid on a little understood feature of the router. Thanks

Your videos are always informative and to the point. I like them. Thanks for making great videos. 👍

Thanks for sharing this again with us. It's been a while since I've used my routers but this will come in handy when I do again. Fred.

I love the plugs router and depth stop! as always great informative video

Thanks for the great tips, love your content, keep up the good work!

Another great lesson! Thanks Professor Hamilton!

Brilliant vlog thanks for sharing 👍

I have the Bosch 1600CE which is one of my favourite tools. I originally bought it with both fixed and plunge bases intending to use the fixed base to table mount the router because it has an above table adjustment feature, but it really didn't work out. So when the Triton TRA1000 eventually became available again (after about nine months for the 240V version) I bought one of those and keep the Bosch for hand held use with the plunge base. The Bosch has an accurate and reliable micro adjuster which is calibrated in Imperial _and_ metric. That is a killer feature and I love it. I broke a 1/2 inch spiral carbide bit a while back when a Porter Cable brass guide busing came loose while cutting a deep mortise. I was not happy, but bit the bullet and bought another one. I eventually threw away the broken bit (inside its plastic tube) while having a big tidy up. A while later, I realised, I could not find the new spiral bit, and suspected I'd thrown away the good one by mistake - remember it was in its plastic tube, and my aging eyes are not flash. This was an NZ$295 purchase and I was sick to my stomach. I looked everywhere, but that bit was gone! I eventually had a rare moment of lucidity, and sure enough, the good bit was still in the Bosch router. I never use the brass guide bushings now, preferring the Bosch item that clips into place and never comes loose. You have given me one idea James. Watching this I thought about the Kreg router set up bars that I got as a freebe (long story). Fortunately I can work in both metric and Imperial. ;-)

Well, I learned a few things that'll make my woodworking life easier, great tips for a newb like myself!

I once used my plunge router to do adjustable shelves. I made a template with the spacing at 1” and a series of holes set to match my router guide template. I cut the jig in half and ran the router from notch to notch plunging my shelf pin holes, using the depth stop of course.

Thanks! Very informative.

Fantastic tips, James! Thanks a bunch! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Who else buy Stumpy Nubs? Thanks once again Legend...

Wow I learned a lot from this video👍

Excellent video! Thanks!

Nice video. Keep em coming.

I recently finished welding up a router sled as I have access to loads of wood. However my in-depth knowledge of routers is apparently lacking, big time! Many thanks, great video as always.

Very helpful video.

Brilliant tips, thanks.

Great stuff. Awesome as always.

Great tip! Thx.

Nearly became **unhinged** with one of these genius tips! Thank you!

Excellent video. Thank you.

i use my depth stop, because i dont have a planer, but i built a jig to use my router with a 2" surfacing bit. works like a charm and i can plane stuff as wide as two feet.

That's a first, I actually knew these tips. Probably never happen again, so I'll keep on watching.

Thanks for the time saving tips James! -CY Castor

Another great informative video

Love your work 👍

Great tips! I recently saw a video on the use of the depth gauge for sinking hinges etc. and was slightly shocked that using the depth gauge itself seemed like a tip. I think many tools have clever bits that can be leveraged in awesome ways, but we overlook them. I suspect they just become part of the tools “landscape” and lots of people don’t actually look at tool manuals! The truly comic moment of one of them turning to look to stage left and ask, “what’s this thing called?” was hysterical. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from a “tool snob” but it just seemed funny in the midst of a tip video on the object itself. :D

another great video

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

Great advice. Thanks.

Those are great features!

Excellent advice as always. Would LOVE to see some actual projects soon tho...

When I need a very precise depth I use an Allen wrench. 1/32” up to 3/8” I have quite an array of them. Great video.

Thank you!!!

Fantastic!

The part about the hinge is very clever.

Thanks.

I wish I had seen this 4 years ago. I converted an otherwise useless “master bedroom“ closet into a built in bookcase for our family collection of board games. I built the shelves about 18 inches apart, but the shelves were quite deep, more than 30 inches. This meant I needed vertical shelf supports in two rows straddling the center. But such shelf supports would have prevented me from accessing the deep corners. The opening of the bookcase was 4 feet but the shelves were 8 feet wide. To reach those remote corners I needed movable vertical shelf supports. I made quite a few of them, each 2 inches wide 30 inches deep and 18 inches high. They had washable wool glued to the top and bottom edges so that I could grab the movable shelf supports and slide them aside when I wanted to put something large in the corner. But I needed to be able to grip them, and I had an awful time trying to figure out how to place a row of finger grooves on either side of the shelf supports at finger depth. I finally settled on using a router, not a plunge router, and placing a stop at the beginning and the edge of where I wanted to start and stop. I had no experience with routers, and no router table. Basically I waved the spinning blade around in the air, plunged it slightly into the board and slid it across until it hit the other stop. No surprise some came out better than others. I now see that a plunge router would’ve made this much easier. So would a router table, which I have been trying to buy for more than two years. With all the shipping delays and parts coming from overseas, the router table company has not had a router table available for sale for two whole years. Someday!

Top notch!

That hinge depth trick is damn good

drill bits work just as well as set-up gauges for router set-up. when marking hinges. Score the first side o the hinge. Slide the hinge over the first score line and make the second score line. This will give you a press fit for hinge which is essential for a hinge a mechanical lock in the wood.

Thanks!

Still the best educational and easy to follow channel for woodworkers, but as a retired hobby wood player bridge city is way over my budget and more for highly skilled carpenters. Plus I ain’t selling my motorbike to buy more tools lol

FASCINATING AND INFORMATIVE... and I don't even own a plunge router....

Yes my st Charles friend! Use this often….

Bravo.

I have a set of the Whiteside brass setup blocks, and I like them. I used to use them a lot. However, I am converting to metric and I bought a set of those "blue" metric gauges.

It's only relatively recently that I saw a fixed based router "in the flesh". They were the things in magazines that Americans use. The advent of kits containing both types of base Has changed that. I find I use the fixed base far more than I thought I might and as you demonstrate, more North Americans can exploit the features a plunging router offers.

More good info.

New love these vdo

Thank u sir

NIce one.

2:54 - In the aerospace biz, this was known as a roughing pass and a finish pass when milling centrifugal compressor blades. When cutting titanium this produces less tool deflection on the finish pass and a better conformity to the desired blade shape.

Love your channel man, and I'm from Europe :-D Nice tips, overall, plain language, and great recommendations. Taytools is a naugty naughty site ;-) Europe in general, well, our "neigbourhood" at least, is s*ite when it comes to a LOT of tools. Even if you find them, it's expensive as hell. For instance, I've yet to find a place to buy some concrete finishing hand tools. Yes, i know how to search the web, but i'm talking physical HW stores. Anyhooo, keep it up Stumpy!

Wish they still made those porter cable tools

I feel like you were calling me out even though you do not know me of course! I admit that i am not great with my plunge router. I don't know how to use the template inserts either, but you probably have a video already. I think I'll go search for it ...

Very good. Makes me want to dig my plunge router out and make something. All I need is a workshop.. ;-)

agreed

Do you have a mentor or some advisors, or do you create all this wonderful content by yourself?

And here I thought this was going to be a video about WIFI routers....

Thanks for your videos. Often the little things are unpayable. As your tip using the hinge itself for depth setting. Doing it with a ruler (as i used to until now) is so much more unacurate.

Another great video and great advice with regards the depth gauge. Used a router for many years and a great tip is to use a deck of playing cards. Micro measurements with adding and taking away a card at a time works fantastic with the router. And a plastic coating deck of cards will last a lifetime. Just my own little tip 👍

HEY Stumpy! I just thought of an idea if you're still curating contents... "Incident of Cut"... from roughing in to polishing, this is my "go-to" principle for deciding how I plan to shape much of anything... Basically the smaller the "incident of cut" the smoother the finished result and (generally) the more precise... It's a larger incident that caused coarse sand paper to have a rougher finish than a well tuned plane, though the plane has a single beveled blade, and the sand-paper has lots of minuscule granules doing the cutting... By the same token, 1000 grit sandpaper has a smaller incident of cut than 100 or 120 grit... and so on... It's a fairly simple principle I've employed in choosing not only the tool for a given job, but the particular blade or grit in a set for the step at hand... Say I "rough in" or as some call it, "break down stock" with a chain saw. Nobody cares about the tear-out, in our example, since it can all be "wasted away"... SO we get stock that's more manageable. SO a circular saw or table saw (also circular blade)... can be used to reach the next stage of "product"... with a fair degree of precision... even within 1/32 inch... or narrower, depending on the craftsman. AND finally we can sand away or plane the polished shine out and finish within even 1/1000th of an inch... if we have dependable hands (of course). It's probably worth saying somewhere that a good craftsman isn't so much the precision he or she CAN achieve... BUT the reliability with which he or she DOES achieve that precision... Cut within a degree 1 in 100 times... and you've achieved precision... cut within that degree 999 times out of 1000, and you're THAT degree of a craftsman. OR maybe as we say it in motorcycle riding. "Keep practicing until it's physically difficult to screw it up." ;o)

I have several routers of both types but have wondered for years if there are any advantages of a fixed base router over a plunge router.

When making a plunge cut, like you demonstrated around the 1 minute mark, does the direction of cut matter? I wondered if it did, given that the bit is completely surrounded vs climbing or pulling into an open side of a piece of wood.