Precision Stopped Chamfers

Sometimes, routing a stopped edge profile is as simple as clamping a stopblock to the workpiece and routing up to it. But what do you do when the position of the stopped profile puts the stopblock off the end of the workpiece? The example shown here involves routing ¹⁄₄ " stopped chamfers on cabinet stiles. Here's how to solve this problem.

First, chuck a chamfer bit into your handheld router and adjust it to rout a ¹⁄₄ " chamfer. Then from ³⁄₄ "-thick medium-density fiberboard, particleboard, or plywood, build a pair of the router stops shown on the drawing at right. To find the stopblock setback indicated on the drawing, measure the distance from the bit to the edge of the router base, as shown in Photo A. Subtract 1-³⁄₄ " (the distance the chamfer stops from the end of the stile) from this measurement. The remainder is the setback. (On our router, the bit-to-edge distance is 2-³⁄₈ ". Subtracting 1-³⁄₄ " leaves ⁵⁄₈ ", so our stop setback is ⁵⁄₈ ".) Now, capture the stiles between the stops and rout the chamfers, as shown in Photo B. Start and stop routing with the router base against the stopblock, as shown in Photo C.