Sommerfeld's Tools For WoodEasy Set Up Jig Freud Bits

This Sommerfeld Easy Set-Up Jig for Freud bits just might be the biggest time saver I have ever purchased for the router table. This amazing tool is so versatile, and as the name implies, it is EASY to use. It even comes with a great "How To" DVD. Just spin the dial to match your stock thickness, choose the bit you are using and set the height.For those of you that have wrestled with a "Lock Miter Joint" bit, the set up can drive you insane, and after producing a mountain of waste, you may happen upon the right setting. That's great. You save a piece to use as a future template..................but the next time you use the bit, you realize that NOW your stock is a different thickness..................which renders your template useless. With the Sommerfeld Jig, there is no more trial and error. Perfect results every time.....................and it is FAST!This jig is easily worth five times the purchase price. AND..........................it works with EIGHT of the most commonly used bits.As woodworkers, we spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on router bits and I will confess that some of them have been so difficult to set up, I have mostly left them in the drawer. Not anymore. This jig opens up and simplifies the set up, allowing me to create great router based jointery. Perfectly. No trial and error. Fast.For me, this is a Must Have. Absolutely a Five Star rating.

I first encountered this Jig in a Sommerfeld catalog and video as built for their router bits. I went to Amazon to look into getting one and was very pleasantly surprised to find that they built one especially for Freud bits! I have many Freud Bits and was in the process of ordering one of their bits for glass panel doors (99-286) and, since this jig was built for those bits, among others, I ordered it too. Part of the 'set' part of this jig includes settings for whatever thickness of wood you're using for the project. Just dial in the thickness of the wood and then use the jig to set the height of the bit in the router table. I first tried it on the glass panel door bit set and found it to be super accurate for setting up to cut both the copes and sticks. I then used it on a 45 degree locking miter joint bit. Same result on the router table. A very accurate and tight locking miter joint for such things as stile corner joinery. I've had a Freud reverse glue joint bit ((99-031) for several years and could never get it set to make the joint come out correctly. This jig is also built for that bit, so I thought I give it a whirl! Eureka! The very first set-up made a perfectly fitting reverse glue joint! Simple, completely clear instructions are included.

Great for setting the router bit height. Only problem is it only works for 3/4 inch and up wood stock. There is no set up jig for 1/2 inch stock, you'll have to do that the old fashion way.

I have a large selection of Freud joiner bits. I bought the Infinity Tools miter bit gauge first because of its clever design. It has magnets to hold it to the cutting surface of the miter bit and two white marks. The horizontal mark is set to the center height of the stock and the vertical mark is for aligning the center of the stock with the fence. Infinity has a Youtube video to demonstrate this. But the Infinity Tools gauge is overpriced and only good for a single size miter bit. The Sommerfield Easy Set Up Jig works on 8 different styles of Freud bits and costs the same as one of the single purpose Infinity Tools gauges. The Sommerfield jig has 8 red arms. Each arm is shaped to look like a piece of stock that has gone through one of the eight different cutter heads. Before starting you need to put a caliper on the stock you are using and then dial that thickness into the Sommerfield unit. When you do this it raises the red mold to the required height. Then you place the red plastic mold on the work surface next to the cutter head and crank the head up or down until the plastic mold slips between the knife edges of the bit. The Infinity tool slips up and down the face of the bit and the alignment is not as precise. If you measured correctly with the Sommerfield jig the height of the bit will be very close to where it has to be for the stock you are using. That's because the Sommerfield tool fits snugly into the cutting face of the bit you are using. It doesn't slide au and down the way the Infinity Tools jig does. You will have to adjust the fence to get the correct reveal on the cutting edge. That can be done by finding the place on the bit that leaves the edge of your stock uncut. Then place a steel straight edge across the bit at that place and align the fence with the straight edge. I've used both, but I prefer the Sommerfield jig because I have a collection of Freud joiner bits. If you use Whiteside bits or some other quality brand Sommerfield makes jigs for them too,

I read the instructions. Watched the video. Used a very high quality digital micrometer to measure my lumber. Set the Jig to the measured size. Positioned the bit according to the jig (the bit was a lock miter), and in 3/4 inch stock the bit was over 1/8 inch off. When my test cuts were perfect, I put the jig back on and it said my stock was much thicker than it really was. I don't think this was operator error, I think the jig has a problem.