Guide for workbench

1. Apparatus for cutting stock on a working surface by means of a router, said apparatus including a fence movable across and relative to said working surface; a guide having a base, a rotary element mounted on and rotatable relative to said base and having a backing block for supporting said stock, said backing block and an adjacent area of said fence defining confining walls adapted to contact said stock as said stock is cut by said router, said confining wall of said supporting block hindering unintended movement of said stock caused by rotation of said router, a guide rod mounted to said fence and to which said guide is slidably and rotatably mounted such that said base is movable relative to said working surface, said guide rod being arranged and constructed to steer said base in a direction, first toward said router with resulting movement of stock supported by said backing block toward and into contact with said router, and secondly, further in the same direction with resulting further movement of said stock in order to cut said stock, the length of said cut corresponding to the length of further movement of said stock.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guide rod is movable relative to said working surface, and means for releasably preventing said guide rod from moving.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further including means for releasably preventing said rotary element from rotating relative to said base.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further including a slider having a sliding tube provided with an internal passageway in which said guide rod is received, said base being connected to said slider.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said slider is pivotal relative to said guide rod such that said base can be swung away from said working surface when said backing block is not required to support said stock.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said backing block is releasably slidable relative to said rotary element.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rotary element is no lower than said base and said base has a lower wall which is spaced above said working surface.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rotary element has a scale for measuring the angle of the rotary element relative to a given line of reference.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 further including a movable stop for limiting the length of travel of said slider.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rotary element is provided with a detent which causes said rotary element to move in predetermined increments as it rotates.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10 further including means for disengaging said detent.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said base has a scale to permit fine adjustment of said rotary element.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said detent comprises a ball biased by resilient means into contact with said rotary element, said rotary element having a plurality of openings, each of which being adapted to receive said ball, said ball when received in any one of said openings serving to inhibit the rotation of said rotary element relative to base.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further including a plate pivotal from a detent-disengaging position in which said plate prevents said ball from entering said openings to a detent-disengaging position in which said ball is free to enter said openings.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 further including a stop on each side of said plate for limiting the extent of pivoting of said plate.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 further including means for altering the angle of said fence on said working surface.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said router is within said working surface.