Another micro-adjustable box-joint jig

[Rocker]

I was not happy with the results I obtained from the box-joint jig that I described in my previous post, which was made from a design sold by Shopnotes. That jig had two problems; its precision depended on the snugness of the fit of my mitre gauge's bar in the table saw's slot; another source of inaccuracy was the fact that the unsupported L-shaped bracket that formed half of the adjustable index pin was prone to flexing, thus introducing further inaccuracy. As a result, I decided to design a jig which would eliminate these sources of imprecision. My jig is based on a miniature crosscut sled, and it features a solid, but interchangeable, index pin, instead of an adjustable one.

The adjustment system incorporates a dial gauge, so that the fine-tuning of the jig's adjustment is quick and easy; it is possible to achieve perfect adjustment of the jig in a couple of minutes.

I have written an article on the jig, which I hope to get published, so I am not giving full details of the jig here, but I will be happy to send any interested member a copy of the article, if they PM me giving their e-mail address.

Rocker

[derekcohen]

My jig is based on a miniature crosscut sled, and it features a solid, but interchangeable, index pin, instead of an adjustable one.

Rocker

Now that is a much better idea than the original adjustable jig! Excellent lateral thinking! Good luck with the effort to get it published. I'm sure you won't have any difficulty in that department.

The pic looks like it is set up for a tablesaw blade (rather than a dado blade). This would be a much less efficient way to go, if so. Having used a dado blade to form fingers before, my feeling is that the best blade to use for finger cutting is, in fact, a router bit. Admittedly, however, my dado blade set up is the cheap Chinese version (purchased from the USA through eBay) and I needed to clean up the ends (with a chisel) ever so slightly. I have no doubt that your set up could be very easily transfered to a router table.

Regards from Perth

Derek

p.s. here is a rocking crib I built a year ago for a friends baby using a 1/2" fixed finger jig on the tablesaw. I attempted to upload it on Friday (to the other finger joint thread but it would not work. This is more of a "test" than anything.

[Rocker]

Derek,
Actually, the index pin fitted to the jig in the picture I posted is made of two pieces of 1/8" brass bar epoxied together, which give a total thickness of 2.54 mm. This precisely matches the width of the dado cut by the two dado blades plus a thin plastic shim from my set, without any chippers. I am making another index pin board, using two pieces of 6 mm aluminium bar stock epoxied together, giving a total width of 12.15 mm. Again, I can match this width precisely by adding chippers and shims to the dado blades. Probably two alternative pin sizes are all that are needed, so making the index pin width infinitely variable, as in the Shopnotes jig, is a waste of time.

If the jig were adapted for use on a router table, it would have to have just a single runner, rather than the twin runners on my jig, so it might lose some precision due to the extra sloppiness that a single runner would entail. However, one could probably minimise the sloppiness factor by making the single runner for the router-table slot out of polythene, cut from a kitchen cutting board and embedded in a dado in the jig base.

However, I am very happy with the performance of my jig designed for the table saw. The trial joints that I cut with it fitted perfectly without the need for any paring; and achieving the optimal adjustment of the jig is quick and easy.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Rod in Ontario,
Please read your Private Messages; I can't send you details of the jig until I know your e-mail address.

Rocker

[bitingmidge]

Rocker,

Where do you source you knurled knobs, tee handles and dial gauges?

I assume you only have one gauge and swap it between jigs....or do you?

Cheers,

P

[Rocker]

Bitingmidge,

The knurled brass knob was very generously given to me by Rodm, who I think liked my morticing jig. However, a wingnut and locking nut work just as well, but don't look as neat. I got the dial gauge from an Engineer's supplies shop in Caboolture, but there are probably similar places on the Sunshine coast (look in the Yellow pages under that heading). Tee-nuts and knobs with bolt extensions can be found at Bunnings.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Sheesh. How many more people are going to message me requesting a copy of the article on this jig without giving me their e-mail address. I have had three such requests in the past couple of days. So, if you want a copy of the article, GIVE YER FREAKING E-MAIL ADDRESS; otherwise, I shall ignore the request.

Rocker

[Bob Willson]

Also try the Sunday Markets for cheap dial gauges.


PS I bought a bunch of knobs from America as they were considerably cheaper than here.

[Ivan in Oz]

Sheesh. How many more people are going to message me requesting a copy of the article on this jig without giving me their e-mail address. So, if you want a copy of the article
GIVE YER FREAKING E-MAIL ADDRESS[/SIZE
Rocker

G'day Rocker,

I've just found this from a link you put in elsewhere.
Is the offer still available?

I'm making up some Do-Dads and the like to:-
Get my hand and eye back in
Have the Jigs [ and Do-Dads ] available when I require them.

Best eMail for me is at work where I can open, print and Bind what comes through.

[email protected]

Thanks,
Count

PS do you have other than your Rocker Chair for sale?

[Rocker]

Ivan,

I have e-mailed you the box-joint jig article.

The only item I sell is my rocker plans and instructions on CD, as per my website. I could be persuaded to make a rocker for sale, if the price were right, but, in view of the amount of work involved, I have to charge a hefty price. I am currently making an armless rocker. Well, arms can get in the way sometimes :D

Rocker

[Caliban]

Ivan,

I am currently making an armless rocker. Well, arms can get in the way sometimes :D

Rocker

David
You are a rude man, Darren tells me you have made a house full of really nice furniture and he was very jealous. Surely you can find a piece of furniture more suited to your amorous tendencies than an armed rocker, or is that an indirect boast. :D
Jim
ps could I have a copy of the article as well, I might try making a "love seat" too. :p Will pm you my email address, even though you already have(or had) it.

[Rocker]

Jim,

The aforementioned rocker is not for me. As you must surely realize, a man of my advanced years, and obvious gravitas, would not be likely to find much use for it :)

Rocker

[Caliban]

David
Sorry to cast aspersions on your motives, didn't realise it was for someone else.
It was meant to be an "(h)armless" comment :p

[Rocker]

Hmm; I have just noticed an error in my post #3; 2.54 mm should read 6.54 mm.

Rocker

[eightbit]

I'd love a copy of the box joint jig plans. Please mail to tim"AT"hower.us

Thanks

Yes I recently received your mortising jig plans and haven't built it yet. But I've thought about it alot. :D

[eightbit]

Thanks for the emailed plans. I really like this idea, especially the double slider part, and will hopefully be building it this weekend.

Is there a problem with cutting the mating peices at the same time? Wouldn't that cut in half the number of cuts you have to make and guarentee the correct spacing since any accumalated error would be the same in both peices?

Yes I have more time to read stuff on the internet and ask questions than I do to actually woodwork. I rather go out to the shop and try this stuff but alas I am stuck here in front of this keyboard.

[Rocker]

Eightbit,

I shall be building a new, simplified version of my jig today, and re-writing the article on it; I will keep your suggestion in mind. I sold the article as it stands to American Woodworker over a year ago, but don't know whether they have published it. I will try and publish the re-written article here in Oz.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Here are some pics of the modified box-joint jig, i.e. without the dial gauge, and fitted with an 18 mm index-pin board. The index pin is made from three pieces of 6 x 25 aluminium bar glued together with epoxy. The rear view of the jig shows the micro-adjustment system and the butterfly nuts (attached to carriage bolts), which lock the slider-board in position.

I made a minor error in constructing the jig. The grain in the tapped block that is attached to the slider board should run vertically, rather than horizontally, so that the screw which secures it to the slider board would be biting into side grain rather than end-grain, and the glue would be glueing long grain rather than end-grain.

Rocker

[boban]

Eightbit's idea about doing two boards at once makes sense. I suppose you would need to extend the index pin a bit so that both boards would fit on.

[Rocker]

Boban,

You are right that it would be necessary to have a longer index pin. I must admit that, until your post, I had misunderstood Eightbit's suggestion; I had thought he was referring to cutting matching holes in the slider board and index-pin board.

Since I have already made all the index-pin boards I need, I think I shall just stick with cutting one board at a time. It is pretty quick to make the cuts anyway. I don't think it would necessarily cut down error. I find that if the index-pin to blade distance is carefully measured, there is no significant error, and the joints always fit perfectly. This assumes, of course, that the jig's runners fit the mitre slots well enough to ensure that there is no play.

Rocker

[rchlyosi]

Sheesh. How many more people are going to message me requesting a copy of the article on this jig without giving me their e-mail address. I have had three such requests in the past couple of days. So, if you want a copy of the article, [email protected] ([email protected]); otherwise, I shall ignore the request.

Rocker

[Rocker]

rchlyosi,

The article is now available online at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_23cstzv4

Rocker

[firstmillionair]

This is a really cool jig. If it works like it looks, it must be a dream.
Thanks for the info.
Best Keno

[rchlyosi]

THANKS


Sheesh. How many more people are going to message me requesting a copy of the article on this jig without giving me their e-mail address. I have had three such requests in the past couple of days. So, if you want a copy of the article, [email protected]; otherwise, I shall ignore the request.

Rocker

[pfred1]

Eightbit's idea about doing two boards at once makes sense. I suppose you would need to extend the index pin a bit so that both boards would fit on.

Two boards? How about 4 boards? My boxes always seem to have 4 sides to them. I clamp them together with Vise Grip swivel pad C clamps. When I box joint I make runs of 8 or 12 boxes at a time. The less of that back and forth, well the sooner I am done. The real trick is in how you number the sides before you start jointing. The more you stack up, the more you back up, and the less tear out you get.

BTW, I make homemade jigs to do my joints too, but they simply consist of a finger glued and screwed to a board that I screw to my Miter slide. I use a wobble dado blade, and just dial in the dado setting with scraps before I do a run.

I operate on the KISS theory here (Keep It Simple Stupid). I do 1/4" joints for thin sided boxes, and 1/2" for bigger, thick sided boxes. I have those settings penciled in on my wobble dado blade. Yeah, I've made a few box jointed boxes ... a couple hundred now.

I really should make a gang saw one of these days.

For anyone interested in how I make my jigs, this is how I do it. Setup dado for a cut. Mount backing board to miter slide. Rip cut. Remove board from miter. Measure dado width cut over to the right of cut. Dado same width past that out and install finger.

If a picture is worth 1000 words lets see if I can attach one to this post. Oh yeah, I paint my jigs red so I can find them. Sometimes I still can't, but it helps.

[benjaminfporter]

I am quite impressed with your box joint jig. I would love to get the plans. Please mail to ********@*****.***

Thanks so much :)

[Rocker]

Benjamin, you can download the plans from my blog; click on the link below my signature. By the way, it is unwise to post your e-mail address online. You may be inundated with spam.

Rocker

[benjaminfporter]

Thanks a million! As you can see I edited my email address to asterisks now. Thanks for the pointer.

[Ahmet Yahya]

Hi Rocker
I came across your post about box joint jig.I would love to have the copy of the plans. [email protected] Thanks a lot.
Ahmet

[Rocker]

Ahmet,

Read my post of 21st March.

Rocker

[Ahmet Yahya]

Dear Rocker

I could not find your post dated 21st March. Please dont ask how am I going to built a jig since I can't find a post, cause I don't have an answer.:-

[snowyskiesau]

Dear Rocker

I could not find your post dated 21st March. Please dont ask how am I going to built a jig since I can't find a post, cause I don't have an answer.:-

It's in this same thread, post #27

If you're still have difficulty finding it, the link it refers to is here (http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgdcspjt_23cstzv4).