Rocker
3rd July 2004, 11:43 AM
The good news was that my posting on my original precision morticing jig, see
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=5633
has had over 3300 hits; the less good news was that only about fifty members actually went on to request the plans. The original jig is designed for professionals and enthusiaiastic amateur furniture makers who envisage cutting hundreds of mortices with it over its lifetime, and who are therefore willing to spend the eight or ten hours it takes to make it in order to save the hundreds, or thousands of dollars that they would need to spend to buy a commercially-made jig that would produce comparable results.
I decided therefore to design a simpler version of the jig that can be made in an hour or so, which will yield pretty good results, but not the extreme precision of the original jig. The lite version will suit members who wish to cut one or two dozen mortices, for whom the original precision jig would be overkill.
Like the original, the lite version has a horizontal platform with a window, and a vertical support against which the workpiece is clamped. It also has stops (of a simpler design) to limit the travel of the router. But it lacks a micro-adjustable fence, using instead the router's edge-guide. The stops are made out of two pieces of 18 mm MDF glued together at right angles to one another. One of the pieces on each stop forms a cleat that runs against the edge of the platform. The stops are positioned by means of scales glued to the platform.
In the next few days I shall be drawing plans and writing a description of how to build and use the lite version of the jig. Members who are interested in getting a copy can PM me, giving their e-mail address, and I will send them a copy in due course.
Rocker
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=5633
has had over 3300 hits; the less good news was that only about fifty members actually went on to request the plans. The original jig is designed for professionals and enthusiaiastic amateur furniture makers who envisage cutting hundreds of mortices with it over its lifetime, and who are therefore willing to spend the eight or ten hours it takes to make it in order to save the hundreds, or thousands of dollars that they would need to spend to buy a commercially-made jig that would produce comparable results.
I decided therefore to design a simpler version of the jig that can be made in an hour or so, which will yield pretty good results, but not the extreme precision of the original jig. The lite version will suit members who wish to cut one or two dozen mortices, for whom the original precision jig would be overkill.
Like the original, the lite version has a horizontal platform with a window, and a vertical support against which the workpiece is clamped. It also has stops (of a simpler design) to limit the travel of the router. But it lacks a micro-adjustable fence, using instead the router's edge-guide. The stops are made out of two pieces of 18 mm MDF glued together at right angles to one another. One of the pieces on each stop forms a cleat that runs against the edge of the platform. The stops are positioned by means of scales glued to the platform.
In the next few days I shall be drawing plans and writing a description of how to build and use the lite version of the jig. Members who are interested in getting a copy can PM me, giving their e-mail address, and I will send them a copy in due course.
Rocker