Thread: Another micro-adjustable box-joint jig

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

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

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.

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

Originally Posted by 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,

Originally Posted by Rocker

[email protected]; otherwise, I shall ignore the request.

Rocker

rchlyosi,

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

Rocker

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

THANKS

Originally Posted by 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, [email protected]; otherwise, I shall ignore the request.

Rocker

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

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

Thanks so much

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

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

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

Ahmet,

Read my post of 21st March.

Rocker