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View Full Version : Designing my own mortise Jig...



missionaryman
5th January 2009, 12:31 AM
I know there are hundreds of different mortise jigs about between home made and shop built but I dont like any of them.

The good ones (Leigh FMT and a few others like Mortise Pal) are too expensive and the shop built ones seem either too fiddly to make or too fiddly to use or too limiting in their use.

I've come up with an initial design for a mortise jig that works on table-saw mounted routers using the table-saw fence. I figured this method will be quick and square and safe.

I'm designing wit loose tenon joinery in mind and my project at the moment is a loft bed that needs 4x3 Blackbutt M&T joined to 4x4 blackbutt for the main frame and then there are millions of slats to be mortised into the rails
SO
I want to be able to safely support 1.3m 4x4 hardwood posts on their ends and mortise them and be able to make smaller mortises for the 42x19 slats all using the one jig.

I'll post my sketches and details in the next post as this one is getting too busy.

missionaryman
5th January 2009, 01:03 AM
The jig sits over the top of the ripping fence and slides along its plane to make the mortise slots, it has a pair of stop blocks mounted to the fence using the T-Slot & t-slot bolts.
There is a backward/forward reading tape adhered to the front bottom edge of the jig, use this to set the the stop block positions from the scribe line on the router table which indicates the cutter's centre position, use the other axes scribe line on the table to measure distance from the cutter

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/MortiseJig1-1.jpg

The centre of the jig fence is 210mm high and reinforced to allow clamping for longer pieces up high so they stay straight, there is plenty of supports screwed to the jig to keep it rigid and square and it's to be made from 19mm MDF

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/MortiseJig2.jpg

All work pieces are simply clamped on, I'm trying to keep costs down but if I want it to be a bit more user friendly I could recess some t-tracks in and use t-track hold down clamps

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/MortiseJig3.jpg

I'd appreciate people's thoughts and criticisms, it's not built yet it's just a concept - I have replicated the idea using the fence and blocks clamped in the right places and it worked well.

I don't have a router lift but plan on using the Triton router which has a very good height adjustment feature, in my test mule set up this was what I used and it worked well - also had very efficient dust extraction using the machines in-built system.

artme
6th January 2009, 07:52 PM
To me that is a neat and cunningly simple design.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Hooking the Jig over the fence will help immensely with stability and accuracy. The fact that you can use stops on your fence is an added bonus.

Rocker
6th January 2009, 08:15 PM
I would comment that that jig doesn't utilize the router's plunging feature and is not micro-adjustable. You might like to download free plans for a micro-adjustable morticing jig here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7k0ihwm2ymd

Rocker

Template Tom
6th January 2009, 09:41 PM
A lot of effort has gone into designing the jig.
I have one question to ask, Why is that so many router users seem to think that all the routing processes are to be done with the router in the router table, there is a simplier jig that can be made, when using the router in the plunge mode with the aid of the template guides.

Tom

missionaryman
8th January 2009, 07:22 AM
A lot of effort has gone into designing the jig.
I have one question to ask, Why is that so many router users seem to think that all the routing processes are to be done with the router in the router table, there is a simplier jig that can be made, when using the router in the plunge mode with the aid of the template guides.

Tom

What if I only had one router and didn't want to take it out of the table and change all my setting every time I wanted to cut a mortise?

What if I wanted to cut a mortise 300mm long for a reinforced face glued joint - I would need to make a jig with 300mm of router movement built into it?

What if I needed to re-make a mortise on an assembled piece of furniture that I was repairing that's a long way away from the fence? This way I can use the whole table-saw bed for support.

I also mentioned that I'm making a bed so I need to cut mortises into the ends of long rails so in order to use a free-standing router jig I would have to either clamp the jig to the timber 1500mm off the ground and stand on a step stool or use the router vertically and clamp the piece horizontally.

missionaryman
8th January 2009, 07:25 AM
I would comment that that jig doesn't utilize the router's plunging feature and is not micro-adjustable. You might like to download free plans for a micro-adjustable morticing jig here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7k0ihwm2ymd

Rocker

Thanks Rocker - I've looked at that jig before and like so many shop made mortise jigs you need a very expensive dial guage and a master's degree to build it.

My jig has micro adjustment in one plane because my table saw fence is micro adjustable and I actually plunge the bit in from underneath using the Triton router's rack & pinion plunge action, without a Triton router this jig is not much good

Rocker
8th January 2009, 07:45 AM
Missionaryman,

Actually the dial gauge is not an essential feature of my jig; you can achieve the same accuracy by measuring the movement of the jig's fence with a caliper. I did in fact use my jig to rout mortices in bed rails by clamping the jig to the rail, clamping the rail vertically in a vice, and then standing on my workbench to rout the mortice - easy peasy. My jig takes about a day to make, but, if you intend routing a lot of mortices, it is well worth it.

By the way, I would not recommend using a single mortice 300 mm long; two shorter mortices would be much better.

Rocker

missionaryman
8th January 2009, 07:49 AM
Do you have any plans I can look at for your jig, if I can make it with stick on tape measure I would give it a go for sure.

I think I will still build my jig but I can see that yours would be more accurate and easier to use because you can easily use the plunge action of the router.

Template Tom
8th January 2009, 08:28 AM
What if I only had one router and didn't want to take it out of the table and change all my setting every time I wanted to cut a mortise?

What if I wanted to cut a mortise 300mm long for a reinforced face glued joint - I would need to make a jig with 300mm of router movement built into it?

What if I needed to re-make a mortise on an assembled piece of furniture that I was repairing that's a long way away from the fence? This way I can use the whole table-saw bed for support.

I also mentioned that I'm making a bed so I need to cut mortises into the ends of long rails so in order to use a free-standing router jig I would have to either clamp the jig to the timber 1500mm off the ground and stand on a step stool or use the router vertically and clamp the piece horizontally.

I appreciate the effort you have made in designing your jig and I would be interested in the results when you begin to use it, especially when you come to rout the mortice's in the rail.

Do you really only have one router? and is it permanently placed in the router table? The reason why I submitted the question was really to see if you had considered using the router in the plunge mode for certain processes.

Making a mortice on an assembled piece of furniture would be easier to move the router by hand within the jig than move a large piece of assembled material.


With an larger Jig you can make mortice's any size you wish then when you wish to make a smaller mortice insert two stops to regulate the size you require, I would suggest using a 40mm template guide. Do you use the guides for any of your projects or is the router permanently in the table.

Routing in the ends of a 1500mm piece is no great problem when it is secure in the vice and yes by elevating yourself to make the cut.

I have only made these comments to assist you in the construction of your project as there are other methods of using the router that you may not have considered. Since I developed the use of the router with the aid of template guides I have been able to introduce greater safety awareness with the use of the router. The Jig I have proposed for consideration was the one I used when I was teaching Blind people how to use the router. I was only thinking of safety with the router and illustrating alternative methods.

I had some feed back from a router user who recently had an accident with the router in the router table and I suppose what he said was the reason I was prompted to answer this post. He said "when entering the forum he did not go into the thread on the use of template guides" I suppose he was like 90% of router users and never used them. This is the reason for me producing articles on the use of the guides to try and get others to see the advantages of using them.

I did not set out to criticise your jig making, but only to offer an alternative solution if by chance you had not given any consideration to the use of the guides.

All the best in your venture and I hope your projects turn out well thank you for taking time to read my reply
Tom

Rocker
8th January 2009, 08:30 AM
Missionaryman,

Click on the link I gave in post #4 above and hit the download button there.

Rocker

missionaryman
8th January 2009, 12:44 PM
I appreciate the effort you have made in designing your jig and I would be interested in the results when you begin to use it, especially when you come to rout the mortice's in the rail.

Do you really only have one router? and is it permanently placed in the router table? The reason why I submitted the question was really to see if you had considered using the router in the plunge mode for certain processes.

Making a mortice on an assembled piece of furniture would be easier to move the router by hand within the jig than move a large piece of assembled material.


With an larger Jig you can make mortice's any size you wish then when you wish to make a smaller mortice insert two stops to regulate the size you require, I would suggest using a 40mm template guide. Do you use the guides for any of your projects or is the router permanently in the table.

Routing in the ends of a 1500mm piece is no great problem when it is secure in the vice and yes by elevating yourself to make the cut.

I have only made these comments to assist you in the construction of your project as there are other methods of using the router that you may not have considered. Since I developed the use of the router with the aid of template guides I have been able to introduce greater safety awareness with the use of the router. The Jig I have proposed for consideration was the one I used when I was teaching Blind people how to use the router. I was only thinking of safety with the router and illustrating alternative methods.

I had some feed back from a router user who recently had an accident with the router in the router table and I suppose what he said was the reason I was prompted to answer this post. He said "when entering the forum he did not go into the thread on the use of template guides" I suppose he was like 90% of router users and never used them. This is the reason for me producing articles on the use of the guides to try and get others to see the advantages of using them.

I did not set out to criticise your jig making, but only to offer an alternative solution if by chance you had not given any consideration to the use of the guides.

All the best in your venture and I hope your projects turn out well thank you for taking time to read my reply
Tom

Thanks Tom, appreciate your comments and criticism, we're good.

I think that I'll need to get a second router - it looks like it will be inevitable, I'm having so much trouble trying to find a reasonably priced unit that's not a piece of crap and has the following:

Soft start
Variable speed
Dust extraction
Spindle Lock
1/2" collet

If I can find one with all of the above for under $200 I'll get it. There was a green Bosch at Bunnings that had it all on display but it had no price and there wasn't a shelf label for it anywhere

Template Tom
8th January 2009, 04:17 PM
Thanks Tom, appreciate your comments and criticism, we're good.

I think that I'll need to get a second router - it looks like it will be inevitable, I'm having so much trouble trying to find a reasonably priced unit that's not a piece of crap and has the following:

Soft start
Variable speed
Dust extraction
Spindle Lock
1/2" collet

If I can find one with all of the above for under $200 I'll get it. There was a green Bosch at Bunnings that had it all on display but it had no price and there wasn't a shelf label for it anywhere

I doubt if you will find one for the price you are looking at. Not all routers are suitable for use in the plunge mode and finding template guides for them is a problem.

I am prepared to give you my reason for the routers I use for this method should you care to email me

tomodon(at)bigpond(dot)net(dot)au

Tom

Jerryj
9th January 2009, 11:21 PM
Why not buy the big ryobi. I have one in my table very please with it.
Cheers Jerry

missionaryman
10th January 2009, 06:48 AM
Carbatec used to sell 2 Archer routers and both had everything on the list (except the smaller one only had a 1/4 & 8mm collet) and one was $200 the other $100

what model number is the Ryobi you speak of?

the Bosch I saw at bunnings had everything and was about $200 but they don't have them anymore.

Ben from Vic.
10th January 2009, 09:17 AM
How do you start your mortices, Tom and Rocker (and anyone else), do you have spiral router bits that you can drill in with($$), or do you pre-drill a hole for the router bit, or do you have another way?

Ben.

Jerryj
10th January 2009, 11:18 AM
Hi Ryobi model no ert2100vk i think it was about $140,00 from memory from bunnings

Cheers Jerry

Rocker
10th January 2009, 02:20 PM
How do you start your mortices, Tom and Rocker (and anyone else), do you have spiral router bits that you can drill in with($$), or do you pre-drill a hole for the router bit, or do you have another way?

Ben.


Ben,

Until I got a Domino, I used solid carbide spiral upcut bits for morticing. Carbatec sells a 3-piece set (1/4", 3/8", and 1/2") for $129. But you could make do with just 1/4" and a 5/16" ones for a total of $89.

Rocker

Template Tom
10th January 2009, 03:08 PM
How do you start your mortices, Tom and Rocker (and anyone else), do you have spiral router bits that you can drill in with($$), or do you pre-drill a hole for the router bit, or do you have another way?

Ben.

Ben
For years I have used a standard straight cutter and when I began with the cutter first touching the material I ran it forward and pushed down a little till I reached the other end then repeated the process on the way back then on to the next cut then again until I reached the final depth. The two final cuts were made at both ends simple plunging to the depth this was carried out after removing ant sawdust that had gathered in the jig/template
Hope this helps. Now I use an end cutting bit if I can get one the size of the mortice required

Tom

Chipman
11th January 2009, 10:42 PM
A lot of effort has gone into designing the jig.
I have one question to ask, Why is that so many router users seem to think that all the routing processes are to be done with the router in the router table, there is a simplier jig that can be made, when using the router in the plunge mode with the aid of the template guides.

Tom

Thanks Tom... very timely post. I am about to do multiple m&t joints in the bead head and foot of the bed I am making. What I was thinking about is similar to yours. Now I know I am on the right track and I will kindly model mine after yours.

Just a question, what is the best way to set it up for indexing? (7 mortices, each indexed by 140mm)

Regards,
Chipman

Template Tom
12th January 2009, 08:28 AM
Thanks Tom... very timely post. I am about to do multiple m&t joints in the bead head and foot of the bed I am making. What I was thinking about is similar to yours. Now I know I am on the right track and I will kindly model mine after yours.

Just a question, what is the best way to set it up for indexing? (7 mortices, each indexed by 140mm)

Regards,
Chipman

Once you have set out in place where the mortices are to be cut. add to the jig a spacer each time to locate the position before clamping the jig to the material, then remove it ready to rout the mortice,
Tom

Chipman
12th January 2009, 08:33 AM
Many thanks,

Graham (aka chipman)

Ben from Vic.
12th January 2009, 02:55 PM
Once you have set out in place where the mortices are to be cut. add to the jig a spacer each time to locate the position before clamping the jig to the material, then remove it ready to rout the mortice,
Tom

Sorry Tom, I see Chipman has under stood, but could you explain a little further how the spacer works?
Are we talking about spacing out the mortises (140) from each other?

Template Tom
12th January 2009, 05:35 PM
Sorry Tom, I see Chipman has under stood, but could you explain a little further how the spacer works?
Are we talking about spacing out the mortises (140) from each other?

Ben

I am talking about the size of the mortice to be cut. Normally they are marked out first then the 'spacer' is inserted the size will be the length of the cut-out for the mortice and the small piece at the end is equal to the 'Off-set' You will have to work out the template guide and cutter that will be used to determine its size.
As an example 40mm template guide and a 10mm cutter would give an off-set of 15mm therefore the little piece would be 15mm and line up with the mortice marked out on the leg.

Tom

Ben from Vic.
13th January 2009, 05:34 PM
Ah, so you drop the spacer in and slide the template up the timber untill the short edge of the spacer lines up with the marked edge of the mortice.

So the spacer is to aid lining up the jig.

Template Tom
13th January 2009, 08:39 PM
Ah, so you drop the spacer in and slide the template up the timber untill the short edge of the spacer lines up with the marked edge of the mortice.

So the spacer is to aid lining up the jig.

Ben

You have got it right in one

Tom

Ben from Vic.
16th January 2009, 08:25 PM
Ben,

Until I got a Domino, I used solid carbide spiral upcut bits for morticing. Carbatec sells a 3-piece set (1/4", 3/8", and 1/2") for $129. But you could make do with just 1/4" and a 5/16" ones for a total of $89.

Rocker

David, could you tell me why you chose these sizes?
Is it because they work on 19 and 25mm respectively?

Ben.

Rocker
16th January 2009, 09:04 PM
Ben,

I think 1/4" and 5/16" mortices are the most commonly used sizes for mortices in 3/4" and 1" stock, using the '1/3 of the thickness' rule of thumb. And it is feasible to cut wider mortices easily with a 5/16" bit, by moving the fence on a morticing jig.

But ideally you would get 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", and 1/2" spiral bits to cover all the common sizes of mortices.

Rocker

missionaryman
17th January 2009, 01:25 PM
Rocker,

Regarding the jig you've mentioned earlier and posted the link to the plans for; will it cut mortises into 4" thick stock?
I'll be making double mortise & tenons ideally so really it would only be working 20mm away from the fence at the most.

Rocker
17th January 2009, 04:07 PM
Missionaryman,

It should be quite feasible to use my jig to cut mortices in 4" thick stock; you could even cut through mortices in it, if you bought the 3/8" spiral upcut carbide bit sold by McJing, which has a 2" cutting depth.

Rocker

missionaryman
30th January 2009, 12:27 AM
Rocker - I have built your jig and it's fantastic, I didn't have the time to make the micro adjustment or glue in some tape measures but I will definately have to at least fit the tape measures in very soon.

Here's the jig:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/Mikey%20Bed/WIPbed007.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/Mikey%20Bed/WIPbed008.jpg

and here is my first set of M&T joints, it was a test run on scrap and good thing too because I set the tenons too close together:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/Mikey%20Bed/MTjoints002.jpg

I adjusted this on the actual job (the reason for the error is that I was going to make 3/8" slots but changed to 1/2" at the last minute and didn't adjust the fences):
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j243/missionaryman/woodwork/Mikey%20Bed/MTjoints007.jpg

Rocker
30th January 2009, 07:26 AM
Missionaryman,

Now that you have done the harder part of making my jig, I think you will find it well worthwhile to add the threaded-rod micro-adjustment and the measuring tapes for the stops, so as to turn it into a precision jig. As I said in a previous post, the dial gauge is not essential; you can achieve the same precision by measuring the distance between the fence block and the static block with a caliper. It would also pay you to glue a hardwood edging to the fence, since the MDF fence might become worn with use.

Rocker

missionaryman
30th January 2009, 10:21 AM
Missionaryman,

Now that you have done the harder part of making my jig, I think you will find it well worthwhile to add the threaded-rod micro-adjustment and the measuring tapes for the stops, so as to turn it into a precision jig. As I said in a previous post, the dial gauge is not essential; you can achieve the same precision by measuring the distance between the fence block and the static block with a caliper. It would also pay you to glue a hardwood edging to the fence, since the MDF fence might become worn with use.

Rocker

yes you're right I did have the intention of putting some hardwood edging on the fence which I shall do, I have to have a go at the micro adjustment but I cant tap that thread into the hardwood as I dont have any of the necessary gear, I'll see if there's another way I can do it.

Rocker
30th January 2009, 12:59 PM
If you don't have a drill press or tap for tapping the thread in the hardwood, you can probably get away with using a tee-nut, epoxied in place, instead.

Rocker

niki
3rd July 2009, 01:38 AM
I made a mortise jig almost as you described on the drawings and it works like a charm...

You can see the "how-to" here
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=52213

And some actual work, here
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=52979

Regards
niki

missionaryman
7th July 2009, 12:18 PM
That's a great jig Niki - far better thought out & executed than mine was and of course the results are very good.
I saw a video somewhere on the net where for about $100 the guy attached a bosch cordless 10.8v screwdriver with some cogs he picked up from the scrapyard and made the lift motorised. I cant find it anywhere now though. you're basically 3/4 of the way there according to his design

niki
8th July 2009, 05:34 AM
I saw a video somewhere on the net where for about $100 the guy attached a bosch cordless 10.8v screwdriver with some cogs he picked up from the scrapyard and made the lift motorised. I cant find it anywhere now though. you're basically 3/4 of the way there according to his design

Oh yes, John Nixon..... you'll be surprised but he was a member here....

I remember that he was looking for a motor...

This guy is professional and too Hi-Tech for me...I'm a Lo-Tech guy...

Here is one of his posts with pics of his router lift..
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=25783

Regards
niki