Finger jointing thread - help!!

[woodsprite]

Well, got my mk3 triton set up again last night and spent the day making 'stuff' to make sure I had it set up accurately. Happy with the saw part of it, but now I want to tyry my hand at finger jointing (having just set up the router again).
Last night I came across a thread relating to a simple jig for finger joints - suggested cutting up a nylon chopping board and using this as the base for the jig - but you know what? I have spent ages trying to find it again - and can't! Can't even recall which forum it was in.

Wonder if any of you routing good woodies can point me in the right direction? Tried several searches of all forums and but could not find this thread.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

[Stuart]

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...ight=box+joint

[woodsprite]

Thanks a bucket Stuart! That is thread I was looking for - now to see if I can make one, and have my first shot at finger jointing.

Jeff

[Rocker]

You could also have a look at this jig; but I am not sure whether it is feasible to adapt it to a Triton setup: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ead.php?t=9089

Rocker

[Stuart]

Sure it is - especially with a crosscut sled (or the equivalent on the router table)

[woodsprite]

Just come in from the shed (before SWMBO came and blasted me for all that routing noise) and made up a sled/jig very similar to the plastic tray thread. I used a piece of 3 ply as a base, glued a 4 inch high fence at right angles to the fence on the router bench, then glued a 1 cm square piece of ply at right angles to the 4 inch fence (parallel to the bench fence). This bit of ply is 1 cm from the edge of the router bit.

I worked from right to left, which in this case is away from the bench fence. Made the first cut, moved the trial bit of wood across to the left with the new square hole sitting on the cm square ply, made another cut, and so on as in the thread. As I was routing 2 bits of timber at the same time, I quickly had a set of finger joints - witht he tongues a smidge wider than than the gaps - moved the fence in a touch, and the second run gave a perfect set of finger joints! I push my enitre sled contraption across the router bit - which is probably a bit obvious!!

Sorry ot bore you with the detail - I am sure most of you have done this heaps of time - but I am a tad proud of my very first finger joints and will be back in the shed in the morning doing some more.

Have a question - will a dove tail bit work in the above set up to give me reasonable dovetail joints? I have been using some old cedar lining borads to play with which are about 12mm thick, and using a 10mm straight sided router bit. If I want to use thicker timber I can just crank a bit more height into the router. If I use a dovetail bit, will it's length need to be be the same as the thickness of whatever wood I am using?

Thanks for all your help - it has been very encouraging, and is making me keener than ever to improve my very basic skills.
Jeff