Thread: Home made loose tenon & mortise jig for router table

3) & 4) It's made to fit my Incra Ultra-lite fence but could be adapted to suit most fence types

5) 1st work piece centred on jig centre line. Note make sure face of work piece is always against the fence.

6) & 7) Stops adjusted to suit width and clamp holding work piece in position. Note clamp in slot.

8) Stops on both ends of fence adjusted for width of mortise. Note the distance to stops is mortise width less diameter of bit divided by 2 with the jig still centred.

9) Bring jig forward until bit touches work piece. Then lower the bit and bring jig forward the required distance. For single mortise in centre of work piece bring jig forward 1/2 diameter of bit + 1/2 width of work piece. Easy to do on the Incra fence but a bit harder on other fences.

10) With jig set-up simply raise the bit a few millimetres into the work piece and slide the jig along the fence between the stops. Repeat until correct depth is achieved.

1st mortise completed.

11) To do the mortise on the matching piece remove one stop. Do not move the other as this will align the mortises and produce a flush corner joint. If you're not doing a corner joint both stops will need to be removed and work piece positioned using centre lines.

12) 2nd mortise completed.

13) Make up loose tenon stock to correct thickness and width.

14) Round off edges by routing, planing or sanding - ensure there is a slight gap in the ends to allow excess glue to escape when assembling

15) Dry fit

16) Finished joint

Good, simple and easy to use with your Incra. Well engineered Kev.

I use loose tenons a lot. Setup could be a little more difficult with a basic fence but not impossible. I use a 3axis sliding table setup with a permanant router set in it. Works well but takes up a lot of space in my small shop. Hazard

Thanks Hazard,

How about some photos of yours - they may give me some ideas.

Cheers, Kev

Originally Posted by *Kev

13) Make up loose tenon stock to correct thickness and width.

14) Round off edges by routing, planing or sanding - ensure there is a slight gap in the ends to allow excess glue to escape when assembling

15) Dry fit

16) Finished joint

That's pretty sweet Kev. Not sure how well it would go with the fence on my triton router table though.

[quote=*Kev;926659]9)10) With jig set-up simply raise the bit a few millimetres into the work piece and slide the jig along the fence between the stops. Repeat until correct depth is achieved.quote]

Lets see if I get this right Kev. Whilst the router is turned on, you raise the turning bit into the work piece to the depth you want the mortice and then move the work piece in the jig between the fence stops.

SB

Yep, that's right - using a plunge router simply wind it up to the correct mortise depth.

If you're thinking what I think you are thinking (raising the router bit out of the collet whilst running) ...... ahh .... no.

Excellent jig Kev.

My latest WIP is a blanket chest with mitre joints on the lid frame. To strengthen the mitre joints I used loose tenons. To do this I made two new stops cut at 45deg.

Mortices were cut using the same process as above.

Nice work!!