Thread: Which box joint jig to buy?

Cost wise the Rockler gives you the best value and the one review I have read gives it a pretty good wrap. You are able to change the size of the finger and reset it pretty easily. You are limited to box joints only. The Gifkins gives you more options including dovetails but is going to cost you a fair bit more.
Does your router table have the mitre slot to mount the Rockler in?

The Incra fence system on the router table is BY FAR the most versatile of the 3 products you have mentioned. It can do so much more than box joints; dovetails of many sizes, patterns and styles; infinitely adjustable, repeatable precision fence so useful on the router table you won't believe it; no extra templates to buy just buy the positioner, right angle fixture, a suitable set of router bits, the Master Reference Guide and Template Library and you're away. Versatility that leaves the Gifkins for dead. Get the imperial version, once you get your head around it you'll never regret buying it.

Based off the other contenders it seems that the Incra product mentioned might be the IBox. I would agree however that the Incra router table fence offers lots of flexibility, but also at a higher cost. This thread reminds me that I have an IBox that I haven’t tried out yet

Like Sir S, I’m thinking the Incra offering Old Hilly mentions is the i-Box. I have one of these and it works well but it is quite complex to set up so it goes unused for long periods. My Gifkins jig is so simple to use, although I use it for dovetails not box joints. Presumably box joints would be even easier. The Rockler box joint jig looks pretty straightforward too.

I use both the Incra I-Box and the Gifkins on my router table - no need for a table saw far less a dado stack.

If I were making box joints (and only box joints) regularly I’d choose the Incra I-Box because once you master it it has great flexibility with width of pins and it’s built like a tank. That said, i’ve never used the Rockler jig.

Good luck with the decision!

Brian

Originally Posted by aldav

The Incra fence system on the router table is BY FAR the most versatile of the 3 products you have mentioned. It can do so much more than box joints; dovetails of many sizes, patterns and styles; infinitely adjustable, repeatable precision fence so useful on the router table you won't believe it; no extra templates to buy just buy the positioner, right angle fixture, a suitable set of router bits, the Master Reference Guide and Template Library and you're away. Versatility that leaves the Gifkins for dead. Get the imperial version, once you get your head around it you'll never regret buying it.

I had one of the original plastic Incra Jig fence things that came with a book and template strips but I could never get my head around the imperial measurement system. I was around long before metric but working with 1/32" increments just drove me nuts! And having to convert 1/4"+3/16+5/32 drove me mad. The metric version hadn't been released when I bought mine, that's how long ago it was but it was a good system, just too fiddle some for me. No patience, I guess.

The other thing I havn't seen mentioned is the width of the track the gadget fits on. I have a Carbatec router table with the router lift and adjustable fence. It has a combination track with a slot for 1/4" "T" bolts and a 19mm or 3/4" wide slot. The Gifkins doesn't need a track and there wasn't any other info that I could find in the size of track needed for either the Rocla of I-Box machines. The router track is definitely wider than the slots on my Dewalt contractors saw.

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

I had one of the original plastic Incra Jig fence things that came with a book and template strips but I could never get my head around the imperial measurement system. I was around long before metric but working with 1/32" increments just drove me nuts! And having to convert 1/4"+3/16+5/32 drove me mad. The metric version hadn't been released when I bought mine, that's how long ago it was but it was a good system, just too fiddle some for me. No patience, I guess.

Fair enough. Imperial is not that difficult to work with if you convert everything to the smallest denominator you're using, so in your example you're adding 8 + 6 + 5 32nds = 19/32. If the result is an even number divide by 2, 4 or 8 to get your answer, and of course 3/32 is half of 3/16 is half of 3/8 so the relationship between the fractions is really pretty simple.

You'll find that the Rockler and I-Box systems are designed to operate in standard 3/4" x 3/8" (19 x 9.5mm) mitre slots. You'll notice that 3/8" is half of 3/4" and 9.5mm is half of 19mm, see I told you it wasn't that hard.

For cutting box joints the Gifkins is a very expensive bit of kit and you're limited to the template spacing you buy. Additional templates are expensive and there's two different bases, standard and jumbo, more expense. It's the one big failing of the Gifkins IMO, everything you make looks the same.

Originally Posted by aldav

Fair enough. Imperial is not that difficult to work with if you convert everything to the smallest denominator you're using, so in your example you're adding 8 + 6 + 5 32nds = 19/32. If the result is an even number divide by 2, 4 or 8 to get your answer, and of course 3/32 is half of 3/16 is half of 3/8 so the relationship between the fractions is really pretty simple.

You'll find that the Rockler and I-Box systems are designed to operate in standard 3/4" x 3/8" (19 x 9.5mm) mitre slots. You'll notice that 3/8" is half of 3/4" and 9.5mm is half of 19mm, see I told you it wasn't that hard.

For cutting box joints the Gifkins is a very expensive bit of kit and you're limited to the template spacing you buy. Additional templates are expensive and there's two different bases, standard and jumbo, more expense. It's the one big failing of the Gifkins IMO, everything you make looks the same.

It's easy enough when you start with everything in the imperial system but when all the other tools in the shed are metric and you have to switch between the two it got too messy for me. 19mm didn't quite make it to 3/4". It was close but I needed too much filler. I mean, I still need filler now, just imagine how much I needed then!
The other thing with the Gifkins system is the router bits. I know Festool gear is expensive but short-run specialist tools like you would get from the Gifkins system might just turn out to be a pain in the wallet, especially if they had to come from off-shore. At least with Incra and Rockler I can use off-the-shelf tooling.
Rocla seems the most basic and simple machine but the I-Box seems to gave more features or, as the marketing boys would say, "Creative Possibilities".

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

It's easy enough when you start with everything in the imperial system but when all the other tools in the shed are metric and you have to switch between the two it got too messy for me. 19mm didn't quite make it to 3/4". It was close but I needed too much filler. I mean, I still need filler now, just imagine how much I needed then!
The other thing with the Gifkins system is the router bits. I know Festool gear is expensive but short-run specialist tools like you would get from the Gifkins system might just turn out to be a pain in the wallet, especially if they had to come from off-shore. At least with Incra and Rockler I can use off-the-shelf tooling.
Rocla seems the most basic and simple machine but the I-Box seems to gave more features or, as the marketing boys would say, "Creative Possibilities".

Think metric, it's a dozen times easier.

Originally Posted by AlexS

Think metric, it's a dozen times easier.

An ordinary dozen or a bakers dozen?

Originally Posted by aldav

An ordinary dozen or a bakers dozen?

Probably only a metric dozen, viz most bunches of roses and more recently egg cartons......

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Probably only a metric dozen, viz most bunches of roses and more recently egg cartons......

Close to 50 years ago I was a store man in the Blue Mountains and we got some 66 foot (1 Chain) measuring tapes for issue to a crew working on the RED scheme. They had to peg out some formwork for "kerb and gutter" work in Katoomba. Things were OK to start but by the end of the street nothing lined up, driveways were in the wrong place, it was a mess. It took a while but someone finally looked at the tapes, made in Canada. They were in fact 66 feet long but they only had 10 "inches" to each foot. All but one got sent back.

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

Close to 50 years ago I was a store man in the Blue Mountains and we got some 66 foot (1 Chain) measuring tapes for issue to a crew working on the RED scheme. They had to peg out some formwork for "kerb and gutter" work in Katoomba. Things were OK to start but by the end of the street nothing lined up, driveways were in the wrong place, it was a mess. It took a while but someone finally looked at the tapes, made in Canada. They were in fact 66 feet long but they only had 10 "inches" to each foot. All but one got sent back.

Ah, that's the difference between a good surveyor and the rest - a good surveyor finds his mistakes before any one else does. Yes - there is a difference between precision and accuracy. This is worth a thread on its own.

Over the years I've seen some curly ones - all because "it took to long" to calibrate or "standardize" measuring equipment. There are some really dodgy "tape measures" and surveyors chains (steel bands) on the market. I've seen plenty with "zero errors" on the tab end; missing graduations in some cases whole metres i.e. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, ... ; incorrect stamping of brass sleeves on surveyors steel bands - two 76's instead of 76 & 78 on a steel band marked at 2 m intervals (fortunately I found that one before it created any problems!); repairs mid length etc.

Some surveyors have earned some pretty un-complimentary nick-names due to their stuff ups. But like all good yarns they get embellished somewhat over time. Well at least I hope they weren't that careless.

• "What offset ..." or "take your pick..." - in the early days of Electronic Distance Measurement (late 1970's) plenty of surveyors forgot about the prism offset which were typically either 0, -17.5 mm, -30 mm, -34 mm, and -40 mm but there are others.
• "Shonky S..." - purportedly a rough surveyor but I found his work to be good.
• "Six Foot K..." a slight error in a leveling run, only 6 foot!
• "One for Luck L..." - added an extra "point of a link" ( approx 20 mm) to each line in rural surveys.
• and one of our own - "Can't Count Phil" or "two out of three ain't bad" - left out a whole 30 m bay length on one of three runs - i.e. counted 6 instead of 7 - oopsies! That one could have had disasterous consequences during construction of a critical guyed structure. A "draftie" who thought he could be a "surveyor." No idea why he was using a 30 m fiberglass tape when he should have been using a 100 m "steel band."

There have been plenty of very good ones though, like John MacIsaac of Cairns - if you disagree with one of John's surveys there is about a 99.99999999999......% chance that you are wrong.

I'm sure most chainies call all surveyors "pedantic ar$eholes!"

Worst I have found was a surveyor who completed many of the initial surveyors in FNQ. At some point his "chain" was "standardized" in error and most likely stayed that way for ever more. Hence his surveys have a consistent error of approx 1 in 300 where the acceptable standard for agreement (closure) of a survey of that era is 1 in 1000. His work closes well on itself so his surveys are generally precise but certainly not accurate!! Unfortunately it's created lots of problems in the Port Douglas and Cooktown regions.

I've given this some further thought. You prefer metric, ok I get that; you only want to cut box joints, I get that too. What about this - https://www.timbecon.com.au/incra-metric-original-jig - buy some solid carbide upcut bits, say, 6, 8 and 10mm, collet adaptor bushes to suit (if you don't already have them) and you're away. If you're prepared to spring for a Gifkins then you might be prepared to spring for this - https://www.timbecon.com.au/incra-ls...d-fence-system.

Either of these will allow you to cut your box joints with a minimum of fuss and if, at some later date, you want to cut some dovetails (through and half-blind are possible) all you need is the appropriate dovetail bit. Either of these systems offers so much more than the template based Gifkins. There are other template based products available if that's the way you'd prefer to go.