Thread: Learning the Incra Ibox.....the hard way.

Status of writereginner at building boxes.
But,proud owner of a Incra Ibox. First of all like to thank Grahame for his excellent service. Unlike Bunnings where they learn the art of hiding from people looking for service.

Okay, first tip. Read the instructions several times.... Go over and over to learn the lingo, like stock holder and other terminology. Watch the DVD. I copied the video, transfered it to my Ipad and watched it step by step in the shed.
Yes, it does make a difference whether you install it for a left hand or right hand tilt saw. If you don't know which side your saw tilts find out. This is particular if you change Dado blades to different widths.
A couple of hints that I learnt along the way.
1) When the instructions inform you to make a scrap piece for the first test cut, make two pieces. Why??? because if you follow exactly the instructions and only cut one and use this to set your cutting width, then put it aside. Then you grab your four main stock pieces and start working on them. Well, if you cut the joints oversize and then start figuring out how to trim them smaller to fit, you have 8x ends to deal with. Bit of a rubiks cube.... And yes, like a good little woodworker I mark them.
Don't laugh but I even resorted to bringing out my portable angle grinder with a diamond wheel to start trimming the joints.
I started with a big box and it shrink in size due to my learning curve.

2) So big tip number two. Cut two scrap pieces exactly to the same height as your box and work on those. In the end you have only 2x ends to adjust not the entire 8x. Don't touch your 4x main sides of the box UNTIL your joints are perfect.

3) Which brings me to tip number 3. Under "Tips and Techniques" in the manual they have a short description of "Adjusting the fit". If your box joints are too tight then read this over and over. Save you getting out the grinder. I wish Incra would devote more time describing this procedure. Like actually showing your on the video how to do it. This part is at least a couple of stubbies long if not more. I know it was built in USA but if would save me a hassle of converting "One thousandth of an inch" to metric.

4) For my boxes, because I'm learning, I'm using 12mm and 9mm cheap plywood. When you start cutting small joints like 3/8 inch(mama mia I'm talking like them...) or smaller there is an issue of break out at the rear of the stock. This is why Incra supply you with a MDF backing board. This is clever. Part of excellent design. Now when I'm ready to cut my four main sides of the box I slide the backing board to the left or right to have a "fresh" part of the board to prevent breakout.

5) Just before you make any cut get down behind the jig with your eyes level with the table top and make sure the blades will not hit any part of the jig it's not supposed to.

6) Set up a dedicated machine for the jig. I used a friend's table saw with Freud Dado blades. So after I made mistakes I had to rip out the blades, reinstall the main cutting blade to rip some new stock to play with. What a pain. Especially the saw insert had to be screwed in every time.Okay, you could say cut extra stock to experiment with. No, why should I cut them when I might not need it. Waste of material.
I'm actually going to use a router setup for the jig.

7) As a suggestion build your first box to house the jig. Good practise.

8) The Ipad was slow to move the video backward and forwards sometimes. So to help I wrote some quick A4 instructions in point form. This means I could instantly glance at the page rather then try to find the part in the video.

9) I have a 4wd so everything rolls around and breaks. So to stop the bottom of the boxes(in the 4wd) breaking I attach skids of Jarrah timber.

10) Now, only using powerful glue to build the boxes. Looks better.

So is it worth the money?= Yes.
Would I buy it again?= Yes.
Would I recommend it?= Yes.
But please, make sure your study the instructions, yes, I said STUDY....if you don't, expect to learn the hard way.

Hope this is of some use to some new or budding owners at there.