# Shop made jigs and tools



## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

Hi, 

I was trying to find a collection thread of diy jigs and tools to maybe post some of my own, but couldnt find one. 
Please share your diy jig for the table saw, router, band saw etc, or if it's a standalone tool/jig like a dowel or pocket hole jig.


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## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

I'll kick things off with a diy fence I made for the router table. 
Heavily inspired by incra LS, but instead of positive increments I first built it with a micrometer for fine tuning, then later replaced it for a DRO for the entire length of travel. 
See the original thread for more details. 








Incra LS positioner or DRO for joinery


Hi, I'm on the fence (pun intended) on wether to get an Incra fence system or to upgrade my home made self designed fence. The home made one has micro adjust via the knob on the left and can easily be adjusted to 0.1mm with the dial indikator. To knob to the right locks the position. 4040...




www.ukworkshop.co.uk












Kind regards 
Anders


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## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

I also made a material stock guide. 
I can post an actual photo later, but this is a 3d model of the setup. Just like its Jessem counterpart it mounts on the top of the fence. 




For more details and BOM see the post on grabcad. 





Free CAD Designs, Files & 3D Models | The GrabCAD Community Library


The GrabCAD Library offers millions of free CAD designs, CAD files, and 3D models. Join the GrabCAD Community today to gain access and download!




grabcad.com


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## rogxwhit (17 Jul 2022)

I find it hard to see the point in all these micro-adjust devices - I suspect that their devotees just derive pleasure from having 'devices'. Having worked with wood with some precision for years, I generally find that you give a fence an initial setup to a line, make a wee test cut, give it a tap, test again and away you go. All with less clutter in the workshop. 

Can you cut to a line with a handsaw? Can you hand-cut dovetails that show no gaps? So when you transfer such an operation to a hand-fed machine, why the sudden need for all this micro stuff? 

Scratches head and sighs.


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## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

rogxwhit said:


> I find it hard to see the point in all these micro-adjust devices - I suspect that their devotees just derive pleasure from having 'devices'. Having worked with wood with some precision for years, I generally find that you give a fence an initial setup to a line, make a wee test cut, give it a tap, test again and away you go. All with less clutter in the workshop.
> 
> Can you cut to a line with a handsaw? Can you hand-cut dovetails that show no gaps? So when you transfer such an operation to a hand-fed machine, why the sudden need for all this micro stuff?
> 
> Scratches head and sighs.


For the fence; there is no overall measurement to get a rough estimate from, and also repeatability.
Example: If you want to make dados in the middle of a board, install the bit and zero it with reference to the fence, then set your distance and make your cut. Widen the groove with a given amount that can be set accurately by the DRO.

For the circle cutting jig: I have been building speakers that have recessed elements in the front baffle. These have to be very precise for it not to look shabby. To be able to make an initial undersized cut, measure the difference, adjust (once and with confidence) and make a second final cut is not a bad way to go about it.

Also - I like tech and like to tinker.


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## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

Andsor said:


> For the fence; there is no overall measurement to get a rough estimate from, and also repeatability.
> Example: If you want to make dados in the middle of a board for instance, install the bit and zero it with reference to the fence, then set your distance and make your cut. Widen the groove with a given amount that can be set accurately by the DRO.
> 
> For the circle cutting jig: I have been building speakers that have recessed elements in the front baffle. These have to be very precise for it not to look shabby. To be able to make an initial undersized cut, measure the difference, adjust (once and with confidence) and make a second final cut is not a bad way to go about it.
> ...


For the record - this is supposed to be a thread for sharing your jigs and diy tools.
I would love to see something you have made or found useful.
Your critisism of others work was not what I was going for.

Kind regards


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## ola c (17 Jul 2022)

rogxwhit said:


> generally find that you give a fence an initial setup to a line, make a wee test cut, give it a tap, test again and away you go



I'm a big fan and user of microadjust, or maybe more correct term "real measurements" down to 1/100 of a mm as this saves a lot of time. "Give it a tap, test again" could go on forever if you're aiming for an exact dimension. With digital or analogue 1/100 readout you make one cut, measure, adjust accordingly, then go for the real cut. No guess work or new test cuts or trying to tap a fence 10/100 of a mm just by touch and feel.

I have these on a lot of my jigs, example here my digital side fence for the (handheld) router. Super useful and quick to work with. Of course I also have a similar setup on the router table fence.


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## rogxwhit (17 Jul 2022)

Part of my puzzlement arises because I don't believe that a piece of wood knows what 1/100mm _is_. It isn't metal - it moves as humidity changes, and its surface is more yielding. So please explain. ;-)


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## ola c (17 Jul 2022)

Jig for routing pieces standing up. Super useful imo and solves some tasks that could be quite tricky, but not very common jug type. Part 2 shows some user cases where this jig really shines.


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## Andsor (17 Jul 2022)

rogxwhit said:


> Part of my puzzlement arises because I don't believe that a piece of wood knows what 1/100mm _is_. It isn't metal - it moves as humidity changes, and its surface is more yielding. So please explain. ;-)



For me woodworking is a hobby, something I do just for the fun of it. 
By trade I'm an engineer, so a smidge of that thinking, tinkering and problemsolving transfer onto my hobby. Wether or not anybody find my creations useful is up to them, but I like it. 

Have you made something in your shop that you find useful and would like to share?


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## ola c (17 Jul 2022)

rogxwhit said:


> Part of my puzzlement arises because I don't believe that a piece of wood knows what 1/100mm _is_. It isn't metal - it moves as humidity changes, and its surface is more yielding. So please explain. ;-)


My experience is that there is a difference at least when you make adjustments of 0.05mm. It makes quite a noticeble difference for boxjoints or tenons. For some operations (like sliding dovetail done on the router table), all adjustments will have double effect on the final joint as you run both faces against the fence so there it's even more important to be able to fine tune the fence position.

My superjig is indexable/trimable in steps of 0.05 and there is noticeable difference on the boxjoint fit if I change the finger width 0.05mm.

But as said, this level of accuracy is mainly to speed up the work and avoid numerous test cuts and adjustments.


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## ola c (17 Jul 2022)

More jigs, here's my superjig for tenons and boxjoints. Very quick to work with and the accuracy is extremely good for a fully analogue jig. Can trim boxjoint fit in steps of 0.05mm, cuts tenons and double tenons with better accuracy than 0.05mm and set up time is very short with zero or maximum one test cut.


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## Jacob (17 Jul 2022)

I tend to knock the occasional jig as and when needed. Bits of mdf, hardwood laths etc. If they are any use I might mark them "SAVE" in red felt tip. I keep them for a bit then eventually forget what they were for.
PS just remembered - my weighted beam clamp! Sad story of my uneven bench top
Does that count as a jig?
You can use a weight alone as a clamp for some jobs, e.g. gluing up small items. Add it to a beam and you get leverage and pressure at the pivot end, or add more weights for holding down panels and things. I use a it a lot , in different ways.
The coarse threaded sawn off carvers screw is really useful for adjustment.


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## rogxwhit (17 Jul 2022)

Ola, I will look at your jigs / website tomorrow.

Andsor, yes, I've made many jigs & fixtures over the years, mostly for larger work than is being talked about here perhaps, but I have no photographs ...


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## John on the Wirral (18 Jul 2022)

At some stage we all find ourselves creating simple jigs to make life easier especially when replication is required. these have be simple and quick and help to avoid human error. However, you could post your ideas on "insructables" which is a site that covers everything from cup cakes to arduina-contrlled devices. It is an interesting site even if nothing comes up that gets you going.


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## delboy47 (18 Jul 2022)

Take a look at the wonderful world of Niki’s jigs. Loads on there and some good ones too.


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## Andsor (18 Jul 2022)

Did a take on Marius Hornbergers circle cutting jig for cutting circles on the router table with a flush trim bit. 3D printer slide thingy in the middle. 
Spoiler alert: no Micro-adjust.


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## Andsor (8 Aug 2022)

Material stock guide, fence and diy router plate with a triton router.


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## Ttrees (8 Aug 2022)

Index-able pillar drill for drilling things on centre.
One could do the same with techniques like a big hefty timber square/wall
which is parallel with column.
Nice tool to use, once one gets over the learning curve and uses it correctly.
*no* lateral pressure seems to work best, but only used it a handful of times,
and my drill has a bit of runout, so cannot be sure about that.


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## Andsor (18 Sep 2022)

No revolution or new by any means, but a useful jig and a cheap alternative to Festools original. 

4 identical pieces. Made from laminated 10mm high density ply with melamine on one side, so that the melamine is showing on both sides. Regular 19mm T-track screwed to the side. 

8mm bolts with regular nuts that have been ground/filed down to fit in the track. Didnt brother waiting for proper nuts to arrive, so hacked it together and it has worked a treat ever since.


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## Jarno (19 Sep 2022)

Nice jig, I also like your knobs you posted earlier, pretty nifty use of ply.
Also an engineer here, so I also wonder about the use of readouts which are to 1/100 of a millimeter. Accuracy is not the same as the number of digits in the readout, as you are saying, total achievable accuracy with a jig is also dependent on the material properties, the accuracy of the router, play in the jig or elsewhere etc.
On the other hand, it IS common practice in engineering, when developing a capable tool/process to make sure that the measurement is at least 10 times the accuracy needed, so with that in mind, having a digital ruler with ample readout accuracy does make sense.


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## Amateur (11 Oct 2022)

When you look back over the last twenty years there were lots of shop made jigs and fixtures being posted on ww forums.
Today I think, although I stand to be corrected, that its far to easy to go and buy from the net.

If you look in, show us what the last thing you made forum that too has changed.
Its mainly turnings and a few boxes. Traditional furniture photos are scarce. Very few chairs, dining tables, display cabinets fullsize book cases etc

Maybe we are at the bottom of a trough where woodworking in general isnt as popular and waiting for the reinvention like the popularity of gardening and associated tv programmes got done to death and seems also in the doldrums.

Im sick of youtube wood working videos too.
The days of Norm and his series at least gave you proper time to absorb exactly what he was doing in an unrushed manor.

People tended to share more jigs and fixtures they made back then or at least appeared to.
Maybe most of the kreg, and rockler jigs etc are metal representatons of ideas that came from the ww forums and people got wise?
Could that be a reason?


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## heimlaga (16 Oct 2022)

At one time jig making appeared to be a hobby on it's own to some people. It just went overboard. Just as gadgetry went overboard.
The apparent decline in woodworking may have something to do with the gadgetry explosion and it's consequent costs scaring people away.

This is the latest jig I made. For laying out corner notches.


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## Spectric (16 Oct 2022)

I think we have got a bit lazy or addicted to anodised alloy. There is a place for some of these jigs due to the level of precision needed, ie dowel jigs but for many other task it is easy to just knock one up but there does seem to be a tendency for people to first look at buying a solution rather than making one.


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## heimlaga (16 Oct 2022)

Aye. I agree. Thre was once a rather bizarre discussion on a forum where the think tank tried to figure out which factory made and expensive router jig that would be best for a job which I told them I normally do in a matter of seconds with a hatchet.


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## Jameshow (16 Oct 2022)

Amateur said:


> When you look back over the last twenty years there were lots of shop made jigs and fixtures being posted on ww forums.
> Today I think, although I stand to be corrected, that its far to easy to go and buy from the net.
> 
> If you look in, show us what the last thing you made forum that too has changed.
> ...


Most people make a work bench and then get bored!! 
I blame utube!! 

Question is does woodworking come before or after road cycling in the mid life crisis before golf!


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## Amateur (18 Oct 2022)

Jameshow said:


> Most people make a work bench and then get bored!!
> I blame utube!!
> 
> Question is does woodworking come before or after road cycling in the mid life crisis before golf!



You've forgotten painting and embroidery.......


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## Andsor (21 Oct 2022)




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## Spectric (22 Oct 2022)

If you want ideas for jigs then someone who was really into his jigs was Steve Maskery, not seen him for a while but did produce some video's. Are you still around @Steve Maskery


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) (22 Oct 2022)

Morticing fixture for router …





















Many, many others, both hand and power, if interested.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## BucksDad (22 Oct 2022)

Steve no longer posts on this forum but is active on WH2


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## Jacob (22 Oct 2022)

One thing you don't need a jig for is pocket hole screws. Defeats the whole object in fact. It's just a quick but crude way of fixing simple things together.
I did a little table recently and pocket hole screwed the top on in about 5 minutes. 6 screws.
There is little trick - you drill the opposite way to the direction of the screw and come out at the head end, which you can then tidy up with a countersink, chisel, whatever, if you want to, hence forming "the pocket". Usually out of sight so no need.
PS Just googled - I see there's daft gadget industry built on the idea!


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## rogxwhit (23 Oct 2022)

Jacob said:


> I see there's daft gadget industry built on the idea!


There's a daft gadget industry built on doing all manner of simple tasks! It caters for those who value shopping as a leisure pursuit ... Oh well, it's their money.


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## Andsor (27 Oct 2022)

Jeez.
Sharing well thought out creations and problem solution was apparently too much. 
The negativity is too much. 
How about promoting ones own solution instead of ******** on someone else's.


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