A day of 1st's!

[pren]

Having been asked to make up some kitchen cupboard doors for a friend, I decided to try out some other methods of joining the frames other than dowels (which I find really time consuming without a jig) and biscuits.

Also thought it was particularly horrific that in my 3yrs or so of sawdust making that I've never attempted a M+T joint OR ever made a jig for my router table .

Sooo. To kill several birds with the same stone:

Behold my router table! Made from an old TV stand... Note: Aldi clamps aplenty!

Tennon jig was made from scrap of 6mm ply with an 18x32mm batton glued and screwed to it at right angles to the straight edge.

First ever attempt using a piece of scrap. Clamped it to the batton, over the ply and passed it over the cutter before flipping it over and repeating.

FIRST EVER ATTEMPT! EVER! \/

Done!

 

[Anonymous]

Good going for a first attempt, I'm impressed.
Bit concerned about the amount of space around cutter.

 

[eggflan]

Nice work Pren 8) , Simple and effective , you will be joining everything with M&Ts now :lol: . My first attempts at M&Ts was a complete disaster and i still manage to mess them up all the time and ive been doing them for ever or so it feels

 

[BradNaylor]

Basic principle is right, but if you're making a few doors I would advise investing in a groover like this
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... 0_130.html

and an arbour for it to go on like this
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... 8_131.html

That's your grooves and mortices sorted out. For your tenons I'd get one of these

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... n_209.html

Equipped with these you will find making your doors a lot simpler, quicker, more accurate, and safer. You will make the cost back many times over the coming years.

You might want to arrange some dust collection out of the back of your 'fence', too. A bit of waste pipe secured in place and with a vacuum hose attached is all you need.

Cheers
Dan

 

[George_N]

Basic principle is right, but if you're making a few doors I would advise investing in a groover like this
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... 0_130.html

and an arbour for it to go on like this
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... 8_131.html

That's your grooves and mortices sorted out. For your tenons I'd get one of these

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... n_209.html

Equipped with these you will find making your doors a lot simpler, quicker, more accurate, and safer. You will make the cost back many times over the coming years.

You might want to arrange some dust collection out of the back of your 'fence', too. A bit of waste pipe secured in place and with a vacuum hose attached is all you need.

Cheers
Dan

That's a useful tip Dan. I've made a few frame and panel doors out of MDF, 18 mm frames with 6 mm plain panel and I have used a 1/4" straight bit for all the grooves. I have used loose tenons, made from offcuts of the panel material to join the frames. This works well but you need to run rail ends with the workpiece standing vertically, with a relatively small surface in contact with the table (even with a backer block). A groover would certainly make that operation safer and more accurate.

 

[OPJ]

Nice work Pren.

How is the router fixed in your table? :shock:

I also use my router table to cut small tenons and have a similar problem with a straight cutter leaving a 'fluffy' edge. It cleans up with a careful bit of sanding but it might be time to invest in one of those cutters Dan suggested. :wink:

 

[pren]

Evenin' all.

Thanks for all the support! Muchly appreciated.

Dan: Thanks for those links. The groover (love the name - get images of Disco Stu :lol: ) looks like a rather useful bit of kit. I've got something similar for buiscuit jointing with a router, just not so versitile. I think one of them'll be finding it's way into my cutter box before long.

Eggflan: M+T's - Soooo much easier than dowel joints! I made up a F+P door in about 1/4 the time of a doweled one. Definitely the way to go.

OPJ: So you noticed my 'Franken-router table'.... I bodged it together back in my impetuous days before I found out how it was ment to be attatched, using a plate.

At the mo, i've got the base of the router passing through the table top, held in place with the two router fence arms being passed through their mountings and fixed to the underside of the table. (Clear as mud?) I'll get some pics of the underside at some point.

It's not an ideal set up ... but I don't dismount the router so it'll do until I get round to bodging up another table.. :lol: :roll:


Bryn