Tarkin
Established Member
There was a big debate in the forums not that long ago about whether or not the Trend mortice and tenon jig was worth £170 (I don't think it is...). This led to a somewhat heated debate about whether or not you could build you own, with some people saying they couldn't work out how to, and some saying they could.
I've gone and made my own (based on the trend one), well, actually it's two jigs, one for tenon's and one for mortices.
And don't worry, i'm not going to tell you how to use the bloody thing - David Free has laboured that one long enough! :lol:
Oh, and if some of the WIP pics look a little contrived, it's because they are....I forgot to take them. :roll:
Part one - Tenon Jig
The base is basically just a t-section of MDF, with some braces, and a right angle support to fix the work piece to so that it's held square, the big hole is for my clamps.
On top of that, the sub-base gets permanently fixed. It's got oak runners to make sure the top-base rides perpendicular to the work-piece. The cut out is to allow access to the work piece and some wing nuts that are under the top-base, and the slots ar for the fixing bolts for the top-base.
The sub-base fixed to the base (lots of base's in this!!! :lol
The top base has a cut out into which the router bit plunges. The top runner is fixed in place, and has a rebate under it to hold the tenon-sizers.
The lower runner is movable to allow for different thickness' of tenon. You can see the wingnuts proping it up which locks the lower runner in place.
All the base's together (finally).
I forgot to take pics of me actually making the tenon sizers, but here's the finished article. The rounded template part is made form acrylic so that the points dont break as easy.
I have sets to make 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and 5/8" tenons, but making more would be easy. The magic formula for calculating the radius of the template curve is: radius of router collar + radius of router bit + half the thickness of the tenon. In my case, this was a headache, because I use imperial bits and tenon's, but have a 30mm collar on my router...
Here's the whole thing assembled with a bit of scrap oak ready for a test cut...
And the result:
It made a near perfect tenon first time - if you look closley you can see where the oruter slipped and cut into the tenon... (there's always room for improvment). If you swap the tenon-sizers about (putting left into right side etc.) you will get a square tenon too.
Part two - Mortice Jig
Perhaps not necessary, but as i don't like the fence that came with my router, a Freud FT2200VCE (but then, I've never seen a router fence I do like except a porter cable, especially the makita one which is rubbish), I thought it was a good idea. It could also be used as a sort of small router table, cutting rebates and such if you wanted.
This is the (completed) top plate (i forgot to take any WIP pics). As seen for the top, bottom and a close up. The width of the cut out is exactly 30mm (for my guide bush). The 2 small blocks move to create an opening to whatever size I want and lock with bolts and wing nuts. The slots are for moving it across the workpeice.
The base is very simple this time, the holes in the top are for the locking bolts.
The whole thing put together:
And finally, using the jig to rout a mortice for the tenon:
The finished product!
I may well go back and put some hardwood guide strips on the mortice jig like on the tenon one, as I think it would speed up the setting of the jig (which requires a menagerie of gauge blocks!). I suppose you could add thumb screw micro adjusters on threaded rod to the jigs to make it more precise, but I got very good results without them.
Anyway, hope you like the jigs, if anyone wants more details etc, don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers!
edit: fixed the pics... :?
I've gone and made my own (based on the trend one), well, actually it's two jigs, one for tenon's and one for mortices.
And don't worry, i'm not going to tell you how to use the bloody thing - David Free has laboured that one long enough! :lol:
Oh, and if some of the WIP pics look a little contrived, it's because they are....I forgot to take them. :roll:
Part one - Tenon Jig
The base is basically just a t-section of MDF, with some braces, and a right angle support to fix the work piece to so that it's held square, the big hole is for my clamps.
On top of that, the sub-base gets permanently fixed. It's got oak runners to make sure the top-base rides perpendicular to the work-piece. The cut out is to allow access to the work piece and some wing nuts that are under the top-base, and the slots ar for the fixing bolts for the top-base.
The sub-base fixed to the base (lots of base's in this!!! :lol
The top base has a cut out into which the router bit plunges. The top runner is fixed in place, and has a rebate under it to hold the tenon-sizers.
The lower runner is movable to allow for different thickness' of tenon. You can see the wingnuts proping it up which locks the lower runner in place.
All the base's together (finally).
I forgot to take pics of me actually making the tenon sizers, but here's the finished article. The rounded template part is made form acrylic so that the points dont break as easy.
I have sets to make 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and 5/8" tenons, but making more would be easy. The magic formula for calculating the radius of the template curve is: radius of router collar + radius of router bit + half the thickness of the tenon. In my case, this was a headache, because I use imperial bits and tenon's, but have a 30mm collar on my router...
Here's the whole thing assembled with a bit of scrap oak ready for a test cut...
And the result:
It made a near perfect tenon first time - if you look closley you can see where the oruter slipped and cut into the tenon... (there's always room for improvment). If you swap the tenon-sizers about (putting left into right side etc.) you will get a square tenon too.
Part two - Mortice Jig
Perhaps not necessary, but as i don't like the fence that came with my router, a Freud FT2200VCE (but then, I've never seen a router fence I do like except a porter cable, especially the makita one which is rubbish), I thought it was a good idea. It could also be used as a sort of small router table, cutting rebates and such if you wanted.
This is the (completed) top plate (i forgot to take any WIP pics). As seen for the top, bottom and a close up. The width of the cut out is exactly 30mm (for my guide bush). The 2 small blocks move to create an opening to whatever size I want and lock with bolts and wing nuts. The slots are for moving it across the workpeice.
The base is very simple this time, the holes in the top are for the locking bolts.
The whole thing put together:
And finally, using the jig to rout a mortice for the tenon:
The finished product!
I may well go back and put some hardwood guide strips on the mortice jig like on the tenon one, as I think it would speed up the setting of the jig (which requires a menagerie of gauge blocks!). I suppose you could add thumb screw micro adjusters on threaded rod to the jigs to make it more precise, but I got very good results without them.
Anyway, hope you like the jigs, if anyone wants more details etc, don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers!
edit: fixed the pics... :?
