Router Table Box/Finger joint jig

[MattRoberts]

A dado stack, a dado stack... My kingdom for a dado stack

 

[custard]

A dado stack, a dado stack... My kingdom for a dado stack

You probably think this heresy, but I've got one and yet hardly ever use it. I know some people swear by them for tenoning, but for me they fall between two stools.

-If I've got loads of tenons I'll take the time to set up the spindle moulder with twin tenoning heads and proper tenoning guarding, then cut the shoulders and cheeks together in a single pass. Clean and precise, but there's maybe an hour or so set up time and it'll need a few test components.

-If there's just a few tenons I'll cut the shoulders on the table saw and cut the cheeks on the bandsaw with spacer blocks. Maybe ten minutes set up time, but a bit of cleaning up usually required on each component

-If I'm doing angled tenons for say a chair then I'll build a fixture to hold the workpiece in the correct orientation, load the spindle moulder with a pair of thin grooving cutters, and cut the cheeks that way. Then cut the shoulders by hand and settle down for a bit of scribing and fitting to achieve a perfect glue line.

As for rebates, okay, but no real advantage over a router table or spindle moulder. In fact you can use a scribing head and power feed on the spindle moulder for a faster, cleaner, safer rebating job all round.

Maybe all the dado stack love actually dates back to the days when many workshops had a table saw, a thicknesser, and not much else?

 

[MattRoberts]

Sure there are other methods, but surely it's the easiest and fastest method of hogging out a large amount of material.

I suspect the amount of American woodworking videos on YouTube has an affect on the appeal!

 

[transatlantic]

Sure there are other methods, but surely it's the easiest and fastest method of hogging out a large amount of material.

I suspect the amount of American woodworking videos on YouTube has an affect on the appeal!

I guess it depends on your saw. I know a lot of them are very fiddly to change the blade on, or so I've heard. Where as I would have thought a spindle molder would be easier?

 

[memzey]

I don't have a spindle molder but the sliding table on my old Wadkin dimension saw pulls out a good few inches making blade changes a doddle. I know Custard isn't a fan of them as he's mentioned before (and to be honest he's probably forgotten more about woodworking than I will ever know so his opinion carries a lot more weight than mine) but I find the dado stack to be the easiest, quickest and most accurate way of milling rebates, housings and groves at my disposal. It's also excellent for when you want to waste away material for half laps as the speed and repeatability mean that as long as your stock is uniform in thickness your half laps will always be flush.

 

[pops92]

Folowing this thread with interest as I am halfway through finishing a variation on this one http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-a-Variable-Box-Joint-Jig/
When saw the piece about grooving blades,which I knew nothing about. As my bench saw takes 254mm dia and can only find 150mm dia will these work?
Silly question I suppose but this is new stuff to me.
I was thinking wider blade fewer passes with a single blade would I be right or not.
Realise big gap around blade.
Opinions please?

 

[monkeybiter]

Your TS will take blades up to 254mm, so a 150mm groover will be OK as long as the spindle diameter matches. Mine is a 305mm and I use a 150mm groover.

 

[pops92]

That's great thanks,yeah the bore is 30mm on mine the same as the grooved blades that were shown on an earlier thread.
Never would of realised these existed without you knowledgeable guys on here.

 

[woodbrains]

Folowing this thread with interest as I am halfway through finishing a variation on this one http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-a-Variable-Box-Joint-Jig/
When saw the piece about grooving blades,which I knew nothing about. As my bench saw takes 254mm dia and can only find 150mm dia will these work?
Silly question I suppose but this is new stuff to me.
I was thinking wider blade fewer passes with a single blade would I be right or not.
Realise big gap around blade.
Opinions please?

Hello,

Possibly not, in fact, since the peripheral speed of the smaller blade will probably not be fast enough. A 10 inch saw has its speed optimised for that size blade, and within reason a slightly smaller or larger one can be used. But generally I would say an 8 inch is as small as I would go. Poor cutting performance is likely and tear out increases with reduction in diameter. A 6 inch blade is not likely to have enough teeth at the speed your saw spins. For box joints, a ripping blade is what is needed and these have even less teeth. I run 6 inch groovers on a spindle at 6800 rpm.


Mike.

 

[pops92]

Ok with you on that, do you know if they do 254mm grooving disc's as I am having a problem finding them?

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've never seen a 10" dado stack, but both Freud and Woodford do 8" (200mm) dado stacks that are well respected, provided you can use them in a way that does not foul HSE guidelines. It is possible, it's not easy.

I have the Freud, I believe Myfordman has both.

 

[woodbrains]

Ok with you on that, do you know if they do 254mm grooving disc's as I am having a problem finding them?

Hello,

Since they are primarily spindle tooling, possibly not, and may be very expensive if they exist.

If you are thinking of a groover with a kerf wider than a standard saw blade, then I think you are stuck with spindle groovers. However you can get TS blades with a flat top tooth form in a rip blade. Obviously you can get these in any size you need to suit your saw. They are capable of cutting (superb) tenons on the TS with the right jig which you will probably find even more useful. I have a Trend one which I use for grooving drawer sides with perfectly flat bottoms and tenons with dead flat shoulders. Since my TS will not take a dado stack, I use a incra ibox jig on the router table. They will give perfectly tear out free joints, since you can place spelch boards front and back of the work piece. I have used shop made jigs, too.
My advice would be to keep them simple. Geared leadscrews seems unnecessary. The idea is the comb joints self jig by sitting in a peg with the right spacing away from the cutter to form the next slot.they are dead easy to make and never go out of adjustment. Can't see the point in being over complicated here.
Mike.

 

[MattRoberts]

Folowing this thread with interest as I am halfway through finishing a variation on this one http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-a-Variable-Box-Joint-Jig/
When saw the piece about grooving blades,which I knew nothing about. As my bench saw takes 254mm dia and can only find 150mm dia will these work?
Silly question I suppose but this is new stuff to me.
I was thinking wider blade fewer passes with a single blade would I be right or not.
Realise big gap around blade.
Opinions please?

I have the 150mm grooving blade I linked earlier running in my 10" (250mm) tablesaw.

Obviously you get a very small cutting depth (roughly 20mm - 30mm off the top of my head). Just be very careful to check for full clearance as I mentioned earlier

 

[pops92]

Is the supplier you mentioned earlier in the thread the on you use Matt?

 

[MattRoberts]

Yeah, http://bivenmachinerysales.co.uk

 

[pops92]

Thanks Matt
Got your PM very helpful should have my jig finished by Sunday so see how it goes. :? :?

 

[MattRoberts]

Great stuff - let us know how you get on. And be safe!

 

[Moonsafari69]

Hi pops92, would be great to see some pics when you have finished the build. You're down the road from me so could pop over to have a peek when all's finished if that works for you?

 

[pops92]

Here's some photos now it's as good as finished.Only have 2 clamping nobs left to make.
Works well considering it's my first attempt,just cot a single blade finger slot to try it out.

 

[MattRoberts]

Looks great, nice one!