Louvre Door Jig Measurements

[RayintheUK]

I've got several louvre doors to make, so a jig is obviously the answer for consistency. I thought I'd kept the NYW program which contained Norm's jig, but it seems I've wiped it from the recorder's hard drive.

I remember most of the principles of the design of the jig, but I'm having trouble over one part of it. In my "initial thoughts" drawing, I plotted the size of cutter (6mm or 1/4") in a 20mm (approx 3/4") guide bush, so that I could work out the length of travel at an angle of 60 degrees in 3/4" stock. That went OK. This means that the slats will be approx 3/4" x 1/4" x length required, and I'm fairly certain that the jig was based on 2" on center holes, prior to cutting the extended slots on the bandsaw (with another jig to get the 60 degree angle).

What I can't seem to figure out is that in my drawing, there is no overlap of the slats - when viewed from slightly above, all would be well, but one of the doors will be viewed straight on and I'm certain that you'd be able to see through it. I don't remember Norm cutting shoulders on each slat - that might overcome the problem, but is tons of extra (and fiddly!) work.

So, here's my question: has anyone got the episode or the plans from it? If so, could you confirm a few things for me:

The angle of the slats (I'm sure it's 60 degrees, but ..... )
Diameter of the initial holes (the ones that are turned into slots by bandsawing)
The distance of the initial holes from the inside edge
Distance between holes (I thought it was 2" on center)

I'll be using 3/4" hardwood stiles and want to make a decent job of the doors, as they'll be on daily view.

TIA!

Ray.

[jarhead]

Ray,
Funny you should mention... last weekend I was going over some old VCR tapes and in one of the Norm's projects he was building a cabinet with louvre doors. I will watch the tape and try to get the information to you by tomorrow.

[WayneJ]

Ray
I was watching NYW this weekend on PBS. The show was routers 101 part 2and he was showing the jigs and templates that he uses. He showed that template hanging on his wall, but I guess that won't do you any good.Hope Jarheads tape will help
Wayne

[jarhead]

The angle of the slats (I'm sure it's 60 degrees, but ..... )
Diameter of the initial holes (the ones that are turned into slots by bandsawing)
The distance of the initial holes from the inside edge
Distance between holes (I thought it was 2" on center)

The angle of the slats is 25 degrees. The diameter of the holes is 1/2". He didn't mention the distance from the edge or between the holes (I guess that depends how far apart you want the slats to be).
[edit]If you think it would help, I can create an MPEG file for you.[/edit]

[RayintheUK]

The angle of the slats is 25 degrees. The diameter of the holes is 1/2". He didn't mention the distance from the edge or between the holes (I guess that depends how far apart you want the slats to be).
[edit]If you think it would help, I can create an MPEG file for you.[/edit]

Thanks for that, I really appreciate it - I've sent you a PM

Ray.

[RayintheUK]

Update

Thanks to jarhead, I now have the relevant part of the program on my hard drive. I was able to solve some memory issues and I'm well on the way to completing the jig and making my first custom louvre panel.

Just wanted to say a public "Thank you" to jarhead for his unstinting help and assistance - great job!

Ray.

[jarhead]

Ray,
I am very happy that I was able to assist in some way. The phone call to express your gratitude was a nice touch. It's amazing how things work... had I not stumbled on some old unlabeled VCR tapes, we would not be having this conversation. Please make sure to post some pictures of the progress.

[RayintheUK]

FINAL UPDATE - The Jig is built!

This update is mainly for jarhead, but it may interest a few others along the way.

In spite of all the effort, I still didn't have a measurement of the overall width of the 25 degree "chevrons" in the jig, so I got to thinking and decided to make some modifications.

Instead of setting strips of ply in dados to act as a saddle for the two stiles, I decided to screw saddle strips to the underside. This now means that - as I had cut the chevrons wider than needed for the current use - I can now use the same jig for stock much wider than 3/4" - I'll just have to reposition the saddle strips underneath. Here's what I mean:



I thought about using a couple of straight-edge clamps on the jig face to set the routing distance for each operation, but decided that it would be a pain. Instead, I screwed on the outer limiting strips (again, so that I can re-use the jig for widths greater than 3/4" stock) and made a spacer to restrict the inner travel on each side. The spacer required was 3/4" for a 3/4" stile because the outer limiters were the same distance from each side. Here it is, in place for routing the right-hand slots:



Here it is ready to do the left-hand slots:



The jig works by clamping the two stiles into my WorkMate, then dropping the jig over them, aligning vertically and clamping:



Here's the result of the first test run on some scrap 3/4" ply:



Finally, here's the first sample dry-fitted. The custom panels will be made in hardwood, so I'm hoping for some good results now.



The jig was slightly easier to cut on the bandsaw than in Norm's version, because I've got a WoodHaven miter gauge which goes all the way round the angles and could be locked at 25 degrees (without the need to make an additional sled for the bandsaw, thank goodness!).

Thanks for looking.

Ray.