Box joint jig, first box joints

[cgallery]

A few months ago I purchased an Incra positioner for my router table. Works nicely, but still requires a fair bit of setup to use it. I've barely touched it.

Then a few days ago L.D. Jeffries posted someting about the Woodline Route-R-Joint in this thread:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=30282

It looked interesting. Ken Massingale then mentioned the Oak Park units (they call them spacer fences). Now that looked even easier to setup!

I made my own version of the Oak Park units. I have a Rockler router lift. It has two screw holes for attaching a pivot on either side of the bit. I was able to use those for mounting my version. One hole in my spacer fence gets a 1/4" flat-head screw (acting as a pivot). The other side is slotted and I use a knob so I can fine-tune the spacing.

This really couldn't be easier. To setup, place a brass setup bar between the bit and the fence. Raise the bit slighly higher than the thickness of the wood, and then go to it.

I still have to make an appropriate push block. And I have to finish my 3/8" and 1/2" fences, too. I guess the 3/8" fence can also be used for dovetails.

[gwyneth]

Very nice jig and result.

The idea of making them on the saw has always scared me, but there's a lot more info about doing it that way than on the router table.

[Ken Massingale]

More detail, please. I'm a tad slow on how this is used. It's got to work great, those joints look perfect.
Thanks.

[Popeye]

I'm with Ken. A photo series for us jig challenged folks please. Pat

[JR]

I stared at this thing in confusion for quite some time last night. I determined that the not-yet-made pusblock is the key to the mystery. You have to turn the boards on end and push through on a line parallel to the fence. First one, then both overlapped.

The pushblock will tell all, IMO.

Or I'm wrong. Whichever.


JR

[cgallery]

More detail, please. I'm a tad slow on how this is used. It's got to work great, those joints look perfect.
Thanks.

The Oak Park guys call theirs a spacer fence. Kind of a confusing name.

Theirs mounts to a router table with clamps. My idea was to use the two threaded holes on the top of my router lift (normally used for a starter pin) to eliminate the need for clamps.

I use a flat-head screw on the right, and a knob with a 1/4" post on the left. The left hole on my spacer fence is slotted (about 1/4" x 1/2"), so I can pivot the spacer fence to make tiny adjustments to the spacing between the bit and that 1/4" strip of maple you see (which is really the actual fence).

I'm using this router lift:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10777&cs=1

(Link was slow when I wrote this, hopefully faster by now).

It is actually incredibly simple in practice but kind of hard to describe. Let me know if there is an area of my description that requires improvement.

BTW, I have never made box joints before. This was the first time. I can imagine I'm going to make them all the time now. This spacer fence makes setup less than a two-minute job.

And it is extremely precise. In fact, that joint I show went through twice. The first time I had set the bit depth so the joint would be perfectly flush (and it was perfect--ready for glue).

But then I wondered what it would look like if the ends were about 1/32" proud. I raised the bit and ran the piece through again. The joint was still snug, everything still fit perfectly, ready for glue. And I kinda like the look for a small box.

[cgallery]

I stared at this thing in confusion for quite some time last night. I determined that the not-yet-made pusblock is the key to the mystery. You have to turn the boards on end and push through on a line parallel to the fence. First one, then both overlapped.

The pushblock will tell all, IMO.

Or I'm wrong. Whichever.

JR

No, you've got it. In fact, there is a video on the Oak Park page:

http://us.oak-park.com/catalogue.html?list=boxj--

I don't like their push block. I will make something that rides the 1/4" strip and has a higher front fence for better 90-degree alignment.

That joint I made in my photo, though, was very nearly freehand (I used a scrap piece of wood as a backer and to keep it pretty lined-up).

Oh, and I didn't cut both pieces at the same time (clamped together) like they did. I did one at a time. They still fit together perfectly.

My version has the knob proud of the surface, which means it can only be used for making joints in the end-grain. In the next version I will probably allow for using either a knob or a screw below the surface so I don't really give anything up.

I think my real contribution was using the screw holes in the router lift itself. First, my pivot method allows extremely precise adjustment. Also, I don't have to worry about any slop between the router lift and the rest of the table causing problems in my joint. Sure, I have my router lift perfectly snug in my table, but attaching directly to the lift removes the variable entirely.

[JR]

I forgot to say, that once my pea brain got around the whole thing, I like it! My most recent box-joint jig was a massive Rub Goldberg affair. This is much more compact and efficient.

Nice!

JR

[radhak]

After ages of searching for an easy way of box-joints on the router, finally i see one! Thanks a ton! Now a project that's collecting dust for months can come alive!

Elegantly simple - the type that makes me slap my forehead ('Duh - why did i not think of that!').

And yes, the pictorial (not video) help on RouterWorkshop makes it crystal clear.

Only thing is, I don't see a need for the 'offset block' to cut the first groove on the end pieces. I would use the side piece - slide it along it's first groove on the fence so that it's 1st 'finger' serves as the offset for the sidepiece for its first cut for the groove, like this - but the router instead of the TS.

[ragswl4]

That method could make it tough to hold. If you offset the second piece behind the first, you could cut both at the same time or clamp four boards together with 2 offset and cut four at once. Speeds it up even more and you could be sure they would all line up. Then flip the boards over, reclamp and cut the other sides. Box done.

Nice jig by the way, on its way to the copy machine. I have the Incra Ultra 24 and all those templates that come with it. It can be time consuming to set up but makes great boxjoints and dovetails once set. Finding the middle of the stock to be cut is the most difficult part.