Dovetailing Station

[LCHIEN]

OK, Larry, here's a Freebie for you.
How about use that back edge for router bit depth reference?
You can drill a series of 7/16 (or whatever the template guide OD is) hole about 1/4" deep centered on the back edge so you have a half circle, every 1.5 to 2".

When you have a critical router setup for your favorite thickness stock,
push the router template into the half-circle and let the dovetail bit cut a notch. Label the notch with the stock thickness. When you change bits or change stock then you can use the notch you made to set the router bit exactly the same depth by lowering the bit until it scratches the bottom or raise the bit until it just slides into the notch.

This will even work with those old 690 routers .

L.

[mater]

That is a very good idea Larry. I like it.

[lrogers]

You got it going on Larry! Nice bit of "work shop engineering".

[MBG]

Nice set-up Larry. I bought one of these a couple of months ago. I just used it for a real job this weekend making four drawers for my TS cabinet. The joints came out nice (except for the BB I was using splintering a couple of times) but someone needs do design a chip/dust shield for this puppy. I was watching the bit as I cut the joints - mostly because I was starting with a slight climb cut to reduce splintering. Even though I wore a face shield I was covered from head to toe on both sides with saw dust.


Mike

[THyman]

Larry,

Nice ideas. I built my own version a month or more ago. Things I like about yours include the idea of on-board storage for the router and bits and wrenches. It also looks nice.

Ideas I incorporated in mine I do not see on yours include a drawer (dovetailed of course) for storage of set-up aides, it is about 6 inches taller which helps me see what I am doing and helps my back, and it has side guides for both the drawer front piece (on the top) and the drawer side (the vertical piece. I find these additional guides to be a big help in getting pieces into the jig correctly. Mine is for my HF dovetail jig but would work for your nicer PC.

Jim

I too like Larry's design. It seems to cover a lot of the items that are required during set-up.

Jim,

Do you have pictures of your set-up? I would love to see how your compares.

Todd

[LarryG]

Do you have pictures of your set-up? I would love to see how your compares.

I'd like to see those, myself. I whipped up my design in a couple of hours because I had a pressing problem that desperately needed solving, and for now, mine does that. But as a newbie to dovetailing jigs I didn't really know what features I might incorporate, especially for additional storage, other than the blatantly obvious.

As regards height, at the moment my station does set up a little lower than optimum. I have a design for a new router table in mind that will allow me to raise it up about 6" higher (stay tuned; but at the same time, don't hold your breath ...).

[kyle.w]

my grandpa did that. looks good.

[JimD]

I added a piece of 1/2 BB to the side of my HF dovetail jig clamping bar for the drawer side (the vertical piece) that goes up against the wood to stop the splintering with BB plywood drawer sides. All you need is a scrap a couple inches tall. I installed it high enough it got cut the first drawer I did. It is screwed to the bar so I do not have to hang onto this piece when installing the drawer sides. I suspect this will work on other jigs but I do not know for sure.

Jim