Loose tenon cutters?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Anyone know of a loose tenon joiners, like the Domino, but more reasonably priced than a Festool product?

[Uncle Cracker]

Anyone know of a loose tenon joiners, like the Domino, but more reasonably priced than a Festool product?

Even a Lamborghini is more reasonably priced than a Festool product...

[pelligrini]

Jessem just came out with a new jig.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=40794
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx...e=details#tabs

[Holbren]

Only similar I know of is the doweling machine from Triton.

[messmaker]

Freud and Harbor Freight also have doweling machines. You might want to look at a Mortise Pal. It is a template that lets you cut them with a router.Here is the link.http://www.mortisepal.com/

I think You can get a 15% discount If you ask for "Woodnet 15"

[drumpriest]

It's funny how these threads happen within 2 days of each other, and they are missed...

Also, you can cut them with a router...

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=27419

I think that dowel machine is a pretty good steal though, in terms of speedy joinery. Cutting with a router works well, but does take more time.

[jussi]

It's funny how these threads happen within 2 days of each other, and they are missed...

Also, you can cut them with a router...

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=27419

I think that dowel machine is a pretty good steal though, in terms of speedy joinery. Cutting with a router works well, but does take more time.

Great video Keith.

I was actually thinking of this post as I was watching an episode of Woodworks in which David Marks uses his multi-router. But I suppose one those will be probably be alot more than domino. However I have seen plans on Shop Notes on making a home made one.

[Bill in Buena Park]

All,
Thanks for the input - that MortisePal looks like a good solution; $199 seems pricey, but it looks to be very versatile. I wonder if there's an HF knock-off yet...

[Bill in Buena Park]

Keith,
Good video. I wasn't able to see if a guide/template was used in the operation, but the precision of the cut leads me to believe so (or it was incredibly good free-handing!). Regarding the bit used - can any straight bit be used for this, or is there a better recommendation?

[drumpriest]

Hi Bill, yeah, there is a micro-adjust edge guide being used to reference the edge of the workmate. In particular, this one...

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-RA1054-D...2021371&sr=8-1

You could just clamp a fence onto the workmate and run the router against that though, if you don't have an edge guide.

As to bit, I used a HSS spiral cutter, which allows for you to pluge straight down the depth of the mortise, if you use a straight bit it'll work, but you'll have to move the router back and forth constantly, as a mortising straight bit only has about 1/8" cut depth capacity. There are straight bits that won't work, if you have carbide above where the center post of the bit ends, it'll work.

The router bit that I used is 11$ at rockler, so it's not too big of an investment, and they last longer than you'd think. I use the HSS because it's less likely to break at that size than solid carbide.

[drumpriest]

Jussi, a multi-router is quite a bit more expensive, it's about 2700$, compared to the domino at 700$. The multi-router is quite a bit more flexible though, in terms of mortise lengths and depths, the domino only has 3 length options, and 4 width options, and limits the depth to about 1 1/8". The domino does the bulk of my mortise cutting now, but for something really large, I break out the router setup again.

[AlanWS]

If you have a router with an edge guide, and you want to cut mortises the width of your router bit, Tage Frid's jig works great:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/i...n=Custom&ID=29

You need to make sure to cut so the edge guide is to the right as the router moves forward, or the cut could deviate. This is one of the very first things I did with a router years ago, and I wish everything went a smoothly.

I made an opening in the bottom of the jig to run a stick vertically, so as to cut mortises in the ends of stock for inserted tenons. Stop blocks clamped to the jig make repeated cuts fast and accurate, even with funny angles. As I did not have a good vise at the time, I made the bottom of the jig stick out from the sides to make it easy to clamp to the bench.