Clamping to Incra Right Angle Fixture

[MikeWhy]

I'm having the most difficult time clamping boards to the Incra jig's right angle fixture to make the tail cuts. I would appreciate any help and advice on how to do this consistently (and hopefully quickly and efficiently).

I've tried parallel clamps (as shown in the manuals and videos), Bessey clamps, and most recently, with a jig fixture clamp in the T-slots. The Kreg pocketscrew vise-grip like clamp works well enough for me, but the wife has difficulty clamping with enough tension. It's always hit or miss, taking several attempts before it sits square, straight, and flush. Surely, not everyone has this problem.

I lock the fixture to the fence (such as that were) with the middle screw, and weight down the back of the fixture with a jar of coins to balance out the clamp's weight. The t-slot clamp would almost work, but tends to pull the board a little as it snaps over into the lock position. The Bessey and parallel clamps seem to need more hands than the two I have.

The fence is square upright to the table. The right angle fixture is square to the fence and table. The router insert is flush with the table, and not free to move. The stock is square, straight, and flat.

As critical as this operation is to even passable joints, I find the right angle fixture extremely difficult to get right. I've tried everything I can think of, short of just holding the boards by hand. (Does that work?) Maybe it would help if you would talk me through your procedures and setup. Joann, my wife, is new to woodworking, and frustrated now close to giving up. (She wants to build a table while we figure things out. Go figure.)

Thanks. Mike.

[J. Clarke]

I generally use a couple of Irwin quick-grip mini (note the "mini"--you want the ones with that on the label) clamps. They've got sufficient force for most jobs and they're small and light enough to not overbalance the jig. When they don't have enough force I use the Irwins to hold things together while I put on a couple of good old-fashioned C-clamps.

On the Irwins, when you get them, wipe the bars with lacquer thinner--sometimes they come with oil on them and that will make them slip. You may have to clean them several times before they hold reliably.

Before clamping the work to the jig, carefully align all the pieces to be cut and clamp them together (if they're long enough to allow this)--a couple more Irwins can be handy here.

[MikeWhy]

Thanks, John. I do have a couple of Irwins buried in the shop somewhere, but I'm pretty sure they're not the minis. I'll dig them out give them a try. In the meantime, is this the one you had in mind:

Is the difference just in the length of the bar?

I also tried adding a "fence" bar on the free end of the RA fixture, so a jig clamp would just pull the work tight to that when it snaps over. That works, but the edge needs to be tall enough the tallest stack, including backing boards. Otherwise, the front board can still shift when it pulls over into lock. That said, it's way overkill for registering just two sets of cuts. Maybe on a long production run... ;)

And if we're going that route... I wonder if there isn't a market for a CNC router with a limited work envelope, just large enough to cut the end of a board. Sort of like a Leigh jig, but without the fingers, and the router moves itself.

I think I'll push her gently toward hand cutting the dovetails. (Talk about spiralling into the toolbin black hole.) I just wanted her to have a quick success on a first project. Maybe she's right. The side table has larger details, more room to hide slight misalignments. What was I thinking anyway with gas tight dovetails for the newbie.

[J. Clarke]

Those are the ones. They're like the regular Quick Grips but the whole clamp is about 2/3 the size.

Such a thing exists.

I think I'll push her gently toward hand cutting the dovetails. > (Talk

If you want her to achieve quick success with a first project it might be best to start small and simple. If she can work all the way through "Box by Box"

she'll have learned a tremendous amount of technique at low risk, low cost, and on a small scale. It's not really a "teach yourself" book--if you can give her some coaching it will go a long way, and if you have a bandsaw and a planer to rip 2x6s into project wood then the materials cost becomes practically nothing.

[MikeWhy]

she'll have learned a tremendous amount of technique at low risk, low

For sure. Even good clear pine is plenty cheap too. But I don't mind the expense so much. You'll use up paint when you're learning to paint, so we laid in 20 bdf of 1/2" hardwoods for her, figuring she could work her way through the Incra box book. No dice on that, though. She got spooked when her first practice cuts came out less than perfect.