I'm planning on the purchase of a finger joint and/or box joint bit. I was wondering about the re-adjustment of these bits to rout the matching joint.
I'm thinking that I could create a matched set of samples and adjust the router bit to match them. I was wondering if there were any other shortcuts? ~ Thanks
I clamp all the pieces together and route them all at the same time, flipping two pieces over when finished to assemble.
basilisk
---------------------------------------------------------- I use a sled and my T/S for box joints.
Have individual sleds for 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4".
BTW, you need a flat bottom blade, I use a 24 T rip.
Lew
These guys have some nice jigs for box joints.
Good luck.
I would imagine that with a finger joint bit you could simply change the height of the bit for the mating piece and test on scraps. Having a couple of scraps for set up would probably be a good idea too. IIRC Jesada, remember them, sold or included plastic set up block for their rail and stile bit sets.
My method is simply to test on scraps as I am not always going to want to have the profile in the same place, with rail and stile bits. It would make more sense to have the scrap set up pieces for the finger joint bit.
Now, considering box joints, I used to cut them with my Leigh Jig. It did a great job with a carbide spiral bit but unfortunately set up was trial and error by adjusting the adjustable router collet. It was time consuming.
I now use the Incra iBox box joint jig on my TS with my dado set. The iBox can also be used on a router table. The beauty of the iBox is that you can make any size box joint, the size of the bit or stacked dado set is not important, you make a test cut and adjust the jig to the width of the test cut.
Larry
I was like that the first couple of times but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
I have the Incra system on my router table and have used it many times for various box joints. Once the 'futzing' has ended it becomes second nature and works perfectly. There was on time however when I had to make
24 shallow trays for my wife's glass studio and spent $60 for the Freud box joint table saw blade set. I'll probably never go back to the router table for square peg box joints again unless I need something other than 1/4" or 3/8" fingers. The big difference is speed. With the router table you need to go slow, with the table saw you can go much faster and still get super clean cuts. Now if someone would just make a dado blade set with the outer blades equipped with dovetail angled teeth (perhaps to a depth of 1"), dovetails would be just as simple.-Bruce
I second that. I have another brand jig but the Freud saw blade kit rocks!
---------------------------------------------------------- "Lew Hodgett" wrote
-------------------------------------------------------- DOH!
Yes, you need a flat bottom blade for dado type cuts, but you need a stacked dado and a sled for box joints.
Lew
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