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A Tall Lock Miter Joint Fence for Ken & Sid

9.9K views 30 replies 10 participants last post by  Jimwarren  
#1 · (Edited)
Hi Ken and Sid,

Here is the tall sliding fence I promised to show you. I got it from a tip on another web site. The first pic is the fence. 7" high mdf, jointed top and bottom and parallel. This can be clamped to your regular fence. Click to enlarge



Next pic with the sliding fence attached and a workpiece clamped in place.



Sliding fence details. The 2nd one is the back.





Here is the cut. You should do the cut in one go unless you are using plywood. Keep in mind that this is just construction quality Fir. Notice the blowout on the trails end. This is normal, but might be avoidable with a thin ply backer. I haven't tried it yet. When you run a piece through you have to apply medium hand pressure to the lower part of the workpiece, but not near the bit!





You can also do tenons with this fence. The workpiece is clamped for the face cuts. For the edge cuts I just left one of the workpieces in the clamp to act as a backer and I hand held the workpiece with the edge against the fence and the face held against the clamped piece. It worked just fine. The 2nd pic shows the tenon rounded for the poorly routed mortise in the 3rd pic.







What do you know, a perfect fit!



I hope this will help you guys out. let me know if you need any help with it.
 
#3 ·
Hi Gav,

I couldn't get them here either, so i designed and made my own. I have posted the clamps and a picture of templates for each part on another website. I will try to round it up and post it on a thread so a lot of people can benefit. I will reference it with your name so you can easily locate it.
 
#4 ·
Hi Mike

You don't need the super tall fence and the hold down if you do it the MLCS way,it's very quick and easy..and it comes out right on the button every time.

see video, same web page
MLCS lock mitre router bits
 
#6 ·
Hi BJ & Paulo,

Thanks for the advice. I did try the MCLS way and it worked, but I got tired real fast of taping and tape removal. Way too slow and messy! This fence whips them out in 1,2,3 and they are more stabile during the cut. And of course I get the added benefit of being able to cut tenons quick and easy too. I just hang the fence on the wall when it's not in use. I screw it onto my fence positioner when I want to use it and I can make precise fence adjustments with a turn of the knob, which is a big advantage when getting a lock miter bit adjusted just right. In fact I like it so well that I'm making another little clamp jig for the horizontal cuts.

Those shop made clamps look great Paulo and I'm sure they work real good too and are just as good as my clamps, but mine are a lot easier (read quicker to make) and cheaper. The only hardware required for mine is a nail and two wood screws to fasten it to a jig.
 
#10 ·
Hi Mike

I will agree that the tape is a PITA that's why I use a pin nailer :) just need to drive in a very small pin nail and it locked in place unlike the tape way.
You may say what about the holes from the nails they are so small on the stock and with a drop of water on the hole they are gone,as you know the pin nailes just push the stock to one side unlike a drill bit that removes the stock.

=====
 
#7 · (Edited)
Now Bj, will you believe me when I tell you that there are distinct advantages in using a tall fence. I've done perfect lock mitres in 3' tall 3/4" MDF without any form of added stabilisation, why don't you give a try sometime?
The first shot which I just pulled off the internet shows a 3' bathroom cabinet that I made about ten years ago with three mirror doors, no backing, I made MDF templates and got a glass specialist to make them complete with holes for the continental cabinet hinges.
The reason for it being on the web is that the house, which we sold a little over seven years ago for $160,000 is back on the market with an asking price "offers over $400.000" and I know they will get it. Whilst we only paid $12,700 brand new in Dec. 1967, we did an enormous amount to it.
Looking through the nine photos. indicates that internally, the only change other that the furniture, is a different dishwasher, light fittings, window treatments, floor coverings and décor, are all the same. Externally, gone are the manicured lawns, replaced with what looks like wild bush shrubs.
Anyone interested in taking a look, here is the link.

Real Estate for Sale: 40 Kenmare Avenue, Thornlie, WA - reiwa.com.au
 

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#11 ·
Hi Harry

I do use a tall fence but it's on my Horz.router table and it's always laying flat and true at a 90 degs. to the router bit.

why don't you give a try sometime?
========= ..



Now Bj, will you believe me when I tell you that there are distinct advantages in using a tall fence. I've done perfect lock mitres in 3' tall 3/4" MDF without any form of added stabilisation, why don't you give a try sometime?
The first shot which I just pulled off the internet shows a 3' bathroom cabinet that I made about ten years ago with three mirror doors, no backing, I made MDF templates and got a glass specialist to make them complete with holes for the continental cabinet hinges.
The reason for it being on the web is that the house, which we sold a little over seven years ago for $160,000 is back on the market with an asking price "offers over $400.000" and I know they will get it. Whilst we only paid $12,700 brand new in Dec. 1967, we did an enormous amount to it.
Looking through the nine photos. indicates that internally, the only change other that the furniture, is a different dishwasher, light fittings, window treatments, floor coverings and décor, are all the same. Externally, gone are the manicured lawns, replaced with what looks like wild bush shrubs.
Anyone interested in taking a look, here is the link.

Real Estate for Sale: 40 Kenmare Avenue, Thornlie, WA - reiwa.com.au
 
#13 ·
I know what you all are saying about tall fences I love them . My father in-law and I have a little contest going on . Who can make this and that better and cheaper . He likes his fences low and I like mine high . Here is a pic of my router table I made the fence was not finished when the pic was taken . I added a dist collector to it and I am still adding . I like to say ( Some like to ride high and dry and others low and slow but at the end it is all good .)

Image


Mike
 
#19 ·
Peter, during the 35 years that we were there we had three different water drilling people come in and drill bores and the maximum flow rate any of them achieved was 600 gallons per hour, not enough to water front and back gardens at the same time, so I installed a 1200 gallon tank and it filled from scheme water. There came a time when water restrictions were introduced and I was no longer allowed the fill the tank from mains water. I resurrected the last of the bores and fitted a 1HP pump to fill the tank. In order to make it automatically switch off a few inches from the top, I fitted an air pressure switch taken from an old Hoover washing machine where it was used to select high/low water level. Close to the bottom of the tank I fitted a 3HP pump which was controlled by a programmable timer where times and days were selected. It was still operating perfectly when we sold the place and presumably still is.
RETICULATION..The output from the tank supplied something like 32 sprinklers spread around the gardens, in other words a network of plastic water pipes.
 
#21 ·
Unfortunately yes Gavin, the water was basically ground water very high in Iron. Here we have a bore only 30' down which is probably into a running stream, the flow rate is around 2500 gallons per hour and only a trace of Iron with no smell.
 
#22 ·
Hi BJ,

I have to say that this fence is one of the handiest things I've made and I am very happy with it. Yesterday I routed 16 tenons with it. It was fast, accurate and easy and I didn't have to set up my horizontal table. The thought occurred to me that it would also be perfect to cut sliding dovetails with because I have my fence positioning jig attached to the tall fence and it would be very easy to make tiny adjustments to compensate for slightly different wood thicknesses when necessary. You should give it a try. Then you wouldn't have to nail stuff together and take it apart again. I just don't see that as efficient. However, I do respect that different people have different ways of doing different things. For example I often do mortises and tenons by hand because I'm not in the mood to have a screaming router and a vacuum going at the same time. I guess I'm lucky because I don't have to be efficient or productive. My main concern is just having fun.
 
#25 ·
Hmm, that wouldn't be destaco by chance would it ?
There's a distributor for them in Slovenia. Halder.si
A while back I came across Schachermayer d.o.o. . One thing that was promising with their website was that in the alati(tools) section, there was a picture of a toggle clamp. I went to their 'shop'/counter front wharehouse and was unimpressed with what was actually there. No toggle clamps, no, well most specialist things that you want basically. They do have a kind of t-track, and you can order festool router bits through them.