[old rebel]

I recently built the box joint jig shown in ShopNotes Magazine Issue #8 and could never get it to work exactly right as designed.

The problem was with the angle bracket "adjustable key". Since it is made from soft steel mending plates and one end is floating unsupported, lateral pressure from the router bit forces the wood against it and pushes it out of alignment. No matter how I tried, I could not get a consistent fiting joint with it. I finally gave up and modified it to use a piece of 1/4" steel for the alignment pin. It is no longer adjustable, but it cuts nicely fitting 1/4" box joints now. I suppose if you wanted to use it on a table saw it might work OK as originally designed, but hey, I wanted it to work with the router table.

Has anyone else tried this jig or is there a better design out there somewhere?

Thanks,

old rebel

 

[old rebel]

I like to build my own also g-man ........

I guess I should have asked, "Has anyone out there BUILT a better jig than this one?"

 

[old rebel]

I don't know what the jig looks like but since you have spent time making it maybe if someone could post a picture "we" might be able to suggest a fix. Or maybe someone has already thought up one??????

Ed

Well I uploaded a couple of pictures as file attachments, but I don't see them. Could someone help me with that?

Thanks

 

[old rebel]

OK, I'm trying again.

Thanks

 

[old rebel]

Here's a link to what it looks like when built to spec. http://store.yahoo.com/plansnow/boxjoint.html

Thanks again

 

[old rebel]

OK, now let me ask now you clamp the pieces to the jig? The only thing I can see that might be an issue is that the wood being cut will have to be clamped to be held in place you can not use the angle bracket to hold the wood in place. The bar stock you now have could be changed to wood or plastic the heavy metal should not be needed.

The jig I use on my table saw is not adjustable it is how ever very simple to make and you can make one for 1/4" and another for 3/8" and if you want one for 7/16". If you want detail let me know I will do a step by step for you (in a few days).

Ed

The stock to be cut is simply held by hand on the guide pin and fence. See the picture of this at http://store.yahoo.com/plansnow/boxjoint.html . The jigs I used before building this one were of the "fixed" pin type probably similar to the ones you describe. I still use them if I want a different size box joint, but this one looked really neat with all it's fancy micro adjustments and I thought it might be more versatile. Mostly I use the 1/4" box joint for about every thing i need to do.

Thanks again