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Horz. router - Joint-Matic

7519 Views 7 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  reible, 
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7
Hi,

Last fall just before the snow and cold set in I went ebay shopping and found this Shopsmith Joint-Matic. They no longer make this machine but several other vendors have something like it. This one comes from 1992 and was a revised version of a machine that was built by Strong Industries... (See the first image)

I will not go into too much detail here but if you have some questions ask away, I also have not done much with it yet so be aware I might not be able to answer things if they get to detailed.

I decided to use a spair 690 base I had to mount on the machine, since I will not be spinning any large bits this single speed router should work fine. (The limit is 1-1/2" dia.) (Image 6)

The crank moves the router and slide 1/16" per turn, thus a half turn is 1/32" and a quarter turn is 1/64". The zero point is at the center of the bit so if you wanted to put a mortise in the center of a piece of 3/4" stock you would make 6 turns. Like wise to make box joints it is just a matter of counting turns.

Of course you can make a lot of different joints on the machine and I will not get into details about that list or details.

Some of the features are:

A feather board kit can also be added to provide downward force. (Second image)

An adjustable scale for reference. (See image 3)

The miter gauge slot in the table which can be used for the miter gauge or for feather boards. It also works for an extension table and bevel gauge which I do not have (yet). (See image 4)

A stop rod. (See image 5)

A dust collector port. (See image 7)

A bit guard (not shown).

Today was the first day to make some saw dust with it. Didn't make any projects yet but played with some scrap wood... It looks like a very good addition to my tool collection.

Ed

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B
Hi Ed

I made one like this and used it for putting in mortise slots and it worked great for that but for most of the cuts it wanted to pickup the stock and pull it out of my hands.
I tried to use a feather board but it did the same thing but with a jam on the molding bit that shot the stock across the shop like a arrow.
I said that's it, gone.
I had it hanging on the back side of the router table then I took it off and gave the parts to my son to make a router table.
But I still have 2" x 1 1/2" slot for the bit in my router table and the vac. pickup port.

Please Let me know how it works out for you.

Bj :)
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J
I made a horizontal router table based on pictures and description in Carol Reed's router book,while most horizontal routers work about the same I really like the dust collection on yours. I use mine mostly for mortises.

Regards

Jerry
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B
Ed

Just for kicks take a look at the links below.
Now that you have one it would be nice to have this also.

http://cgi.ebay.com/W061-Shop-Smith...ameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

http://cgi.ebay.com/W086-Shop-Smith...ryZ20791QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Bj :)
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B
Just two more links for kicks

Bj :)

http://stores.ebay.com/PATENT-PLACE-USA
http://stores.ebay.com/PATENT-PLACE-USA_T-TOOLS-HARDWARE_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ9QQftidZ2QQtZkm
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R
[QUOTE=bobj3]Hi Ed

I made one like this and used it for putting in mortise slots and it worked great for that but for most of the cuts it wanted to pickup the stock and pull it out of my hands.
I tried to use a feather board but it did the same thing but with a jam on the molding bit that shot the stock across the shop like a arrow.
I said that's it, gone.
I had it hanging on the back side of the router table then I took it off and gave the parts to my son to make a router table.
But I still have 2" x 1 1/2" slot for the bit in my router table and the vac. pickup port.

Please Let me know how it works out for you.

Bj :)[/QUOTE] I'm sorry you had issues with yours. It really shouldn't be much different then a standard table based system. You do how ever feed left to right. You do not trap the wood between the table and bit and you don't try to do small parts. So far I have not had any "arrows" or other odd effects in fact it seems very stable and easy to use.

I'm planning on doing some box joints for drawers in the next while just to see how that works then on to some more tricky things... I really want to make this a working addition to the shop.

Ed
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bobj3 said:
Ed

Just for kicks take a look at the links below.
Now that you have one it would be nice to have this also.

http://cgi.ebay.com/W061-Shop-Smith-Jointmatic-Joint-Matic-1979-Patent_W0QQitemZ7594576888QQcategoryZ20789QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

http://cgi.ebay.com/W086-Shop-Smith-Adjustable-Miter-Slot-Patent-Art-Print_W0QQitemZ7594584224QQcategoryZ20791QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Bj :)
Click to expand...
The second link is for the Adjustable Miter Slot which was one of the things I got to play with as the J-M is equipped with that feature. First time experence.

Ed
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jerrymayfield said:
I made a horizontal router table based on pictures and description in Carol Reed's router book,while most horizontal routers work about the same I really like the dust collection on yours. I use mine mostly for mortises.

Regards

Jerry
Click to expand...
I did a trial of the mortise setup and I can see that being one of the things this tool will do well.

The dust collector works well... better then I thought it would anyway. I had it hooked to my shop vac but forgot to turn it on for the first few cuts... daaaa.

If you get some time would you mind posting a picture of yours? I haven't seen the book you mentioned.

Ed
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