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"What is it?" #146

3858 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Gilbear
Some of these are just to easy....... so this time I want someone who has never played the game here to take a shot at it. So if you have never done a "What is it?" give it a try.

For 200 points tell me what this tool is and how it might be used, if you are the first newbe with the right answer you win!

Now remember this is for people who have not done one of these "What is it?" before......... come on give it a try...... yea you reading this post.....

ED

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That looks like the Incra Jig and fence set-up.
I use one for a lot of general routing where I want to make repeatable cuts but I suppose it's main selling theme is for making dovetails, double-dovetails, sliding dovetails and box joints with a high degree of precision. They actually work very nicely, even though made out of a plastic material. They are a two piece sliding fence adjustment jig with adjustable scales and locking teeth to align the fence in 1/32" increments for making repeat cuts. You've also got their right angle fixture and a shop made mounting board for it.

Yikes Ed, I think that may have been the first one I actually recognized. Your shop must be loaded with stuff.

Thanks for all the time you invest in these - actually very entertaining and educational to boot. YDM.
Gil
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Dan said:
Whatever it is, I didn't break it!
Hi Dan,

Like your sence of humor!


Ed
Gilbear said:
That looks like the Incra Jig and fence set-up.
I use one for a lot of general routing where I want to make repeatable cuts but I suppose it's main selling theme is for making dovetails, double-dovetails, sliding dovetails and box joints with a high degree of precision. They actually work very nicely, even though made out of a plastic material. They are a two piece sliding fence adjustment jig with adjustable scales and locking teeth to align the fence in 1/32" increments for making repeat cuts. You've also got their right angle fixture and a shop made mounting board for it.

Yikes Ed, I think that may have been the first one I actually recognized. Your shop must be loaded with stuff.

Thanks for all the time you invest in these - actually very entertaining and educational to boot. YDM.
Gil
I'm glad you knew what this was...... here it has been sitting in my garage all this time and now I know what to do with it........

OK so I really knew all along.......

I should point out that you get a manual and it has a bunch of plastic rules that you slip in and it makes it easy to do the joint you picked out. You really need the book to do a lot of these things they are famous for.... well at least I do. I actually have two books, one for looking at inside when I'm designing a project and another for really using it. I also picked up the video which made things a lot clearer.

Don't recall what year this model is from maybe sometime in the mid 80's??? Anyway Rockler now sells one that sure looks a lot like this but in black.... I've only seen them in the catalog so I'm guessing about how they are put together and the size, maybe one day soon I'll stop in and take a look. If anyone has one of these Rockler ones feel free to post some information.

This tool works well with a drill press and table saw too... You can get holes that are really 1" (you pick the distance) apart and repeatable... think jig building.......

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Winner
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Points are on the way...... and I will be posting a few more common tools comming up soon right here on the "What is it?" thread.......

Ed
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Aw shucks Ed, Thanks.
Mine IS a newer one from Rockler, but I'd have to say they look almost identical except for color. Also the right angle fixture you have has some notches on the side of the face piece that mine does not - not sure what the purpose of them would be. The fence is now an MDF fence - it looks like yours is aluminum? They now come with a DVD included that goes through the basic joints and set-up that makes it pretty easy, but they still require some practice and I'm constantly keeping an eye on the paper manual. There's a companion manual that gets more involved in the exotic joints like double dovetails - I don't have that yet, but am planing on picking one up.
There is also the cadillac version that's all aluminum with some more bells and whistles and a longer fence, but that'll run you around $385 US I believe. For my purposes and dollars (I think the jig itself was around $60) the model you've shown suits me just fine.
Thanks again!
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Just a late note :>)

I was going to say Incra BUT I didn't recall every seeing it gray plastic ,maybe a kockoff ,was not to sure ,but the t-solt tells alot on that one, most of Incra equipment is GOLD in color and that gives you a hint what it will cost to put it in your shop.
A little follow up....
I checked the book that came with it and that is dated 1989, the manual is 1990 so that is about the date... couldn't have been the mid 80 as I first said.

In case it was not clear this is an Incra Jig(center) with the incra fence(right), the incra right angle fixture(left). I did have the incra stop but it got misplaced........ and the stop extender bar I never purchased.

I've included a couple more pictures so take a few moments to view them (note the reason for the cut-outs in the right angle fixture), and check out some of the examples of joints and the pattern templates.

Ed

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Just one more, it,s a Incra Jig, Thanks for the update ED, maybe the owners of Incra should set down with Bob and Rick and they can show them how to make a jig for the router table.
i.e. take a piece of plastic and mill a slot down the center and insert a 1/4",3/8"or 1/2" of the same stock and you have a jig that will do the same as the Incra Jig at 1/10 the price that works every time.

"Make it simple" ,"put your rubber ruler in your pocket and get your fine ajusting tool out "(hammer) just like the one Bob and Rick use.
A 1/32" is two hits with the hammer....

Just a link beow for over price ,new Incra Jig

http://www.incra.biz/Products/LS.html

http://www.incra.biz/Products/LSSuperSystem.html

Have a good weekend
Thanks again for the snapshots.
Bj
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The one they sell at Rockler:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11494

They also have a short view to watch if you wish and have the bandwidth.... In fact I'd like a few of you to watch and tell me what you think of doing the cut then backing over it..........

Ed
Just my 2 cents on the "backing over it"
It's OK on Short piece (6" and shorter ) with hold down block but on a long piece ,I don't think so. (may jam and pull it out of your hands, back cuting on the bit)

Bob J.
reible said:
.... In fact I'd like a few of you to watch and tell me what you think of doing the cut then backing over it..........

Ed
Yeah Ed, the backing out through the cut has seemed odd to me. I've always been told not to do that, and on other joints or routes it's usualy made things too loose for me - but for some reason it's what they do and what I've done as well with their set-up (one is almost forced to do that on end cuts with their set-up when using dovetail bits) and it works just fine! I suppose it's simply a matter of the mechanics of trying to lift out at the end of the cut without damaging or hitting the right angle fixture.
I often use a sliding home-made jig for straight finger box joints on the router and if I back out or repeat a cut, my joints are too loose - maybe it's do-able with theirs because there's so little play or shift to their jig, and the work piece is clamped in as well so it's not going anywhere. It's a relatively new purchase for me so I'm still getting used to it, but so far so good.

Bobj, I agree it's a little pricey (hmmm, not as expensive as some of the dovetail jigs I've seen, particularly when you start adding diferent templates), and you could make something similar fairly easily. What might be difficult is to acurately make your own registering teeth. The Incra uses teeth milled on 4 bars that are aligned on the upper and lower halfs to lock adjustments in 1/32" increments - you can return to the same location essentially balls on - there's no trying to eyeball a ruled line where paralax comes into play. Not sure how I'd accurately make those locking teeth, but maybe some more experienced guys here would have some ideas?
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