Steve Rowe
10-20-2009, 9:35 PM
I used to use homemade jigs for cutting the sticking profile for doors but found it less than optimal given that I ended up redoing it for every project. There are a number of commercial jigs available but, many of these commercial jigs have a rather significant weakness IMO given that your hand passes relatively close to a cutterhead with nothing between your hand and that sharp swinging flesh (oops - wood) cutter.
Aigner makes a jig that solves this safety issue. The name of the jig is the Contermax which I am sure has more meaning in German than it does in English. So here is my sequence for cutting the sticking profile using the Aigner jig (Sequence is left to right, top to bottom):
1) Piece to be profiled
2) Aigner Contermax jig (note that I replaced the vendor supplied fence with my own shop made fence since my cutterhead would have been exposed and would have cut into the screws attaching the original fence)
3) Bottom of jig showing stick profile cut to minimize tearout. The jig is very versatile by user supplied stop blocks milled to the required thickness.
4) Piece to be profiled installed in jig. Note that the clamp knob to the right in the picture is to adjust position of stop block. The knob to the left engages the spring loaded aluminum clamp bar.
5) Sticking being cut. Note that hand is completely shielded from cutterhead and a lot of stable surfaces registering against the table and the fence.
6) Profile has been cut. Pine to the left in the picture is the fence that protected my hands. Note how deep the shaper cutter cut into the fence.
7) Cutting other side of rail. Note that I used the same stop block as before but with a scrap piece of stile inserted in the stopblock to prevent tearout.
8) Completed rail (it was a scrap piece for demonstration purposes only)
I purchased this jig from Simantech but it is also available from Martin USA and Felder. It is certainly more expensive than most other commercial jigs however, the increased safety is worth it and much much less than a trip to the emergency room.
Be safe,
Steve
Aigner makes a jig that solves this safety issue. The name of the jig is the Contermax which I am sure has more meaning in German than it does in English. So here is my sequence for cutting the sticking profile using the Aigner jig (Sequence is left to right, top to bottom):
1) Piece to be profiled
2) Aigner Contermax jig (note that I replaced the vendor supplied fence with my own shop made fence since my cutterhead would have been exposed and would have cut into the screws attaching the original fence)
3) Bottom of jig showing stick profile cut to minimize tearout. The jig is very versatile by user supplied stop blocks milled to the required thickness.
4) Piece to be profiled installed in jig. Note that the clamp knob to the right in the picture is to adjust position of stop block. The knob to the left engages the spring loaded aluminum clamp bar.
5) Sticking being cut. Note that hand is completely shielded from cutterhead and a lot of stable surfaces registering against the table and the fence.
6) Profile has been cut. Pine to the left in the picture is the fence that protected my hands. Note how deep the shaper cutter cut into the fence.
7) Cutting other side of rail. Note that I used the same stop block as before but with a scrap piece of stile inserted in the stopblock to prevent tearout.
8) Completed rail (it was a scrap piece for demonstration purposes only)
I purchased this jig from Simantech but it is also available from Martin USA and Felder. It is certainly more expensive than most other commercial jigs however, the increased safety is worth it and much much less than a trip to the emergency room.
Be safe,
Steve