Repeatable Dados...???

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I've got a whole bunch of dados to cut, I'm making a mess of new wine shelves. The boards will be about 14" wide, and 5' long, the dados will be spaced every 3 1/2" or so (wine bottle thickness) I have about 10 or 15 shelves to make, so about 400 dados to cut :eek:

I'll be using a hand held router, as sheet good are not easy to handle in my small shop, it is better to move the tool than the wood.

I do not have the budget to buy some kind of jig, I think I should be able to make something up fairly easily.

Tomorrow I'm going to my toy, ah... tools store Joyful Honda, so I can pick up what ever supplies I need.

Ideas...?

I'm going to "Google" it now and see what I can come up with.

Cheers!

[Dave Richards]

Stu, I think you'd be wise to consider moving the router for this job. I envision a shopmade jig with a key that registers in the previous dado and a slot for guiding the router via a guide bushing.

Good luck and enjoy the trip to Joyful Honda.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

We are on the same wave length Dave!! :D

[Dev Emch]

Stu...

I am thinking Micro Fence! I would suggest you call these guys and ask them. There is one option that lets you reference from the previous dado. Works great. Easy to move the router and BOY IS THIS THING ACCURATE! You can control dimensions down the thousands of an inch if need be! You can also install stops on the guide rods for doing multi pass dado passes to get the right fit without loosing your previous setpoint. You just bounce back and forth as needed.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Dave, I'm sure that rocks, but I'm not looking at buying a jig, I want to build one. I have/had a set of shop notes around here (somewhere) that had a good one, but I cannot lay my hands on it :o

I want something that I'll cut the dado, shift the wood to a stop, and then cut the next one, etc, etc.

Cheers!

[Dave Richards]

Stu, do you have room to shift a 5' board far enough to get all the dados cut while standing in the same place?

I was just thinking of a scrap of MDF or plywood with a rail on the bottom similar to a miter gauge bar and a slot in it for the router to track in. You could make a longer jig and rail and mount the router to it and slide the whole thing, instead.

[Joe Chritz]

I'm with Dave. A sheet with a rail on the bottol to index in the first dado. Two pieces screwed to the top to set the new dado sides.

Fast easy and fool proof. Depending on how close to the bottom the first dado is you may have to do the first one with a regular jig of somekind.

I had planned one just like that to index off the bottom of a cab side to do the bottom shelf dado on cabinet parts. Never got to doing one yet.

Post some pics of what it looks like. After checking out the log mill I am confident it will work great. Besides what a way for me to test out a jig to build. Have someone else do it first. :D

Joe

[Joe Unni]

Stu,

What about a series of spacers/guides all referenced off one end of your shelf. I'm sure initial layout may be a little tedious, but once that's done and assuming all your shelves are straight and square, you won't even have to lay them out. Just lay down your spacer/guides clamping the first and last one and run your dado. Unclamp your last spacer (the one closest to the router) and run another and so on.

I did this once to create fluted stiles. It actually worked great!

After re-reading. I'd say, clamp a stop block to your bench and register your shelf and first spacer to it.

That's what first came to mind for me. Good luck and would love to see photos upon completion.

-joe

[Dino Makropoulos]

I've got a whole bunch of dados to cut, I'm making a mess of new wine shelves. The boards will be about 14" wide, and 5' long, the dados will be spaced every 3 1/2" or so (wine bottle thickness) I have about 10 or 15 shelves to make, so about 400 dados to cut :eek:

I'll be using a hand held router, as sheet good are not easy to handle in my small shop, it is better to move the tool than the wood.

I do not have the budget to buy some kind of jig, I think I should be able to make something up fairly easily.

Tomorrow I'm going to my toy, ah... tools store Joyful Honda, so I can pick up what ever supplies I need.

Ideas...?

I'm going to "Google" it now and see what I can come up with.

Cheers!
If you have the room you can make a temporary positioning table top.
This way you cut the setup time in 1/5th. (5 boards at a time)
If you don't have the room you can make a jig very easy.
Make your first dado. Position the router for the second dado.
Figure out the distance of the spacer that you need to build,
(accounting that you can use the lines of the first dado to position the spacer.(Jig)
This way you eliminate all the measurements.
This 2 links should give you an idea.

http://www.eurekazone.com/images/gallery/routergallery1.html


http://eurekazone.com/gallery/smart-router-system/dual_top_smart_table_107

For production work you can make something similar
to the sliding arm of the SRK.
This way you minimized the times needed to reset your jig.
Good luck and ...pictures.:cool:

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Me photos..............? What made you think I'd do that..... :rolleyes: :D

OK, what I'm thinking is to cut all the dados while the sheets are still full sized, or at least full width, then slice the sheets up with the GCSS.

I'll make up a jig to do this, and pics WILL follow :D

Cheers!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks Dino, some good ideas there.

Cheers!

[Julio Navarro]

Hi Stu:

Norm had a plywood jig like what you are thinking Stu, it was a sheet of plywood about 4" longer than the actual peice, He had clamped a 1x piece of hardwood as a straight edge and routed a 3/4" slot from one end to the other stopping and starting 1" before the edge of the plywood. He then nailed two 1x's on either side of the routed slot with the router still inserted ito the cut as a spacer, he placed the router at one end of the cut located the 1x then slid the router to the far end of the cut and set that end of the 1x making sure they where straight he then nailed that guide . He then set the other one using the same technique, he now had a tray, if you will for the router to slide accurately down the routed slot. Pressumably the slot was the width of the dado he needed. He enclosed the ends og the tray with fitted 1x's. The plywood was large enough so there was about 3" on either side of the 1x "fences" to clamp the jig to the work peice. I belive he also had a strait edge on the bottom perpendicular to the slot at the front and back of the work peice to act as a guide along the edge of the work peice while eliminating splintering.

Not sure if you get my meaning so I am putting a pic of one I made for a similar use. I used this jig to make the handle holes for this display "shelf" my wife uses for her presentations. The slot in the "tray" is wide enough for two passes to make the handle wide enough.

341823418034181

Hope this helps

[Kelly C. Hanna]

A bunch of good ideas here Stu...can't wait to see what you come up with. I like the idea of the whole sheet getting dado'd before cutting. We do that from time to time.