My latest jig build - this one is special

[John Erickson]

Bye far the nicest tenon jig I've seen, thanks for sharing.

[Ola Carmonius]

Thanks John, glad you like it

[Mel Fulks]

Ola that is quite something, and you were wise to not build it until Cotton Mather was dead.

[Ola Carmonius]

Thanks!...but I must admit the joke (?) went straight over my head.

[Jay Houghton]

So how does one go about making one of these for oneself...only one...
Jay

[John Lifer]

Agree with Jay, Plans? CNC is great if you are doing a few hundred pieces. But for only a box or two, this would be pretty nice jig. And I'm guessing you could do odd widths pretty easy using the pins.

[Peter Mich]

I believe Ola includes a link to the plans in the build videos he posted…https://youtu.be/kQHUJFsTeuk

[Ola Carmonius]

You can do quite custom things once you are familiar with the pin system.

First pic shows control wheel set up for half mm divided boxjoints that was shown on page 1, final result here in pic 2. Holes are for a carrying handle.To run even mm number boxjoints it's enough with 2 coloured pins, odd mm requires 4 pins and here I was down on half mm which needed 8 pins. Not much harder than 2 or 4 pins actually.

The third pic shows a table leg attachment where the width of the leg was divided equally into 5 segments which resulted in very uneven dimensions, like 11.7mm each. As long as it's only a few fingers as in this pic you can do almost any dimension. Haven't tried unequally spaced boxjoints but that should be doable if the brain can keep track of it.

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[Jay Houghton]

I purchased the plans and have ordered a ball screw and linear bearings. I'm using some Imperial screws like the cross dowels because they are easier to acquire locally. But the screws that hold the linear rail bases and ball screw are tapped already so metric is required. I also scrounged around for 15mm BB but didn't have any scrap and can't find it from my local dealer. But I do have some fabulous 18mm BB with walnut veneer! That will require some math to make sure everything fits correctly.

One of the reasons for my interest in this was to do more complex box joints like graduated fingers that get thicker and thicker across the corner. I am going to have a friend with a CNC do the wheel for me however since the accuracy of that determines the accuracy of the finger width. I've studied the plans and watched the YouTube video's and it's by no means beyond the skill of any competent woodworker.

I'll report along the way in case anyone is interested.

Jay

[Prashun Patel]

Wow, impressive workmanship.

Incra, eat your heart out

[Ola Carmonius]

@Jay it should work fine with 18mm, as you say it's only a matter of modyfying a few dimensions. The control wheel is a fun part to make, if you have a drill press table and circle jig for the router. Quite time consuming though but also manually made will be really accurate following the instructions. 1mm off (which is really bad drilling) on one of the pin holes corresponds to about 0.01mm.

Will be very interesting to follow your build later on.

[Wes Grass]

I got the plans too, and have been modeling it in SW. Can't open the individual STEP files within the assy. Maybe a 'me' problem. My thoughts are to adapt it to a slider, and probably reverse it to be 'right handed'. I've done the same with a couple of MW's plans. I added linear rails and a pivoting angle plate to his tenon jig. Most likely another project that will float in the vacancy of my brain, but it keeps me out of the bars ... which is fine with me because I've got better quality hooch here at home, and with the price of gas ... ;

Only thing I've run into is some missing dimensions here and there. Some are to be located with the components, which is fine. The rest I've pulled by measuring off the STEP assy. It'll all get tweaked anyway. I've also thought about how to put a 'zero clearance' insert under the carriage, which could be swapped out for dovetails, etc. Maybe tack it onto the dust chute? Although by nature this isn't a cross cut, so maybe not an issue to begin with?

[Ola Carmonius]

I've also thought about how to put a 'zero clearance' insert under the carriage, which could be swapped out for dovetails, etc. Maybe tack it onto the dust chute? Although by nature this isn't a cross cut, so maybe not an issue to begin with?

Thanks for info about missing dimensions, I will investigate that.

I had thoughts about a zero clearance insert, especially if this jig is also used on the router table. But, it's all rip cuts and there is no tear out on the end grain side of such a cut. What would motivate an insert is if you use a really wide blade, say a dado blade, and then want to be able to cut small pieces also, like tenons on a narrow workpiece. In that case the groove a wide saw blade have made through the jig might be too wide for small material to have something to land on vertically. Primarily this is a jig for narrower blades but if cutting dovetails or using really wide blades or on the router table, insert is a good idea. Also if for some reason this jig is used for cross cuts it would motivate an insert but I have yet still never used my jig for such a cut.

[Wes Grass]

Be prepared for a bit of head scratching, if you're in the US. The drawings are 'European', 1st angle projection. Had me a bit baffled a few times. Back and forth between the model and drawings to sort it out in my head. Fortunately I have 2 monitors.

[Jay Houghton]

Well, I went and bought a 500mm stainless rule thinking I was going to throw in the towel and measure everything in metric and skip the translation. I semi-grew up with metric but it's till a foreign language to me. If you ask me how long 3 5/8" is I'll get pretty close but ask my how long 175mm is and I'll have to think on that a bit. That said I forwarded the files to a friend that successfully opened up the STEP files and is going to produce a set of templates on his CNC out of 1/8" BB. I should be able to then lay down the templates for dimensioning the cuts and then use a center marker for drilling the holes. He's an Imperial guy so all the holes will be marked with 1/4" holes. Once I center mark them I can drill with the right diameter bit. Once you get your head around the basic design it's quite easy to imagine using longer linear rails, taller capacity (I have a 14" table saw), and left or right miter slot.
Jay