LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

This project was in the March 2011 issue of Wood magazine. This is a great workcenter when working with longer material. No more balancing the wood on the jig, which wasn't a huge problem anyway. It's also a great storage organizer. I'm able to keep everything together, but separate. It's great. And when it's not in use, it can be hung on the wall.

I pretty much went by the plans in the magazine with a few exceptions. Instead of using a draw catch to keep the lid closed, I used 3/8" rare-earth magnets. There's two in the base, and two in the lid. I drilled holes using a 3/8" forstner bit so they sit flush in the wood. I changed the piano hinge only because I didn't like the look of the way they did it in the magazine. I rabbeted the base and the lid for the hinge, so the lid would sit flush. It was a personal preference. And lastly, I made a solid base for the stock to rest on, on either side of the jig. The magazine had two thin pieces of wood at the edge of the base for support, which is probably fine. But, just in case I would be using smaller stock now and then, it might not reach the edge. I was going to go with four thin strips for support after seeing Vrtigo1's workcenter, but decided on this instead.

The entire project was made of baltic birch with the exception of the MDF for the stock supports on the lid. The only reason I used MDF was because I needed 1" for height (two 1/2" pieces). The baltic birch was 11.5 mm, which is around 7/16". So, if I were to use two pieces of baltic birch, it would be 1/8" too short. I don't know why these people (companies) do this to us. I'll pay for the extra 1/16", just leave it at 1/2" for crying out loud. The dividers were dadoed and glued for strength. The bottom of the base was glued and screwed to the box. I probably went into overkill with the screws, but there is quite a bit of weight there when you add the screws and bits in the storage compartment. I didn't want this thing falling off the wall. You'll never see the screws anyway. It's screwed from underneath.

I really like the way this turned out, and I think it will be around for many years to come.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
6,114 Posts
Fine idea.
Well done.
Best thoughts,
Mads
 

· Registered
Joined
·
53 Posts
I too, own the Kreg Pocket Hole jig. What a great addition. I like your modifications. Well done. Thanks for posting.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,487 Posts
Great idea. Very nicely done. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom
 

· Registered
Joined
·
535 Posts
very nice idea
 

· Registered
Joined
·
393 Posts
Very well done - I will have to add this to my list.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
368 Posts
Nice work. I like the addition of the MDF to make the entire top flush with the jig. I finally had a chance to use mine this weekend - I needed to make a frame for some pegboard I was going to hang on the wall, pocket jig to the rescue! It worked great, this is one of the best shop projects, I'm sure you'll get tons of use out of it.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
82 Posts
Cool project. Very well done. I've got to add this to my shop projects list.

Although I agree with you about odd fractional thickness of ply being a real pain, couldn't you just add whatever thickness of birch veneer (or virtually any thin sheet wood such as bass or even balsa wood) you need as filler in between the two layers of ply to bring it up to exactly 1 inch? You've got to glue and/or screw the two ply pieces together anyway. Plywood would be much easier to screw together than MDF.

-Dave
 

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
2,704 Posts
Nice jig set up.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
7,502 Posts
oh yesss. everything within reach. nice project.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,429 Posts
Great project. Love my Kreg Jig this may be version 2.0 of my current setup. I will be looking for that magazine.
Thanks for posting.

CtL
 

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
3,011 Posts
I would have thought you would have used the Kreg to build the box… LOL
 

· Registered
Joined
·
86 Posts
Thanks everyone for the comments and the complements.

Vrtigo1- I know I'll get a lot of use of this for sure. I've got a dozen projects on the backburner already.

N6DSW- I could have gotten a little fancier, but I had 1/2" MDF lying around.

degoose- It's funny you said that, because I thought the same thing at first. But, I wanted to make nice dado cuts and give it a cleaner look.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
195 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
3,169 Posts
i like this i think ill design my own with 2 drawers one for screws the other for clamps and such
 

· Registered
Joined
·
573 Posts
Chad, I'm wondering after having this for a while now any other ideas or changes you would make. Getting ready to build one and want to make any additions right off the bat. Great little project.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
0 Posts
Well done, cool modifications. It's a perfect case for Kreg pocket hole jigs. I own a Kreg K4MS Pocket Hole jig system too. It works very good so far. Thanks for sharing your idea.
 
Top