Router Table Box Joint Jig

This project is loosely based on the Rockler Router Box Joint Jig. Just a glance, then came up with my own design. It cost less than $10 to build and was a good way to waste away a Sunday.

I will be using this for other projects, but to test things out I made a utility guitar speaker riser out of cherry. The joints came out nearly perfect first time, but the router bit was a 1/2 inch mortise bit so there was a little tear-out. Not that bad. Will try out an spiral up-cut bit next time.

Last photo is the result.

To make:
The Base: used 3/4 ply, sized to sit on the router table (arbitrary). Slides left to right (you want to center it relative to the router bit) with oak stock cut to fit in the router table miter slot. I used a combo-square to attach the oak perfectly on the base. On the top side I used a dado blade to cut slots for the sled to ride on.

The Sled: used 3/8 MDF with melamine on both sides – slides nice and easy. Cut to fit oak on the bottom of the sled (screwed from the top) to ride on the base, careful to keep things square.

Front of the sled has solid maple stock for support after the sled is cut by the bit.

Furthest most back is a fixed fence with a slot to hold an adjustable sacrificial fence. The ‘sacrificial’ part of the fence has the notch that is the same size as the bit…. if I want to use a different size bit I need to build that part of the sled—fairly easy.

Since glue would be useless on a melamine board, lot’s of screws were appropriately sized for the small pieces, pre-drilled and counter-sinked.

P.S. – I did some new up-spirial router bits (1/4 & 1/2 inch), not yet tried out. I did have some scrap cherry and figured out how to get no tear-out. Simply cut from the back (pulling the sled into the back of the piece) just a tad, but not all the way through the wood. Then bring the piece behind the bit and push the sled as normal. Should eliminate most tear-out problems.

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