| Project by JohnnyStrawberry | posted 119 days ago | 2502 views | 17 times favorited | 14 comments | ![]() |
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Hi LJs, my workshop has a resident with a serious mental disease… My router fence acts like a dovetail jig. Wait a minute. It is. At least some sort of. OK, I’ll play along. I give it a dust hood. (photo 4) Now it sucks. So much that my hands are freezing after using it.
Joking aside, I had a piece of s… commercial half blind dovetail jig that I tore apart and reused the clamps of it. That jig came with 3 templates: 7/16” & 1/2” & 9/16”.
I was just about to make a 20mm template when I realized that I could use my 5/8” 7° dovetail bit with the 9/16” template with a 14mm bearing on the bit. (photo 2)
The ball bearing purchased. The bit slightly modified. Let’s try the template. But wait. That aluminium template was too thin to use it with this router bit on 20mm boards. All right, let’s make a copy of it in 12mm thick beech plywood. (I think it’s the best template material by far. Do you have it in the States?)
Why the router fence? Because it already has two sufficiently perpendicular surfaces on it. Since I just wanted a HBDT jig exclusively for 20mm thick boards, no adjustment slots are needed to cut on the fence. I only had to screw the fittings very accurately on the fence. Well, I use the fence much more often than a HBDT jig, so when I need the jig, I just screw the fittings on the fence.
It was a dream to work with it after I added the dust hood feature to it. It works with a 4” hose. (photo 4)
The last photo shows the test piece.
I hope I didn’t offend anyone with anthropomorphizing a router fence.
Thanks for the feedback,
Johnny
-- What are those few hours of mine compared to those decades Mother Nature has put in it!
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14 comments so far
a1Jim
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87195 posts in 1747 days
#1 posted 119 days ago
Nice work.
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
Jamie Speirs
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3680 posts in 1026 days
#2 posted 119 days ago
Johnny, a clever fix.
I’ve similar setup that I was about to bin for a few reasons.
Now you have got me thinking about it.
Jamie
-- Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Bill_N
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189 posts in 448 days
#3 posted 119 days ago
I am a little slow to understand how you done it but the results look great
So I say keep up the good work
-- I have the Saw Dust Fever
majuvla
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1583 posts in 1037 days
#4 posted 119 days ago
It looks awsome! I see it works by the half blind dovetail box you made.
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
Surfside
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2287 posts in 343 days
#5 posted 119 days ago
It looks amazing!
www.bandsawparts.com
-- "someone has to be wounded for others to be saved, someone has to sacrifice for others to feel happiness, someone has to die so others could live"
vanzemaljac
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192 posts in 1671 days
#6 posted 119 days ago
Good work, I like the idea solutions …
-- Vanzemaljac
lcwood
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48 posts in 934 days
#7 posted 119 days ago
looks like one nice work!
if you post this some years earlier, maybe I can try. but now it is too late
I also “I had a piece of s… commercial half blind dovetail jig”
starts with roc and end with kler
goes to the place it deserve – the garbage
then I got pc4212 – not perfect, but at least work ( kind of, maybe, sometimes )
WhoMe
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415 posts in 1413 days
#8 posted 118 days ago
That is really cool. Now that you have the template made, I bet you could even make a couple more with different pattern spacing for really creative projects.
GREAT results too.
-- With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. Just watch out for the exhaust. - Mike -
JohnnyStrawberry
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100 posts in 488 days
#9 posted 118 days ago
Thank you guys for the positive feedback.
Ivan, looking back, that CMT300 looks even worse than my ex jig. That housing can never be square by design! This was my biggest problem with my ex jig. I paid a hundred bucks for it. I think it was worth it. I can use every part of it but in different jigs. LOL
I’m glad I could show a way to reuse a s…ty HBDT jig.
-- What are those few hours of mine compared to those decades Mother Nature has put in it!
WoodGoddess
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99 posts in 237 days
#10 posted 117 days ago
Nice!!!! :-)
Routerisstillmyname
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591 posts in 1679 days
#11 posted 111 days ago
Super job. That wouldn’t work in Houston. By end of the week each finger would be a different size from heat and humidity :-) even my table saw and other tools are not safe.
-- Router è ancora il mio nome.
DocSavage45
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2876 posts in 1012 days
#12 posted 65 days ago
Nice save! And a great inovation. As accurate as you make it. Read a lot before buying a porter cable routing jig. A lot of the less expensive dovetail jigs were inaccurate.
Is it still going strong?
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
helluvawreck
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10438 posts in 1036 days
#13 posted 65 days ago
Nice work and creative thinking.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau
JohnnyStrawberry
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100 posts in 488 days
#14 posted 55 days ago
Thanks guys. I’ll post a photo here on the next cut. I haven’t used it since…...I’m deep in to a M&T jig now… It looks like I’ll fail… :-(( But I won’t lower my expectations… I’ll post that journey too.
-- What are those few hours of mine compared to those decades Mother Nature has put in it!
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