Half-Lap Joints

I have used a tenoning jig to cut them … first, I set the table saw to cut the ‘shoulder’, then use the tenoning jig to whack off the ‘cheek’. Takes a little setup, but once you get the tenon jig dialed in, you can knock them out pretty fast.

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I would think just a stop block and a dado blade, no jig necessary.

You should have the theatre buy you a Kreg jig. I am sure the sets would go together twice as fast.

-- http://www.niceashplanes.com/ http://www.efcabineture.com/

Set your dado set as big as it will go then throw your mitre gauge on and nibble away.
The setup stays the same for each mating surface so its not very complicated

-- slowing down with bring you greater speed then going fast

ditto on what art said … but if you start getting a lot of tear out on the back end put another board behind it that way your backer board takes the tear out and not your work piece. Good luck.

Welcome to Lumberjocks by the way …

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

Thanks everyone. We have researched all your ideas. We actually have to build 57 plus at 7 different styles. I need a solution that an inexperience student can do. Most of our work force are students doing lab hours.

rhett: the Kreg Jig looks really cool and we will definitely look into it.

art, chris & ron: We have a saw stop table saw and changing a blade is a pain but also we cant really afford to buy a dado blade and if the saw trips buy another one.

TheDane: The tenoning jig looks interesting.

Do you have a band saw? If so it would be vary easy to set up and make your half lap joints that way and its fast and a little more safe than some TS.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

I Googled and found this: http://books.google.com/books?id=gC25oJuA02gC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=half+lap+joints+with+a+bandsaw&source=bl&ots=QY3zeSMv5w&sig=Ybqnd14phS1De9H4yAFqI3p1tTk&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings