# Single Blade Table Saw Box Joint Jig



## hackery (Jun 14, 2016)

Hello

Can't take any credit for the design of this jig that all goes to Mario over at the Woodfather website










I live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK which in turn for the next 20 months is still part of the European Union (EU). The EU in their wisdom make some crazy laws such as bananas have to have a certain degree of curve and cucumbers have to be straight, vacuums including dust collection have to be under 2000w and the craziest law of all they have banned dado stacks! They even have a law that all table saws sold within EU countries cannot have a long mount (sorry don't know the right term) for the blade so people cannot buy dado stacks from the US and fit them to their European bought saws. Besides for me dado stacks are prohibitively expensive so hence the need for a single blade box joint jig.










The jig apart from one M8 bolt, one M4 set screw (used as a key), two bolts and one insert nut and a handful of wood screws is entirely made from scrap… oh and some non scrap walnut runners / rails.










The main body and one side is made from what used to be a Ikea Billy bookcase (chipboard with a laminate). The whole jig was originally made from Ikea bookcase but I made a mistake with the slider and had to rebuild this time going with some scrap 11mm (7/16 inch) plywood which I worried was too thin but worked very well.

For the comb I used some scrap 18mm plywood cut into small pieces on my saw sled. I added a threaded insert nut to the left support of the jig to add a bolt with scrap wood handle to hold the comb pieces in place this was a modification that wasn't included in the plan but was suggested in the corresponding Youtube video that Mario also made.

I machined two walnut hardwood runners with my jointer / thicknesser to perfect size for my strange sized cheap and nasty table saw mitre slots (both of them are different sizes… Chinese manufacturing at it's finest) and then everything was just screwed together. I used a M4 set screw that was the exact thickness of my saw blade kerf to be the "key" that guides the slider along the comb.










Would really recommend Mario's jig (the plans are free) for those of you that live in a banned dado set country or can't afford / justify the cost. For me as a novice it was a very easy and cheap build that I thoroughly enjoyed and delighted with the results. The joint shown below is my very first attempt straight of the saw (needs sanded a bit)


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## maverik (Dec 30, 2015)

Interesting jig, and it looks like it works great. I had no idea the EU regulated tools (and probable a lot more) to that insane level, I can see now why the UK voted to leave. Wake up America, our government it slowly trying to regulate us to that level too. I better stock up on dado sets, LOL


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## hackery (Jun 14, 2016)

Thanks Lee…. the dado stack ban is only the tip of the iceberg. There is clearly someone in Brussels (EU gov HQ) with way too much time on their hands!


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## gmc (Jun 30, 2012)

Very nice, check out surroundings.com. He has developed several diy box joint jigs. It will give you ideas that don't require dado blades. Good luck


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## hackery (Jun 14, 2016)

Thanks GMC… thing you might have got the address wrong for that site you suggested as it's all about glass / centerpieces? Definitely no wood let alone jigs or at least that I can see


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## gmc (Jun 30, 2012)

Sorry about that how about this:
www.stumpynubs.com

Hopefully cut and paste fixes my spelling errors


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