# portable handheld mortising jig "build blog"



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*Building the router base sub assembly*

Hi Guys,
Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
As I was pondering what would best fit my needs in this, I began to think about, how I could fabricate my own tools, since I have my own little harbor freight, miniature machineshop, with these tools I can work out what tools I can fabricate, and what tools I couldn't, and then that will help eliminate some of the choices for a new Christmas present tool.

I have been using dowels to join my boards together for glue up table top slabs, it works fine for me, however, I would like to do it more conveniently, using one tool to do the mortises right now I drill all the holes on one board edge, then use dowel centers, to mark off the other joining board, then drill each hole lining up with a brad point bit, I like using that method for complicated joinery like miters, and odd angles and odd joints, but for edge gluing panels, it is too time consuming, thats where the need for a biscuit joiner comes in, so I'm thinking a biscuit joiner is going to be my choice this Christmas, but I really need a oscilating spindle sander more, so theres a toss up, after thinking about it I realized, I need to see if I can eliminate the choice for a biscuit joiner, by fabricating my own tooling to be used as a "portable handheld mortising jig", that i can attach my palm router too, so here is where this journey has begun, if I can successfully make this work for my standards of what I'm looking for, then I can use this as my biscuit joiner, or better yet, my version of a loose tenon router jig, I will design it to have only one permanent setting of depth, 3/8" to work the middle of a 1 x board, which is always at 3/4" final thickness, if I need to glue up thicker boards, I can mortise the boards on top side and bottom, to even it out.
It will only plunge in around 1'' - 1 1/2" on the "y" axis, and the mortise width to be around 1 1/2" to 2" on the "X" axis.
It will be a dedicated router jig mainly for loose tenons in 3/4" thick boards for panel glueups.

Here is some pics of the work in progress.

I have some left over bar and plate material of aluminum,










here is the palm router base ready for layout and cutting of the 1/2" thick aluminum stock



















Now after its cut it needs to be machined on its cut edges, to bring everything into square.










Now the screws on the router baseplate are short, so I need to mill out the profile of the router subbase, so it leaves the router subbase thickness left, which is around 3/16" in thickness.





































Now to machine out the pocket for the router base to fit into.



















it was slow going until I remembered I have roughing end,mills I could use to hog out material quicker.










now to mill out another pocket where the router fence attachment tangs are located on the router base.



















now its all milled out ready for dry fit.




























A transfer punch is used to locate only one hole in the router base.










once the hole is drilled thru with a bit large enough for a clearance for the screw, it is then coutersunk,










then with the screw tight in place, the remaining 3 holes can be transfer punched, and drilled also.



















a check to see how everything is fitting.










the router installed










now I need to attach a second piece to be the start of the "x" axis bed plate, it is the left hand side of the drawing.



















again I drill all 3 holes in the plate, then set it tight to the second plate, and transfer a punch mark through the center hole only.










then drill and tap this one hole, only..



















Now the 2 plates are screwed tight together, and I can transfer punch the remaining 2 holes.



















Now the bottom plate has a milled square edge, but the plate at the right was not machined at the joint, this plate has some cantor to it on the width of it, so when I butt the plates together there is a small gap showing out of square, to check for a good square result, I need two reliable reference points, one is my surface plate, the other is a machinists tool block called a "123" block, these blocks are supposed to be reliably square at all surfaces with eachother.

By using this combination, I can get a reliably square assembly.
I found to make the assembly square I needed to put a thin paper shim just a little on the top edge of the butt joint to tilt the right plate out a little to make full contact evenly with the 1-2-3 block.










here is the paper shim stuck in the middle










Now everything shows good squaring now I can tighten the screws and add back the router base to see how it all is coming together.










Next I need to cut two 45deg. angle brackets to give ample support betwween these 2 plates, the brackets will go on both the left and right side of the router base, to form the whole assembly as a big angle block, with a router stuck in the center.

Once that is done, then I can start thinking of the x and y axis traversing rails.

This is going to be a project that will probably take me through the winter, as I have more commission work to be done during the days, this project is a late afternoon work, a couple hours each evening, hopefully to be done by Christmas, so I can know I can eliminate a biscuit joiner from my list, and choose a different tool I really need.

If I can get this done in time, then a oscillating spindle sander is next up.
Even if I have to use a footpedal and manually raise and lower the spindle, its worth a try.

Have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Great machining work and a great tutorial blog as well. If I weren't so old I would definitely invest in a mill and maybe a small machining lathe and try to learn some machining basics so I could make some of my own tools and accessories.

I am wondering why you feel the need for a biscuit joiner for gluing up panels. I realize that the biscuits or dowels will keep the platter straight under gluing, but it isn't necessary for strength. That said, keeping the panel straight is really more of a clamping problem than a joining problem. I have been doing a lot of table top clamping lately and I found that cheap homemade wedge clamps work best. This is because the pressure is applied right at the edge and therefore there is no upwards or downwards pull that can bring a panel out of flat.

Here is what I did.This of course does not make a biscuit joiner useless. I have one and I use it often to join pieces where other fasteners would not be practical, like joining chip board and Mdf platters at 90deg angles for example, and for face frames too. This isn't meant as a criticism of using dowels or biscuits to join panels. I just think it is a lot quicker without, and in my view gives just as good a result.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Mike:
Thankyou, for the good writeup and demonstration of your clamp system, that's a good system to incorporate, in my panel glueups.

I'm glad you posted this, it has made me really rethink the design of this project now, I was going to build a permanently attached fence for edge mortises in panel boards, however, now with this new info you shared, I'm going to redesign the fence system, so it can be removed, and I could use it as a handheld mortiser to put mortises on the face of boards, as well, because I have a large triton plunge router, but its entirely too big for small mortising jobs like edge to face but joints etc…, so now I can design the face of the front fence to be able to plunge my little palm router into the stock under controle, and be able to make loose tenon mortise holes, probable the size of around 1 1/8" in width, so I can insert four 1/4" dowel pins into the mortise, with a 1/16" wiggle room for glue squeezeout, and lateral adjustments.

this is now going to be my portable handheld mortising jig, for all butt joinery types.

Thanks again for the idea.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Hi Mike, you were mentioning about not owning a mill, but would like to, in your last post,

The mill machine I have is a Harbor freight benchtop micromill drill, I bought in 2000,
I changed it over from its original gear drive to a belt and pulley system, I also was running into problems burning out the circuit boards for the motor speed controle, so I designed my own power supply to take its place, its a simple unregulated DC voltage supply, that I can switch in power transformers at there taps, to increase voltage to the motor.
Works excellent for my uses.










supply










after I got the mill machine, I needed a lathe to increase work capability,
so that following month, in january I got the 7×10 minilathe, which was on sale at the time.
The mill machine was on sale as well.

here is the lathe










Then in the summer of that same year, I got a benchtop drill press again on sale, to outfit my mini machineshop.










and built a "X-Y" table for it,










Then a few Christmas's ago I bought this nice benchtop metal cutting bandsaw, which was on sale as well.

It's a blurry pic, but it works real nice.










These benchtop tools has allowed me to fabricate all kinds of tooling for my shops, as well as a bunch of modelengineering models as well.

Have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Wow, all that machining and electrical stuff is way out of my league Hobby1. I do have an older brother and an uncle who were professional machinists (and also good woodworkers), but I inherited the wooden brains I guess. I'm not too worried about it though, as I have no room left in my shop for new tools anyway. I will just have to remain on the sidelines as an admirer. Looking forward to seeing your finished mortiser.

I did forget to mention that I have made my own biscuits in various sizes out of 1/8" thick plywood and I have tested them for strength and holding power with the store bought ones. I found them to be actually a little stronger with my non-scientific destruction tests. They are also a lot cheaper. I stack cut them with my scroll saw using regular ones as patterns, 6 at a time. The ply used was Baltic birch. This way you can also make custom sizes if you want.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Wow, all that machining and electrical stuff is way out of my league Hobby1. I do have an older brother and an uncle who were professional machinists (and also good woodworkers), but I inherited the wooden brains I guess. I'm not too worried about it though, as I have no room left in my shop for new tools anyway. I will just have to remain on the sidelines as an admirer. Looking forward to seeing your finished mortiser. I am pleased you found my clamps an interesting alternative.

I did forget to mention that I have made my own biscuits in various sizes out of 1/8" thick plywood and I have tested them for strength and holding power with the store bought ones. I found them to be actually a little stronger with my non-scientific destruction tests. They are also a lot cheaper. I stack cut them with my scroll saw using regular ones as patterns, 6 at a time. The ply used was Baltic birch. This way you can also make custom sizes if you want.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


I like that idea of your clamps alot, I'm thinking when I make a few sets for my shop, I'm going to go with the slot down the middle of the bars, to make them adjustable, that will be a good savings alternative from buying clamps to do the same kind of tasks.

By the way nice job on your table top. looks really good.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


Thanks Hobby1. I have also been thinking about making clamps with adjustability. I was thinking about two narrow slots with two carriage bolts. Remember though that you need to have the stops at least as thick as your workpiece and the wedge approximately the same thickness as your workpiece. If you make the stops permanently extra thick, then you can just use thinner or thicker wedges appropriate to the thickness of the workpiece to get the right effect.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *Building the router base sub assembly*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> Every Christmas, I use the money I get for Christmas to put towards a shop tool, either machining, or electronics,or woodworking, 3 years ago, I put it towards a benchtop woodworking bandsaw, then the next year it was a bench top jointer from grizzly, last year it was a newer version of workmate, Now that I am taking my woodworking from a hobby level, to a God given career level, doing commision work, I realized I need to add to my woodworking tool collection,so this Christmas coming, I am looking at either a biscuit joiner, or a oscillating spindle sander, or a pin nailer, or a good battery drill, that lasts its charge longer than the 2 I have now.
> ...


That's a good tip, thanks Mike.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*building angle brackets for base subassembly *

I got a couple hours in today,
this afternoon, I started laying out the cut lines for the two angle braces to support and make square the two plates when everything is tightened permanently.


















after I cut them out, I used a flycutter to clean up the cut lines on both pieces simulataeously.
Now I need to start looking at squaring up the 90 deg. angle I first used the factory sides of both pieces as a reference, against a precision square block, to orient the pieces square with the table as they are clamped in the vise.


















Now I used this fresh cut edges to reference against the precision block, to true up the factory edges.
here are the two factory edges with there beveled edges, just like the factory edges of 2×4 lumber, I need to edge joint these to make a nice flat surface, on the edges.


















after flycutting the edges, here is the result









a quick check against the surface plate and precision block, to assure all is machined square.









Now I am going to screw these brackets to the plates, but in order to make it easier to hold the angle brkts, when I transfer punch holes, I need to mill out a dado, in the router base plate to recieve the bottom of each angle brkt.


















I need to be careful to not go too deep, or I risk cutting into the screw holes on the side,of the plate, So I set a depth to cut.









The angle piece is 1/2" thick so I use a 3/8" endmill to make two X axis adjustments to sneak up on the final width of the slot.
Using the workpiece itself as a guage.










Now they both fit, so I can move onto drilling and tapping holes to bring the base X axis plate assembly together.









Next I can start drilling and tapping holes to assemble these brackets on, then move back to the router sub base plate, to start laying out the guide rails ect..


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *building angle brackets for base subassembly *
> 
> I got a couple hours in today,
> this afternoon, I started laying out the cut lines for the two angle braces to support and make square the two plates when everything is tightened permanently.
> ...


That is looking very good and precise. I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure how this is going to work, but that makes it all the more interesting.


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## Boatman53 (May 21, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *building angle brackets for base subassembly *
> 
> I got a couple hours in today,
> this afternoon, I started laying out the cut lines for the two angle braces to support and make square the two plates when everything is tightened permanently.
> ...


Looks very interesting. I got a small mill last Christmasand love those Colt routers. Can't wait to see where this project goes. Looks like you are off to a great start.
Jim


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *building angle brackets for base subassembly *
> 
> I got a couple hours in today,
> this afternoon, I started laying out the cut lines for the two angle braces to support and make square the two plates when everything is tightened permanently.
> ...


I know what you mean Miike, I have a general idea, in mind, but this is definately a design and build sequence, usually when I machine parts for my model projects, I'll CAD everything, make sure everything fits, have all the detailed dimensions, right down to the thou. and then build.
This project is like my woodworking projects, I build as I go along.

Jim: 
Thankyou, I really enjoy using those benchtop mills, they really open up oppurtunites to fix and fabricate parts, that otherwise could not be found comercially.

My colt palm router, is my goto router, for majority of routing needs, especially edge routing small workpieces, its base plate is small enough where I could hold the workpiece down by hand and do a quick profile with ease.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*the determining and building of the guide rails*

At this point I have everything screwed together for the first subassembly.
It's time to work on the axis travel arrangement.

I thought about 3 ways to do this, first was with a linear bearing approach, where I would ream a hole through a piece of steel to be the bearing, and make 4 of them, then make some sort of rail system out of round bar stock for the bearings to run on, however, that would mean some elaborate bracket sytem to hold the rails up, which would mean 4 rails 2 for each axis, then I thought about linear beraring surfaces, with simple rabbets cut on workpieces (guides) to be put together, to form a square channel rail system, lastly the good ole dovetail rail system, I've built quite a few projects using dovetail slides they are very efficient, so opted to use the dovetail method, for the linear slides.


















Now to achieve the "X and Y" axis movement, I need a central dovetail slide block, which will have perpendicular dovetail grooves cut in it.
I need a thick enough stock to do this with so 1" bar stock will suffice for this.
Here the x y directions are drawn out for me to use as reference.










Now the design of this whole project is dictated, with the available bar stock I have on hand, in my metal bin, and because of that, I need to have the right sequence of machining operations, so as to not cut something wrong size.

I want to start cutting the dovetail slides, however the width of this piece,









determines the distance of the x axis movement on this assembly here









and the width of this piece









determines the length to cut off this piece here
which is the 'Y' axis movement,









Now I can start the dovetail slides,
first cut the stock to rough size, then flycut all 4 pieces to get good straight reference flat edges.




























and finally start cutting the dovetails on the individual rails, 









when all 4 are done, then the central block can be dovetailed.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *the determining and building of the guide rails*
> 
> At this point I have everything screwed together for the first subassembly.
> It's time to work on the axis travel arrangement.
> ...


Very interesting Hobby1. I'm wondering how you rough cut the dovetail slides shown on the 4th photo from the bottom. I'm still wondering what this is going to look like and how it will work when finished. The suspense makes it all the more interesting, meanwhile it's fun getting some insight into the designing/machining process.


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## kaerlighedsbamsen (Sep 16, 2013)

hobby1 said:


> *the determining and building of the guide rails*
> 
> At this point I have everything screwed together for the first subassembly.
> It's time to work on the axis travel arrangement.
> ...


Nice to see some fine metalwork on this site. Looking forward to more parts!


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the determining and building of the guide rails*
> 
> At this point I have everything screwed together for the first subassembly.
> It's time to work on the axis travel arrangement.
> ...


Mike:
The stock I made the slides for was 1/2" thick by 6" wide by around 5" long, aluminum flat, it was to long to use my bandsaw in the horizontal position, so I used it in the vertical position, and cut the pieces by hand, to a little over 1" in width, I have out in my outside woodshop one of those harbor freight horizontal/vertical bandsaws, again another Christmas present back in the early 2000's when these saws were very, very affordable, now the prices on all these machines, I have are skyrocketed, I'm glad I bought them when I did.

If I needed clean edges, I could have made a set up to clamp this workpiece in my saw, and use it in the vertical mode, if I did, it would cut extremely smooth, where any milling to be done would be just to do a little straightening up, to make sure it is parrallel, those saws cut very smooth.

I just discovered lately on another project I did for upgrading my milling machine, that using the bandsaw in the vertical mode, is very easy to cut all kinds of curved shapes in 1/2" thick aluminum, something I never thought possible before.
I use it alot now when it comes to scroll cutting metal thicker than 1/4".
---------------------

Kaerlighedsbamsen:

Thanks for following along, machining parts is a lot of fun.
I must say though, I'm not a metalworker, I rather work with wood, I enjoy building furniture and arts and crafts projects, but I do enjoy model engineering, and metal is the best medium for mechanical parts when it comes to small scale working models, however I'm finding more uses for metal in my woodworking which using this variety opens up more unique designs for me.
Here is an example of incorporating metal in my woodwork.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*

Hi guys Please:
If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.

The next thing I worked on was, assembling one set of dovetailed slide rails on the main baseplate, that will allow the router to travel in the "Y" axis direction.


















Here I'm using again my surface plate as the datum, to ensure the fixed slide is assembled perfectly square with the front of its base plate which is sitting vertical on the surface plate.









now roughing in the size of the dovetails on the slides 









I can layout where to machine the central (universal joint) dovetailed block, for its dovetails to mate into there.









I know I want to have alot of support with this central block, so I will need to machine the two ends down before I can cut the dovetails on the block.


















So I marked out where the cuts will need to be,









Now before I cut out the end pieces for the dovetails, I want to machine the dovetails on the long side of the central block first, which will mate with the top router base subassembly.
So I couldn't hold this in my vice, it needed to be clamped directly to the table, any time a new fixture is put on the table, be it a vice or the workpiece itself, you always need to clock it in, also known as, zero indicate it in, this is what I'm doing here, I'm lining up the workpiece to be accurately parrallel with the "X" axis of the mill table movement, so every thng is true and square with relation to the mill table movements.









now the dovetail milling can proceed.









now the next sequence of pictures shows the order in which these parts will mate together, and where they will finally be located on the subassembly, which was done in the first blog installment.




































I am goint to fasten the fixed slide rail to the subassembly, by tapping into the subassembly plate itself, because there is enough thickness to put a screw into for good adhesion.
I need to find the thickness of this plate









so I can set the guage to half its thickness









which then allows me to mark the slide rail itself for a ref. line to drill the screw holes for.









with the rail predrilled, I can now transfer punch one of the holes to the subassembly, for drill and tapping a screw hole.


















now I have to do the opposite with the next slide rail, because the base plate is to thin









to tap into for good support of the rail here I set the central block tight against the fixed rail which now alows me to position the adjustable rail where it may be, to know where to drill clearance screw holes at.

































once the plate has clearance holes drilled I can transfer punch to the slide rail,









and drill and tap the rail









here is the subassembly mating with the central (universal joint) docetail block, this gives the entire router the "x" axis travel for the width of the mortise at each location on the board.









Now I can proceed to machine the central dovetail block on it's ends to give the router it's "Y" axis travel, which gives it the depth of cut of the mortise.









the next sequence of pics shows the central block being machined for the "y" axis movement of the unit.

























The universal block to its base, for the "Y" axis travel









Every dovetail slide has some way of adjusting the tightness of the slide to its mating piece, to reduce unwanted play, usually a gib is used, or a slot is cut in the divetail itself to be used as a fised gib, these slides are not going to get a lot of wear and tear to need constant adjustments, so no gib will be used, however, there is always the need to lap in mating sliding parts to give the best sliding fit possible with very close to zero play, between them, so I am making one slide rail of each set fixed, and its partner an adjustable one, by elongated the screw holes into slots for making final adjustments.



















That was the bottom plate, being machined, the top subassembly needs the same treatment, later on.

When I do the final asembly of the entire jig, I will use lapping compound and lap in the mating slides, then loosen the screws on the adjustables, and move them in tightly until the slide block is pinched, and again lap it in, until the slide block is so lapped in that no excessive play will show with the slide block and both sets of rails, yet they need to move in there respective coordinates very easily which is side to side, and in and out, to produce the mortises.

Here is everything mating up as a dryfit

























Next after some final tweaking of this stage, I can start working on the fence system, that will involve some careful laying out and measurements as well.

You guys said you enjoyed watching the machining techniques being done, so thats why I'm going into a lot of procedural details, to show this build.
Please as I write above:
If you are tired of all the technical stuff involved, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.

Have fun in the shop….


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*
> 
> Hi guys Please:
> If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.
> ...


Personally, I like all the details, and if you are willing to take the time and the effort to photograph, write explanations and post them I will surely read them with great interest.


----------



## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*
> 
> Hi guys Please:
> If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.
> ...


I love all the details, since most of it is new and fun to learn.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*
> 
> Hi guys Please:
> If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.
> ...


Thanks guys for letting me know.


----------



## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

hobby1 said:


> *the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*
> 
> Hi guys Please:
> If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.
> ...


Thank you for all the information. This has got me thinking about the possibilities….


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the finalizing of the dovetail slides, and prefit everything together*
> 
> Hi guys Please:
> If you get tired of all this technical stuff I'm showing here, please let me know, and I'll just post the highlights of the build with much less play by play details.
> ...


Mark,
Your welcome, I'm glad the information is helpfull.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*

I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively, 









here is one side of the block without any lapping done to it, it is rough on the top inside of the dovetail, this could have been prevented if I would have taken light cuts on the mill, however. I knew I would lapp this in, so I took substantially deep cuts, around 0.200" at a time, so the reason for the roughness.









here is the lapping compound spread onto the dovetail of the central block, I just apply very thin film of it









Here is the after lapping of one part of the block,









everything is smooth sliding, with little play, there will always be some play with this kind of sliding joint, due to the need for extreme ease of travel, by hand pressure, ususally for a dovetail slide, you want it to be almost zero play, which is where adjustable gibs are used, however, with that, you then need to move the slide via mechanical means, usualy a screw thread, because of the snugness of the sliding joint.

If I wanted a very good sliding fit with zero play I would have gone the rout of using a round bar and reamed bearings.

Now it's time to start the front fence assembly









when I placed the guide rails on the base plate, I wanted some extra space to put a substantially long support block in to stiffen the fence front with the base plate.

















So after some measurements









I can start making the two support brackets.









































need to check to see how it fits in with very little gap on top.









now the marking off and machining of both blocks together as one piece.

























and cutting it into two pieces for each side.

















and a quick check for fitting in place.









Next is to attach these blocks and the front fence, then start working on the depth fence, for holding down the jig tight to the workpiece for edge mortising.

A few hours of shop time at a time, but it is coming together a little at a time.

have fun in the shop.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


Hi Hobby1. Nice work and a great blog.

I think I am finally onboard with this build, though I haven't yet figured out exactly how it will work. The sticking point for me is how you will anchor (or not anchor) the slider part to position your router bit and then actually route the hole. I will until you are ready to show how it works. I'm just having fun trying to figure it all out.

I have a horizontal mortiser on my combo machine which has and XY movement table with clamps to hold the workpiece which travels back and forth and in and out using levers for each direction. It also moves up and down of course, but not while mortising. It is actually a great machine but it has one big weaknesses. The mortising bit runs counter clockwise because it is just a shaft mounted on the planer cylinder with drill chuck, so it has to be specially made to cut in that direction, which means it is difficult to find different size mortising bits for it.


----------



## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


great work so far


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


Hi Mike, 
I think when I start working on the next parts, it will start to click in like a puzzle, I'll not explain it here, so you can enjoy the build with the ciuriosity, once you see how these next parts attach to it, and how it all works together, it will be very clear.

I could give some good examples with commercial products but that would give it away to quickly.
I should say, my design of this is not my design, as far as the principle of its workings, just my design of how to use the materials I have on hand to make these principles work.

Joel:
Thankyou very much.

Have a great day, everyone.


----------



## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


If the aluminum dovetails are too sticky in use, you can also set them a bit wider and add a gib strip of brass or UHMW polyethylene as well.

I had started a z-axis for a CNC router that was similar but I dumped it for a different design when it didn't move as smoothly as I would have liked.

There are a few of us here that do metal work as well. I have been doing that almost exclusively lately.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


Yeh, dovetails seem to be good for compound slides that are mechanically moved, especially with a leadscrew, or gearing, or levers, because to get the best running fit, gibs are the best choice, however, I opted to go with this for the simplicity of the build, if I went with gibs it may make it more difficult to move easily by hand preasure alone, if this design doesn't work smoothly, then I'll have to rebuild it by making sets of linear bearings out of round bar, and using it on round bar rails.

Thats what I ended up doing for my tapering jig for my lathe, I started out with dovetails and gibs, and a leadscrew, but I had too much play for getting the fine cuts on the barstock for the taper cutting, so I redesigned it to have a set of round bar rails and made linear bearings, like the principle working of a inkjet printer carriage movement.


----------



## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


I have pretty much wimped out on rails. They are selling rails so cheaply on ebay that it is hard to justify the use of my limited spare time. How come we don't have pics of the tapering jig? 

I am anxious to get started in my shop. We are finally starting to get some cool fronts coming in that will make the garage bearable. Not much gets done there in the summer.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


David:
Hi,
This is not a woodworking lathe tapering jig, I made it for my metal lathe, mainly to machine morse tapers, to make tooling for my mill, and lathe.

I did use the jig to make a 1MT mandrel for my wood lathe to hold a small wooden wheel, to do decrorative round overs on, because the wheel was to small to use with a router bit.

Here is the jig:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ddkiz/Video1400000-28.jpg[/IMG][/URL[/URL]]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ddkiz/Video1300001-05.jpg[/IMG][/URL[/URL]]


----------



## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


Cool, looks like you have been busy. Nice work on the engines.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *the lapping of slides and start of front fence assembly*
> 
> I got a couple hours in yesterday afternoon, I started by lapping in the central dovetail block into both the subassembly guide rails, and the base guide rails, respectively,
> 
> ...


Thankyou David.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*starting the front fence system*

Couple hours in this evening,

Here is where I'm starting working on the front fence, I need to first cut a thru hole through the router baseblate subassembly, so I do some guaging and measuring and marking off to locate the approximate center of the router shaft.


















then drill a 1/2" hole for the router cutter to come thru.



























Now I can put some marker on the front fence in preparation for marking and measuring, this will be the slot in the fence to allow the cutter to move back and forth on the "x" axis, when cutting the length of a mortise.


























































































next will be the completion of the front fence assembly and some fine tuning on the whole project.

have fun in the shop.


----------



## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *starting the front fence system*
> 
> Couple hours in this evening,
> 
> ...


Wow, this is one of the best looking mortising jigs I've seen!


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *starting the front fence system*
> 
> Couple hours in this evening,
> 
> ...


This looks really good. I am still wondering how it will actually be used. A no brainer on the axis movement, but it is the height I am wondering about now, but there could be lots of solutions to that problem. looking forward to seeing it in action.


----------



## vikingcape (Jan 3, 2013)

hobby1 said:


> *starting the front fence system*
> 
> Couple hours in this evening,
> 
> ...


This is going to be amazing! Would love to see it in action when it's completed. I don't have the right type of brain for this type of precision so I'm glad others do


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## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

hobby1 said:


> *starting the front fence system*
> 
> Couple hours in this evening,
> 
> ...


It's not that much different from woodworking. The measurements are just in smaller units and you remove stock in smaller units.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *starting the front fence system*
> 
> Couple hours in this evening,
> 
> ...


Thankyou guys for the complements,

Mike, in the next installment, you'll see how it all comes together, I think the reason your not seeing it yet, is because of the bulkiness of this project, I left the base long and it makes it look more like a machine, rather than a handheld jig, but once the base is cut to size, youll see the difference, and know exactly how the height fence will work.

Joel thanks for the complement.

Kaleb thanks, yeh I will make a video of it, I already tried it out, it works fine but at this point I have things clamped together, I need to finish the front fence assembly, sometime this week I hope.

David your right, it just takes about 10 times longer to shape metal, than wood, when using small machine tools.

Have fun in the shop, guys.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*finalizing front fence and start on clamping system*

A couple hours more in the last couple of evenings,

Here is where I left off at after the last machining session, I was able to get some slots machined for and adjustable depth positioning fence, this allows me to adjust the depth of where to cut the mortise in the edge of a board, for example, set it 3/8" off of center to put a mortise in the edge of a 3/4" thick board ect…









Now, I'm now finishing up the details on this project, so I drew up a punch list, to start this process.









I was going to put it on top, so it can be held like a biscuit joiner, for edge mortises, however, given the material I have on hand to work with, I had to use a 1/4" thick material for the front fence, and with the depth positioning fence fastened on top, with the weight of the router, allows it to have some bend away from the edge of a board to be mortised, this can be easily remedied, by machining a small angle alignment on the depth position fence to make up for this bending in the front fence, but I decided it woulod work better if my boards were held in a vise, (my workmate) on edge, and set this jig on top, however, if I put the depth positioning fence on the bottom, I could make a clamping system to keep everything nice and tight while work is being done on the board.

So first I need to estasblish all reference points to make marks on the jig, to be used as depth fence positioning guide lines.

















guide lines marked for 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4" off of center.









Now I need to make some reliefe spots to be able to better see the pencil marks on the edge of a board, so I'll machine down these areas here









the process involved

















and mark out the center line for reference for lining up a board for a mortise.









Now I started the clamping system, the top block was drilled and tapped for a 3/8 -16 all thread I had in the bin,









the process in making the clamping jaw, 
here is some scrap to work with,









here is my drawing of the dimensions at the lower right corner









first I need to machine a spigot, that will fit into a corresponding hole in the moveable clamp jaw.









it will go in like this









now I need to make the allthread fit into this swivel joint,









so I first machine off this much of the threads

































Now to make it swivel in the vice jaw pad, I need to machine a slot to allow a setscreew to fit into
in this location marked off,









here is the process

























check for fit, not enough yet,









now it fits nicely









now to bore a hole in the swivel block to acept this all thread shank.









































now to mark off the location to drill and tap for the setscrew in this swivel joint block.









and the process

































now bore a hole in the vice jaw paf to accept this swivel joint block,


































to keep this permanently affixed, I used super glue.

















now a dryfit to see how it all works together.

















Next I want to work on handles for the jig, and a "x" axis lock pin, for drilling dowel holes
as well as a plunge piston, like a plunge router has.

Then some final tweaking and things…

Have fun in the shop.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *finalizing front fence and start on clamping system*
> 
> A couple hours more in the last couple of evenings,
> 
> ...


To say that I am impressed would be an understatement. Very well thought out and done. The clamping mechanism was the big mystery for me and now I can see that part solved. I don't know if you have noticed, but there are usually small pins on biscuit machines to keep the work from slipping during the cut. I wonder if you will need that feature too. From my experience, the wood can slip around pretty easy. Of course, there is no clamp with a biscuit joiner as on yours, so probably not a problem.


----------



## vikingcape (Jan 3, 2013)

hobby1 said:


> *finalizing front fence and start on clamping system*
> 
> A couple hours more in the last couple of evenings,
> 
> ...


Again, very informative and a really great build. This is going to be really cool to see when you are done. Amazing job


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *finalizing front fence and start on clamping system*
> 
> A couple hours more in the last couple of evenings,
> 
> ...


Mike, Kaleb,
thankyou for the complements,

I'll probably put some sort of a gripping surface on the clamp jaw, maybe even glue sandpaper onto the bottom fence too, I'll have to experiment with that when its ready, to be tested.
If that doesn't work real well, than I'll machine some small points and insert them on the front fence as you mentioned mike.

Kaleb, I'm glad your enjoying the build, I'll take a video of it, when I get it completed.

I just started making the "Y" axis stop block, (about 2 hours of machining to get tight tolerances) I think as of right now, it will have a simple commercial cabinet door bullet catch, installed, on it to latch the router sub base assembly, while repositioning the jig for the next mortise cut.
This way I may not have to make a plunge piston, to keep the router away from the work while repositioning the jig.

I Still want to make some handles, and a new design idea for my "X" axis stops, so I can adjust the width of the mortise, as well as I need to make a "Y" axis depth stop, to adjust the deepness of the mortise cut.

Now I'm doing the finer machining of parts, where dimensions need to be close tolerances to have proper sliding fits, of parts.

Have fun in the shop guys…


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*begining to machine the stop blocks with procedural steps to make one part*

I needed to make a latching stop block to keep the router from slipping off the back, its not only a stop block, but also a latching block, because later I will attach some sort of a latchng mechanism, on this block to keep the router elevated above the workpiece while repositioning the router for the next mortise.

Started out with a quick sketch with some dimensions that later got changed during the machining process.













































I also worked on making an arrangement for a "Y" axis stop, to set the depth of cut for a mortise, this feature is already built into every router base, by simple adjustments, however, depending on how long my mortise cutter will be, determines the amount of router base adjustment I can make, if I need more adjustment, then I need to make this depth adjustment feature, as well.
So I started out by making a slot to allow the sliding fit of a 10-32 screw and washer to fit into, for tightening down the stop block.


















and to accomodate the washer now









now I want to start working on "X" axis stop blocks, these will be needed to set the length of a mortis to be cut.

again these a quick conceptual sketches, the dimensions get refined as I start the machining process.









two 1/4" dia. steel rods. to be machined with 8-32 TPI, to be assembled to the base of the unit.









and the machining process



























and now drill and tap the base









and the assembly, these will later be cut to a shorter length, after determining where the stops will go.









now this weekend I have left off with the beginning of making the side stops.

here is the process to make one stop.
I'm showing the sequence of what's involved to make a part, for the enjoyment of seeing how it's done.
I will say there are numerous ways to tackle a job, it depends on the tools at hand, and the techniques learned through out the course of time.
For me personally this is the way I chose to do this job, here it is step by step:

Again I like to start out by first making a quick sketch, of what I'm envisioning, as I machine the part the dimensions get more refined, as I see needed.









now I mark out rough locations on the work piece this part will go at, by doing this I can determine the size of stock I need to aquire the right dimensions.









Ive determined that a 5/8" dia roundbar will work for this, at around 3" long, for a rough start.









now I need to square up both ends on both pieces, in the lathe, commonly refered to as facing off the ends.









now I start to get more refined in where to machine this part, by placing it in its location on the workpiece.









Now here is where some preliminary thinking comes into play, I need to machine a end rabbet, on the part, but on this opposite end









I need to drill two perpendicular holes, as well as some slotting, so this means both ends of this workpiece, will have machining operations done on it, Now I could use a vise, or "vee" block or any kind of appropriate fixture to be able to reach both ends in one setting, however, I have a nice tooling fixture called a "indexer", better known as a "spin Jig",which indexes every one degree for a total of 360 deg. because I'm going to be machining areas on this part 90 deg. to eachother, I opted to use my spin jig. That's why I chose round bar for making this part, because my collets for this jig hold only round bar.

The next process is to set up this fixture, in order to set up any fixture, to the table it needs to be squared up with the axis movement of the table, therefore I use my dial test indicator to "zero" out the fixture, by first putting in the workpiece, and taking the readings off of it, to adjust the fisture to the table, to be square..









Now I start refining the cut lines,
such as the length of cut









as well as marking off the depth of cut









now back to the machining process as can be seen I need to machine this end,









but if I start machining this end imediately, I run into trouble trying to line it up back in the index jig, when I turn the piece end for end, because the other end needs to be machined in reference to this end, to line up properly on the project.

This is why I have this workpiece extended out as far as I can, because I need to machine a flat reference surface as far down this workpiece to where when I flip it end for end, I can use this flat end to set up as reference, but more on that later, so now to put this procedure in order, I want to machine this reference surface,

however if I machine a flat at the other side of the rabbet cut









, I risk making the end to thin after the rabbet is cut, so I need to make the flat refernce cut 90 deg. of this rabbet cut on this side,








.

because most of this material will be cutaway with the rabbet anyhow, not affecting the thickness of the rabbeted edge

With that in mind a first set the jig to read zero on its dial.









now I dial it 90 deg. to the left of zero, which is 270 deg.









now the workpiece is oriented 90 deg. from its original orientation when it was marked horizontally.









now using my magnifier, I line up the center of the spindle to the center of the work, and lock the "Y" axis table movement.









and now the reference flats are machined to around 30 thou. depth on opposite sides.









now I can move the workpiece insede the jig to make it more stable,and have a better grip on it when it comes to machining the rabbet, this can now be accomplished with perfect accuracy, by taking a precision square block and lining it up to the reference flat, and tightening the jig to rehold the workpiece, for the maching operations to follow.
This is the first purpose for the reference flat.









now that the rabbet has been formed on one end of both workpieces, I can now line them up to where they will be assembled to on the project, to start laying out the areas for drilling holes.









That's where I left off this weekend, the next set of procedures to finish machining this workpiece will continue in the next installment.

have fun in the shop


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *begining to machine the stop blocks with procedural steps to make one part*
> 
> I needed to make a latching stop block to keep the router from slipping off the back, its not only a stop block, but also a latching block, because later I will attach some sort of a latchng mechanism, on this block to keep the router elevated above the workpiece while repositioning the router for the next mortise.
> 
> ...


Still enjoying this detailed blog very much. It seems to me that a background in machining would sure be a big advantage for any woodworker.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *begining to machine the stop blocks with procedural steps to make one part*
> 
> I needed to make a latching stop block to keep the router from slipping off the back, its not only a stop block, but also a latching block, because later I will attach some sort of a latchng mechanism, on this block to keep the router elevated above the workpiece while repositioning the router for the next mortise.
> 
> ...


Hi Mike, glad your enjoying the build blog.

Yeh, I think machining and woodworking go hand in hand, as they both require fixturing and setups, to accomplish the removal of material off of stock, and sometimes elaborate fixturing for assembly of complex components.

Plus with machining, you have the advantage to make tooling for woodworking, that is not affordable, or available otherwise.

Example, I needed a mandrel, to put on my big woodworking lathe, to hold a small wheel, to put a edge on it that was too small for a router, setup.
The wood lathe has a 1MT through its spindle, so by using my metal lathe and a shopmade tapering jig, I was able to make a 1MT mandrel to make this work for my wood lathe.

I find homeshop machining a great asset, when it comes to make tooling for all hobbies.


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*few hours this week, making the mortise length stop blocks.*

I was able to get a few hours in this weekend, I fabricated all the parts to make the "X" axis stop blocks, this will allow me to set the length of a mortise.

I now need to measure out and secure accurate dimensions on the stop block now, to know at what locations to do the operations on.

I first use my heigth guage to reference off of the surface plate the height of the sub base, which will be the top of the stop blocks, 









then I get the heigth of the bar 









and with a little math determine at what heigth on the stop block I will make a witness mark to drill and ream a hole to fit the bar it rides on.









and mark the stop block piece









Now here is where making those reference flats come in handy, by me taking the stop block workpiece out of the indexing jig, I can now use the reference flats to locate it back in the orientation it originally was, however now the workpiece is turned end for end, but still able to orient the reference flats where they need to be, for additional machining.
To ensure a nice square arrangement, I use a precision square measuring block, to set the reference flat perpendicular to the table, by setting it tight against the precision block, and that precision block tight to the vise base, gives a square orientation to the workpiece, in the jig.









Now I can set the center of the spindle to the marked out line to start the drilling and reaming of the sliding fit hole.


















check the sliding fit of the bar it rides on.









Now I can determine where I want to put the clamping screw









then the process of drilling and tapping to 10-32 TPI









Now here is why I chose to use my index jig for these operations, I need to now once again index the workpiece 90 deg. from its original position









so as to locate the position for drilling, and tapping the screw clamp hole.


















Now I need to drill a clearance hole for the clamping screw, half the dia of the stop block,
so I measure the dia. of the screw itself









then I know what drill size would give a clearance hole









now one more thing, before I drill this hole, I need to set the depth guage on my mill machine to stop at half the dia.









now after drilling I can drop the screw in to see how it clears the hole
it is not screwed in, just sitting loose.









I made these workpiece blanks longer then needed, so now I can cut them to exact length I wanted,









again put them back into the index jig, lining up the reference flats, to be square, for the one last operation,









This last operation to this workpiece, is to cut a clearance slot, 









so as the screw is tightened, the stop block ends will contract tight against the slide bar, to lock them into place.


















thats all I got done this weekend, I was busy all week doing work for a client, so I had little time this week to do much on this project.

Have a great weekend guys.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *few hours this week, making the mortise length stop blocks.*
> 
> I was able to get a few hours in this weekend, I fabricated all the parts to make the "X" axis stop blocks, this will allow me to set the length of a mortise.
> 
> ...


Great work!


----------



## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *few hours this week, making the mortise length stop blocks.*
> 
> I was able to get a few hours in this weekend, I fabricated all the parts to make the "X" axis stop blocks, this will allow me to set the length of a mortise.
> 
> ...


Hi Mike 
Thanks,
This feature with the "mortise length" stops, probably won't get used much with me, because the material I had on hand to make the base, is thin, so I had no choice but to make the stops, sliding rails out of 1/4" dia. round rod, (steel), so there isn't much support, from keeping these rods from bending easily if misused, thats why there just threaded on to the base as an extra, the reason I don't need them, is because when I do mortises I make them extra long for lateral alignment of boards, any how, so the only time I would use these stops, if I'm making a small mortise on the ends of a miter joint, or something like that.

Yesterday evening I got a few hours in my machining, to make the adjustable mortise depth stop, I took a couple pics, then I started cutting the round bar stock for two handles, I got as far as facing them off to length on my minilathe, then had to stop as it was getting late in the evening.

have fun in the shop


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*couple more hours this evening, building mortise depth stop block and starting the handles.*

couple hours yesterday evening, allowed me to start working on making the adjustable 'mortise depth' stop, 
It is machined with a small flange to ride in the groove at the bottom of the subbase, when I have it set where I want it, for depth of cut, I tighten it with a screw that comes through the slot in the subbase. However I don't want to thread the stop block itself, seeing it is a very thin piece of aluminum stock left over after machining it to final thickness, to fit under the dovetail block, so I decided it would be best to machine a shallow slot to glue a nut into, so the screw get tighten into a steel nut, to tighten the stop block.


















now to drill for a clearance hole for the screw to come through the block.
first step line up the center of the nut with the spindle center line









and drill through









now the block is ready for the nut to be glued into it



























and how it works with the subbase



























This evening I got a couple more hours in machining.

now its time to start workiing on some handles for the jig.
these are aluminum round bar pieces after they were machined to final length
they will become the handle tops..









they will be threaded onto a tapered shaft to complete the handle, so I first need to thread each handle top, so they can be fitted onto there own tapered shaft.









here are two pieces of 1" dia. steel round bar pieces, rough cut, with a hacksaw to around 2" in length.
these will later become the tapered shafts to complete each handle.









after machining to final length on my lathe.









I need to drill all the way through each shaft bar, and tap a 1/4-20 TPI at each end to recieve bolts at a later time.









thats all for tonight, next I'll temporarily screw on a handle top blank, to one of these shafts, then machine the handle top to a comfortable profile, once that is done to both of them, I wilol then unscrew them from there shafts, and set up my tapering jig for my lathe, and do some long tapering on each shaft, to give it a nice tapered profile, and then I can permanently screw each handle top to each tapered shaft to complete each handle.

Then the other side of the handle shaft will have a threaded shaft permantently affixed to it, so it can then be screwed into the side of the subbase, to complete the handle assembly.

Have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *couple more hours this evening, building mortise depth stop block and starting the handles.*
> 
> couple hours yesterday evening, allowed me to start working on making the adjustable 'mortise depth' stop,
> It is machined with a small flange to ride in the groove at the bottom of the subbase, when I have it set where I want it, for depth of cut, I tighten it with a screw that comes through the slot in the subbase. However I don't want to thread the stop block itself, seeing it is a very thin piece of aluminum stock left over after machining it to final thickness, to fit under the dovetail block, so I decided it would be best to machine a shallow slot to glue a nut into, so the screw get tighten into a steel nut, to tighten the stop block.
> ...


This should be a rock solid tool when finished. Gluing in the nut for the stop reminds me of how surprised I was to learn that super glue was originally formulated to glue metal to metal. At least that is what I read in an article about a new super glue formulated for wood.

Just a thought, but I am wondering if your mortiser could be made from hardwood, maple or birch for example, based on the design of this one. I was just thinking that others who don't have your machining skills or equipment might like to have one too. I'm not thinking of myself as I have a mortising attachment for my combo machine and also a biscuit jointer.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *couple more hours this evening, building mortise depth stop block and starting the handles.*
> 
> couple hours yesterday evening, allowed me to start working on making the adjustable 'mortise depth' stop,
> It is machined with a small flange to ride in the groove at the bottom of the subbase, when I have it set where I want it, for depth of cut, I tighten it with a screw that comes through the slot in the subbase. However I don't want to thread the stop block itself, seeing it is a very thin piece of aluminum stock left over after machining it to final thickness, to fit under the dovetail block, so I decided it would be best to machine a shallow slot to glue a nut into, so the screw get tighten into a steel nut, to tighten the stop block.
> ...


Hi Mike

I have found this superglue from "hobbylobby", to work real good to glue metal, I use it alot, especially when I make wood jigs to hold metal parts to, for machining.

I'm sure this jig could be made from a hardwood, if I made it from wood, I would eliminate the dove tail slides, and make them tounge and groove slides instead, to allow for wood movement, other than that, it could all be done with hardwoods.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*making the handles complete with tapers, using my tapering jig.*

Now I will first machine a small taper on the handle top, I will use one of the bars I just threaded as a mandrel to hold a handle top onto, then I will set up to machine a taper.
Because I don't need to use the tailstock to support the workpiece, I can adjust the compound slide to the desired angle, a person aquainted with machining, will see in this setup the taper is being cut the opposite way it is usually done on a lathe, however it still works.


















now instead of machining a large chamfer on the front end of the handle top, I decided to just work it to a round profile usiong a file, with the lathe running.









The piece on the left was not yet worked by hand filing the one on the right is after the finish filing.


















now both handle tops are finished with all the profiling









I now want to enlarge the thread from 1/4-20 to 3/8-16 tpi, on the opposite end, to give more of a substantial attachment of the handle assembly to the subbase.
Here a 3/8-16 tpi. bolt is used to check for fit.









Ok now that the handle top and shaft is all drilled and tapped, and ready for final assembly, I still want to make a long taper on the shaft of each handle rod, to make for a more comfortable grip, as well as asthetics too.
This taper will go from the bottom to the handle top, increaqsing in elevation, However, I want a good support base at the bottom of the handle rod, so I will begin the taper up above the very bottom, so I first mark it off like this.









Now I can machine a groove to required depth, to where the taper will start at the small end.









After determining the depth of cut in, and the length of the taper, a quick trig, calculation, shows the arctangent of 0.25, which is around 14 deg.









Now I could again set my lathe compound slide to this angle, however because my workpiece is very small, and I have a very small area of grip in the chuck jaws, I need to use my tailstock to hold this workpiece, or else it will have great deflection, and ruin the work, so the only way I can use my tailstock and still cut a long taper, is to use my shop built tapering jig.
So here I have it set up as it takes the place of the entire cross slide on my lathe, and it is very easy to set up any angle I need, by using my protractor in combination with a ruler.
This setup is close to the 14 deg. taper angle I need.









With everything locked down I can start cutting away the taper.



























And a look at the before taper and after taper, with the two workpieces.


















Now I can place the workpieces back in the lathe to rough cut them to length.









And after facing them to final finish lengths, I have the tops dry assembled to each shaft, to check for fit.









And a quick look at where abouts they will probably fo on the subase assembly, on the mortise jig itself.









That's all for today.
Have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *making the handles complete with tapers, using my tapering jig.*
> 
> Now I will first machine a small taper on the handle top, I will use one of the bars I just threaded as a mandrel to hold a handle top onto, then I will set up to machine a taper.
> Because I don't need to use the tailstock to support the workpiece, I can adjust the compound slide to the desired angle, a person aquainted with machining, will see in this setup the taper is being cut the opposite way it is usually done on a lathe, however it still works.
> ...


Your machining work looks like as much fun as woodworking (did I say that?). If I weren't so old I think I would take it up, but I'm not willing to use another 20 years to become quasi competent at it. I am really looking forward to seeing your mortiser in action. My guess is that you are making a truly wonderful tool that we will all drool over when we see it in action.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *making the handles complete with tapers, using my tapering jig.*
> 
> Now I will first machine a small taper on the handle top, I will use one of the bars I just threaded as a mandrel to hold a handle top onto, then I will set up to machine a taper.
> Because I don't need to use the tailstock to support the workpiece, I can adjust the compound slide to the desired angle, a person aquainted with machining, will see in this setup the taper is being cut the opposite way it is usually done on a lathe, however it still works.
> ...


Hi Mike,

Yeh, machining is just as much fun as woodworking, now for me, metalworking is not as fun, I never really liked working with metal, and I still don't, to me its to hard and heavy and bulky, material to work with, it takes to long to build things, and I don't like welding much, but I do like homeshop machining, and artistery with metal, doing fine metalwork as an artistic piece I like doing, I love to build mechanical models with metal, because of the fine details that can be machined with great accuracy, when it comes to mechanical model designs and builds, that is the only time I can enjoy working with metal.

When it comes to big building projects, I like woodworking.
I would rather build furniture out of wood, then to weld up a piece of metal furniture.

Here are a few examples of my mechanical model builds, this shows to the scale I like to work with metal, something that can sit on a coffee table to me is the largest I'll go with a metal project.

A few of these, I did as a "work in progress" projects on a machining forum, I also belong to.

this is a small scale model of my angle machinists vice.



























Here is my swivel vice model


















model of those portable hydraulic lift tables, works with water for the hydraulics.


















then a representative model of those flight simulator platforms, only I don't have the cabin attached to the top, it just works as a moing platform, this works with sewing machine oil, for the hydraulics.









And one from my collection of air powered model engines, this one I made to represent a aircraft horizontal engine.









If you are interested, here is a link to my photo bucket album.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ddkiz/library/

Have fun in the shop.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*adding the latch, and upgrading the length stops.*

I was able to get a couple hours in this evening for machining parts.

I'm using a cabinet door bullet catch latch,








--------









to lock the router subbase assembly, should I use the jig in a upright position, this latch will allow me to latch the router while I move the jig to a new location to make another mortise, on the board.

Now I'm not happy with the smallish rod I was using for the mortise length stops to fasten onto, the rods were very thin 1/4" dia., so the thread was a small 6-32 tpi, to fit on the edge of the 3/8" thick subbase assembly, a wrong bump and the rods could break off in the base, not good,








So first I enlarged the clamping holes in each stop to 3/8" dia., then I took a piece of 1/2" round bar stock and drilled and tapped one end to 5/16-18 tpi, then took a bolt with that thread, locktighted it in, and cut the head off to produce the thread for the bar, then I turned the whole bar down to 3/8" dia, to recieve the clamping stops.
Here you can see the original rods at the bottom compared to the larger rods with the stops assembled to them at the top.









so I decided to beef up these rods, because I know to get the full use out of this jig, I need to be able to set up stops for drilling dowel holes as well as mortise lengths.

Now since these rods are to thick to fit on the edge of the subbase assembly, I need to add these rectangular bars, to recieve the larger threaded shafts, of the new stop assemblies.



























now these stops can be used without the concern of them breaking off.









After those were made I turned down 4 round feet to elevate the jig enough to allow free moving of the stops.

I want to next machine out 2 slots on the main fence, to allow stops and work positioning fences to be clamped to, for any kind of special doweling or mortising such as picture frames or any kind of angular cuts that require the work piece to be held at an angle to the face of the jig.
The slots will be placed at the best location for ample clamping.
These lines are drawn to be reminders of this next stage in the build.









I need also to make accomodations to clamp the jig to my work table with "tee" bolts, and another feature to allow the jig to be clamped in the jaws of my workmate as well.

Another accessory, I need to fabricate, is an adjustable angle fence that can be put on the jig for doing dowel holes or mortises in bevel edges as well, such as compound miters and things.
This fence like the main fence will be removable, should I want to change fence systems, or just use the jig on the face of a board with no fence at all.

I still have a few more accessories to build for this before I can really make the most use of it in my woodworking.

have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *adding the latch, and upgrading the length stops.*
> 
> I was able to get a couple hours in this evening for machining parts.
> 
> ...


An epic build. Good progress.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *adding the latch, and upgrading the length stops.*
> 
> I was able to get a couple hours in this evening for machining parts.
> 
> ...


Hi Mike,
Thankyou,
It's at this stage of the build process, where I'm seeing how to improve on different parts of this project, so its best to address these issues now, while its still in the build stages.


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

*short video mortise jig*

Hi guys here is a short video of the jig, cutting a mortise.






have fun in the shop.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

hobby1 said:


> *short video mortise jig*
> 
> Hi guys here is a short video of the jig, cutting a mortise.
> 
> ...


Wow, really impressive and it looks totally unique as well. Great work Hobby1 and thanks for the video. I think you should post this as a project too. It's not made from wood, but it sure is great for working with. I don't think anyone would mind you breaking the rules a little with this one. Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Have fun!


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## hobby1 (Feb 10, 2012)

hobby1 said:


> *short video mortise jig*
> 
> Hi guys here is a short video of the jig, cutting a mortise.
> 
> ...


Thankyou Mike, for the very nice complement,
I don't think putting it in the projects forum would set too well, with the community, according to the forum rules.

However, when I use this on my woodworking projects, (the video above was just a quick demo), I'll post in this blog thread somemore videos of different uses for it, to show more versatility of this jig.

I am busy doing clientel work on location, to be able to keep up with this blog, that's why I put together this quick video demo, so as to not keep you guys hanging with this build, seeing you guys were very faithfully patient in following me in this build blog.

Thanks for all the encouraging complements you guys gave, in the process of this build, it helped me to stay on track to keep this build blog going when I had the spare time to work at it to accomplish it.

Thanks again.


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