Tablesaw Dovetail Jig Ver 1

glenn bradley

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I have seen a few variations on this but, the specific jig always seems to take care of pins -or- tails and I wanted one to do both. A clever guy on another site had a version which he flipped top to bottom to handle this along with a readjustment of his miter gauge. That knocked the rust off of an idea I have been playing with for awhile in my mind (a dangerous playground).

I like to make anything in my shop serve double duty whenever possible. My TS/DT jig wandering settled my sites on this small sled that I use mostly for box making.

Quick Flip Stop (10).jpg

All my sleds have replaceable inserts to lengthen their life and make them handy for sudden inspiration :rolleyes:. When I make inserts I turn out a batch and all my sleds use the same width stock; they just get cut to different lengths . . . this has little to do with the jig but, I can't help harping on things that I repeatedly find make my life in the shop easier ;).

TS DT Jig V1 (2).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (3).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (4).jpg

The making of tails with the blade tilted to 7 degrees (or whatever your choice) is simple enough. I do not have a custom blade as I wanted to make sure this was a viable method for me before taking that step. A little chisel work is my penance for caution. For the pins I came up with a fixture that mounts to the sled. For this I needed a bit of 7 degree stock.

TS DT Jig V1 (5).jpg

I milled this stock to accept my Rockler Universal clamps from either orientation . . . this will make more sense in a moment.

TS DT Jig V1 (6).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (7).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (8).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (9).jpg

.... cont'd
 
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The add-on mounts via the milled blocks

TS DT Jig V1 (12).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (13).jpg

I use two clamps when using the add-on.

TS DT Jig V1 (14).jpg

Alignment is easily repeatable when flipping the add-on over for the complimentary angle. I just use a block to align the add-on with the outside edge of the sled. This blade/sled-edge relationship remains constant.

TS DT Jig V1 (15).jpg

Here's the result of my TCG raker on my rip blade. I have an FTG blade as well but, a 7" custom blade will really speed this up.

TS DT Jig V1 (11).jpg . TS DT Jig V1 (10).jpg

Using the jig is a matter of laying out tick marks for where your tails will be. Cut the first 7 degree cuts at those tick marks. Flip the piece so that the opposite face is against the fence, use the previous cuts to align with the ZCI slot and cut again to get the "V's". Use this piece to layout your mating piece. I used a marking knife since I wanted to cut as close as possible to the final dimension.

Using the add-on first one way (angled left if you will) and then the other way (angled right if you will), nibble out the waste to accept the tails and what's left is your pins. I put a pencil mark between the transferred knife marks to remind me which part stays and which part goes. Re-reading this it may be that more pictures would help(?).

Not bad for a first shot but, I failed in a few ways:

  • No custom blade
  • Used plywood
  • Unequal material thickness

TS DT Jig V1 (18) 2nd try.jpg

Even though I grabbed a couple of similar looking 1/2" BB ply scraps they were 1/32" different in thickness :doh:.
 
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Glenn thanks for posting. I cant begin to tell you all the things i have learnt from you. Your version of making things easier in the shop is my version of reducing the frustration factor that leads to impatience and consequential mistakes so thanks for the tips.

The jig is awesome. If i got that close on the ply i would be delighted, 1/32 wow.
Your explanation is excellent even i understood first time, lol.
 
Thanks guys. I hope this helps someone out or, like the other guy's post I ran into, breaks something loose that you may have been thinking on for awhile. I realized that in my hurry to try the thing out I made pretty evenly spaced tails. I will try this on some solid stock and with some variations. If it gets interesting I'll post some additional pics in order to share.
 
Making jigs is not my strong point, but that one has caught my eye Glenn. A lot of thiking has gone on that one. Congrats on it, from now on all your pieces will need to have dovetails to put it to work! ;)
 
Cool jig and results. Do they make a special blade set for cutting these at the right angles?

You can get a blade ground to whatever angle you like. I think Forrest and others sell them ready made at certain angles. For the amount of cutting that gets done, a fellow who does this a lot bought a Freud full kerf rip blade on sale and had it re-ground for a total cost of about $50. He reports having used it quite a bit and it still cuts great. I have not take that step yet as I want to do a few more and see if they catch on with me. I haven't found much use for dovetails in general (except to admire looking at) but, people expect them.
 
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