Post your favorite DIY Tablesaw box joint jigs!

[jgourlay]

Mike, thanks!

[jgourlay]

John: thanks, cool!

[Alan S]

I like simple too. If you use it a lot, gluing a base to hold the key solid and square is helpful. Holding the key very square allows you to cut all 4 pieces of a box (two opposite corners) at the same time, with all joints fitting well.

People put a lot of effort into making them adjustable. My experience is that I once made a simple sled so I wouldn't tie up my miter gauge or need to reset it each time. I set it up so if I used it facing one way on the saw it would cut 1/4" box joints, and 3/8" joints facing the other way. The 1/4" joints worked for me: I never bothered to set up the 3/8" side.

[Alan in little Washington]

I've used an index peg mounted in a wood fence attached to my miter gauge. It was a pain to dial in and only good for one size box joint. It either needed a dedicated miter gauge or required careful setup if I removed it to use the miter gauge for another operation.

Then I made this standalone design from one of the WW mags. It was adjustable and had replaceable sub-fences with pins for different size fingers:





I took great care building so it looked nice, but it really didn't work worth a darn! It was hard to get the dado stack to match the index peg from use to use.

Then I started over and built this really crude prototype. Outwardly, it may look like other adjustable box joint jigs, but I came up with a totally different principle that hadn't been used before:





Surprisingly, it actually worked quite well but was certainly not ready for prime time. So, using a similar mechanism, I built this one from acrylic:



It worked much better but was still lacking, so I built this one from an aluminum extrusion:



It looked really slick, but since I don't have metal working tools, machines, or skills, it didn't work worth a darn. So, I teamed up with the great folks at INCRA and we came up with this:



It is the cat's meow! Among other things, it is precise, micro adjustable in .001" increments, easy to use, works on tablesaws AND router tables, can be set to make a wide range of fingers from 1/8" to 3/4"+, and can make a number of specialty joints not possible with other jigs:

[Cian]

Three different sizes...

[MichaelMouse]

Have a router? Having made and used a number of tablesaw jigs, I now use and used to teach the router jigs. Not foolproof, but VERY fool resistant, which is why there are no variations to take up room in magazines.

http://www.routerworkshop.com/boxjoints.html Sixth graders were able to use it successfully.

[handi]

I just finished a video for Freud explaining their Box Joint Blade set, and how to make a finger joint fence to go with it. I designed the auxiliary fences to self-locate and change over very quickly.

Not sure when it will go public but it should be very soon.

Ralph

[Steve N]

I have made most of the jigs shown in this thread, and I bought Alan's I Box, and haven't regretted it in the least. You just can't build out of wood, the tolerances you get with metal. Any wood jig will be good for a run or two of joints, then you are building again.

Build a sled, build a shooting board, make all your safety gizmos. Buy an I Box, especially if you see yourself frequently making box joints. Just one or two, make a wood jig.

[Sandal Woods]

handi said:

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I just finished a video for Freud explaining their Box Joint Blade set, and how to make a finger joint fence to go with it....

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Hi, Ralph. Happy New Year!

I remember that in either 2001 or 2002 you published an article about a finger joint jig. If you were making little boxes today, which way would you go? With the Freud blades, or some other jig? For small boxes, or large ones, or a range of sizes?

Have a wonderful 2015, everyone!

Al

[Alan S]

Steve N said:

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Any wood jig will be good for a run or two of joints, then you are building again.

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I don't contest that metal is more precise than wood, or that if you want to cut various sizes of box joints, a variable jig is helpful. Or that buying one can allow you to avoid the setup you need while building.

However, I disagree with the above quote. As long as your key is glued down flat to a base that has runners attached, your single size jig will be durable and retain for a long time whatever accuracy you put into it as it was built.