Von's shop tour and setup log

[Von]

I think I figured out my MDF tear-out woes. I grabbed a scrap pieces and made a bunch of relief cuts without being able to reproduce the problem. All cuts nice and clean, no issues at the exits or where they crossed. (Yes, the bit will pull the piece a fair amount if you don't brace it.)

At first I was baffled but then realized on my block I had the tear-out problems routing on the edge of the laminated MDF pieces. So I flipped the scrap piece up on its edge and routed that and it showed clear delamination where the bit exited. I glued up another laminated block and will play more tomorrow, but looks it's what I'm seeing is all an issue with routing through the MDF vertically (as the joke goes: don't do that). I hadn't thought of MDF as a lamination, but that seems to be what it is.

 

[Von]

A bit more playing this morning and confirmed the source of MDF tear out as coming from routing across the vertical edges. So, in short, don't do that. If I had rotated my dovetail block 90 degrees and put the front on the face side of the MDF, it would have saved me a lot of headaches.

[Von]

OK, with the block done, I finished the accessories and here is the mortising jig. It's based off a version from Fine Woodworking modified to use the Jay Bates "Moxen Block" instead of a custom body. In a nutshell, the workpiece (dark piece of scrap oak) gets clamped to the front guided by the fence at left to make things repeatable. The two stops on the top limit the router left-to-right to control the length of the mortise. The plunge stop on the router controls the depth.

On the back of the block, a custom edge guide on the router fits between the block and another fence attached to the block to set the location of the mortise front-to-back and to prevent any front-to-back motion. I used the same material to make the edge guide and to space the fence, and everything is slick enough I didn't have to tweak the spacing.

A quick test run. I'm happy with everything so far. I took it all apart again to smooth corners and put a coat of finish on everything.

[Von]

On 5/14/2024 at 2:23 PM, Von said:

 I used the same material to make the edge guide and to space the fence, and everything is slick enough I didn't have to tweak the spacing.

After finishing things were binding a little, so I added a piece of blue tape to give the edge guide a little breathing room.

Unrelated, I found a home today for an extra bunch of roof shingles kicking around the garage as bench ballast. About 70 lbs, which is helpful.

[Von]

Building some wings for the Kapex. These are "temporary" until I build a real cabinet for it and to help me figure out what sort of stop system I want. I cut a dovetail groove for now. I'm also going fence-less. Figured I'd try this for a while and then consider something like the Stealthstop (I welcome thoughts from those who have something).

[Von]

Finished up the wings for the Kapex. Only thing worth mentioning is for the stop block, I wanted it not to spin so I could operate it one-handed. So I inserted a couple 3/8" dowels inline with the hold down. With a little sanding they fit snuggly into the dovetail slot and keep the block from spinning. (5/16" dowel might work without sanding but it felt like it might be a little loose.)

 

[Von]

An update on my MDF "Moxen Block": I was curious to see how the dovetail slots in MDF handled pressure away from the the surface of the block, so I made what is basically a planing stop. I put a piece against it and planed away. It held up without any apparent problems.

Right now I'm trying out leaving the block on one end of my bench to see what uses I find for it.

[Von]

I got started on my small parts organizer earlier this week. Basically a five-sided box to hold six Stanley Sortmasters. As far as I can recall I haven't done a splined mitered box before, so am going that route. I'm going to try making a jig for my biscuit joiner to cut the splines.

Initial dry fit in photo. Going to cut a chamfer on the inside of the front, pre-finish the inside, and attach brackets before glue up.

 

 

 

 

 

[gee-dub]

Looking good.  I do find that individual sections for the stackables (making them independent and not stacked) made them easier to use.  I can get to the third from the bottom without having to remove the others above it.  Just my experience

[Von]

I hope everyone has a good memorial day.

I put a coat of finish on the inside pieces today and then spent some time cutting up this 1/16" aluminum for the brackets.

I looked at my biscuit joiner to figure out how I'm going to attach a jig (e.g.) for cutting the splines to the face. Looks like if I take the face assembly off, I can open it to 90 degrees and then screw it to something as tall as I want, close it, and reattached it to the joiner. (If I leave it on the joiner, the joiner itself is in the way with anything past the hinge.)

 

 

[Coop]

You’re wanting to cut the splines or the grooves to accommodate the splines with the biscuit cutter?

[gee-dub]

I also need a bit more info.  For stopped grooves for miter splines the router table is the way to go.  Is that what we are talking about?

 

[Von]

This is what I'm thinking. TIA.

(On cell phone, pardon the brevity.)

[Coop]

I find these are made easily on the table saw with a home made jig allowing you to adjust the depth and the location using a flat-grind blade. 

[pkinneb]

FWIW I do mine at the TS with this simple jig

[wtnhighlander]

IMO, the tablesaw jig (or router table version) is the cleaner, safer way to go. The only advantage I see to using a biscuit cutter is the blade size. Aren't they a bit thicker than 1/8"? 

BTW, using a router jig, you have the option of cutting dovetail, keyhole, or other interesting spline / key shapes.

[gee-dub]

On 5/24/2024 at 8:47 AM, Von said:

This is what I'm thinking. TIA.

 

Ah, got it.  Easy Peasy.

The toggle clamp is optional but holds the piece firm and allows easy "catch and release" for rotating the piece being milled.

[Mark J]

Has anyone used a TS/RT jig to spline the corners of a box as big as Von is making?  Seems like that could be unwieldy?

[gee-dub]

There is certainly a tipping point for bringing the work to the tool or the tool to the work .  I agree that something 20" x 20"-ish is getting there.  Maybe something like this that could be clamped to the work for using a small router and a template guide?

 

[Coop]

I cut the spline slots in the corners of 28” x 38” and 33” x 45” picture frames using the jigs pictured above using a c-clamp to hold them in place. 

[Von]

Thanks all. I will heed the wisdom of the group and explore a TS jig. I do think @Mark J has a good question - at ~20"Tx14"Wx11"D, my box would just fit in @gee-dub's jig and I don't know how much futzing it will take to balance it. Once I get it assembled, I'll get a better feel for what moving it around will be like.

[Mark J]

Use a hand held trim router with the jig?

[Von]

I'm liking the Jay Bates design for the TS jig. Seems both simple and designed to handle a larger box well.

On 5/27/2024 at 12:59 PM, Mark J said:

Use a hand held trim router with the jig?

Something like the following?

[Von]

Got the carcass glued up this morning. I debated and decided to screw on the brackets after glue up and spline install - it will be a little tight working in the cabinet but at least I know nothing will shift on me. Be a few days before I get back to making the spline jig.

[Von]

I'll kinda work backwards in this post. End of the story: my box is splined. Thanks all for your advice. Details follow.

I stuck with the Jay Bates design including attaching a miter gauge instead of a runner. I think my big take away with these jigs is you have a choice of putting the bracing perpendicular to the table saw blade, like this version, or making triangle braces that are parallel. The pro to this design is as long as the saw blade doesn't penetrate the front brace, you are very protected from the saw blade. The con is you can't see squat as to where the blade is under the jig.

To help with the con, I put a stop on my table saw so that the jig would not go so far as to allow the blade to penetrate the front brace on the jig.

And here is the jig holding the carcass. It seems like a lot of stuff on top of the saw, but with the bottom of the jig waxed it moves smoothly. One hand on the gauge was enough to execute the cut. I stood off to the left side of the saw to use it since that gave me the best view of the blade and the carcass to make sure it was sitting properly in the jig. 

First cut.

I also did take the time to also make a jig for the biscuit joiner as I was curious.

Cuts on a scrap piece. Ignore the bottom one, it was me calibrating a stop on the table saw jig. Then from bottom to top you see a cut from the table saw jig, followed by 4 from the biscuit joiner at different depths.

My take on the biscuit joiner jig: It works, but does seem to have more tear out than the TS. It is also a bit of a challenge to hold it at a given height and keep it square, especially as you allow the cutter to retract - it's awkward shifting ones weight back after making the cut. That said, if I had a carcass much larger (or more unbalanced) than the one I did today, I'd give it serious consideration, probably with some sort of way of holding it at height.