Box joint jig for standard blade

[Tony Caro]

Hi all,

I have a Triton Workcentre which will not take dado blades so I am restricted to using the standard blade only and wish to make a box joint jig. Anyone else here made a jig for just the standard blade, I am looking at making the fingers about 1/2 inch wide. The problem I've found that without the dado which means only one cut, I have to re-reference for my single 2.5 mm blade to cut the other edge of the finger. Any help appreciated.

[Myk Rian]

Do you have a router table?

[Tony Caro]

Hi Myk, I do but had hoped that there might be a way to get the job done in table saw mode.

[Tony Caro]

I should point out that I found one site which could have been the answer http://woodworking.phruksawan.com/boxJointJig but I find it accumulates 1/2 mm error on each cut and I can't work out why. The drill bit spacer is the same width as the saw blade kerf. The article is not clear about spacing and precision work which is obviously needed for this sort of joint.

[david brum]

I once built this jig from the Shark Guard site. It is designed for a standard blade and has a screw advance. It isn't difficult to make or use, but you do have to keep careful count of the crank revolutions as you advance the blade.
http://www.leestyron.com/lynnjig.php

[Tony Caro]

Thanks, David, were you happy with the accuracy of the jig when using the standard blade.

[david brum]

It's been a few years since I used it Tony. As I recall, it was pretty good though. I built a few boxes which turned out fine. I seem to remember some sort of calculation for how far to advance the screw, depending on your blade width. The beauty of this jig is that as long as you're keeping count, you shouldn't get any variation in the width of your box joint fingers. As with any box joint jig, there is some practice involved.

[Erik France]

I don't have much help with a jig suggestion, but most any pin type jig should work.

You will want to use a blade with a flat top grind though. Most standard ATB blades will leave an angled bottom. Too bad you can't use the Freud box-joint set. I have really enjoyed mine.

[Tony Caro]

Thanks, Erik, I was wondering why I got that slightly angled bottom.