By: Jun

Jun — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:46:10 +0000

cool tutorial. thanks!

By: Steve_OH

Steve_OH — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:02:43 +0000

Glen needed a 1/4″ diameter bit (i.e., 1/4″ at the business end). The Rockler bit has a 1/4″ shank, but the cutting diameter is 1/2″.

-Steve

By: Eric R

Eric R — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:33:45 +0000

Like you said Glen, simple & cheap enough to make a few for different, but frequently made cuts.
And small enough to keep in a box under the bench somewhere.
Thanks Glen.

By: EeyorIs21

EeyorIs21 — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 02:34:01 +0000

It pains me to link to these guys, but I found it fairly quickly.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25160&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PLA

By: dreamcatcher

dreamcatcher — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:40:54 +0000

I used to work in a cabinet shop under [what I consider to be] a master cabinetmaker. He used the method of marking the offset. But after seeing this tip published somewhere, I showed it to him and he was delighted to see that it made our dados more accurate and considerably increased our efficiency. I made many sizes of them, up to 4 feet long for the router and some up to 12 feet long for the circular saw. I should note that our method was to rabbet joint all carcass parts and dado all shelves as well as dadoing all faceframes to fit the carcass so each cabinet had lots of dado work.

Here’s a few extra tips:

1.) One feature I added to my jigs were to make them work two sided by placing the fence in the middle of the jig – one side was for a 3/4″ bit, the other was for 1/2″. Of course we used a lot of plywood so we had ‘true’ 3/4″ jigs as well as undersized 3/4″ jigs. It pays off to know the difference and to gauge your plywood before dadoing.

2.) Mark one edge of the router base and only use that edge to cut the jig and perform the dadoing. While most router bases are centered pretty well, I have found some that were off by up to 1/16″ which means your jig will be off by the same amount causing your dado to be offset by the same amount. Even if you’re sure you think your router is perfectly centered, there’s no harm in being cautious.

3.) I prefer using 3/4″ plywood for the fence and T-square. I just trust it’s stability and straightness. Seven ply will work but 13 ply is better.

4.) You should really nail AND glue the fence to the jig base lest the fence will begin to wiggle after some use.

5.) Try not to skimp on the 1/4″ plywood by using hardboard or luan. Use 5 ply european birch plywood. Luan tends to give a chippy/unreliable edge and the darkness of hardboard makes seeing the cut mark difficult.

6.) Setting the jig up for use with a plunge router base makes creating stopped dados much easier.

That’s all I can think of off hand, I hope it helps.

By: CessnapilotBarry

CessnapilotBarry — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:17:17 +0000