Shop Made Router Mortice Jigs

[Joe]

Apologies if this subject has been covered before (didn't manage to find much using search function), but I was hoping to persuade forum members to share with me jigs that they have made for cutting mortices with a router. I have been using a drill press, but don't find this very satisfactory.

Thanks

Joel

 

[wizer]

Last summer I built 2 mortising jigs and I wasn't happy with either of them. In the end I bought a router with a double fence. I clamped extra timber either side of the work piece and routed the mortice in several passes. You can set end stops if you want to be fancy.

 

[maltrout512]

Toms idea works and is IMO very sensible. Just 8 years back I had to make some windows, (open part) only. 10 in total. I bought the woodrat just for that. I know it was not cheap, I think around the £ 400 mark just for that job. It worked very well and thats what I used it for. Until 6 months ago I had a job to make a hand built kitchen. Well, the rat shone. Panel raising, mouldings, stile and rails, dove tails (traditional narrow pin), open and half blind and more. What it can do, and I'm sorry that I bleat on about it is mind blowing. The setup cost is I must admit not on the cheap side, but when you have made that start, you can add as you go. Boy it's a great learing curve that with the rat you never seem to be quite there. Well thats how I started with mortices.

 

[Steve Maskery]

This one of my favourite jigs. Mine fits over the jaws of the vice, so clamping the work is a breeze. I have positional stops for repeat work and travel stops for the mortice itself. Two fences prevent drift and I've configured it so that you can cut left- and right-hand mortices (when doing table-legs, for example) without altering any settings, and I have auxiliary faces for doing dovetail housings (tripod tables), splines (segments frames and picture frames) and loose mortice & tenon joinery.

It's also easy to make mortices wider than the the cutter this way. They are accurate and repeatable.

I do have a hollow-chisel morticer, which I use on batch jobs, but that is in my friend's workshop round the corner, so this is quick and easy if I have just a couple to do. It's a very good solution in the home workshop.

BTW the cutter you use makes a difference. I use the Clico ones intended for slot morticers, they are very good, but you have to have the speed turned right down low, as they are unbalanced and not intended for router speeds . Unfortunately they are very expensive and I've just broken the 1/4" one (again). I'm thinking of trying the Wealden ones instead, they are cheaper and Wealden have a good rep for quality. But it does say in their blurb that they are vulnerable, so you really need a spare for when it goes, else you are mid-batch and scuppered for a few days.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Joe]

Steve, are you referring to the Woodrat or your own jig? If the latter, do you have any pictures?

Joel

 

[Paul Chapman]

It's quite easy to knock up a jig from MDF, some scraps of wood and a few bolts and nuts. Here's one (rather rough and ready but it worked well) to rout some mortices in some table rails for loose tenons.

The length of the mortices was controlled by stops at each end of the jig. I use a large rectangular base on my router and you can see that I have made two adjustable wooden fences to fit this.

This was a test joint so you can see that it worked OK

This was a one off job, so I made it functional rather than pretty but it worked well, was dead accurate and better than paying £100+ for a commercial jig :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Joe]

Thanks Paul, I like the look of that. When it comes to jig making it's definitely function before form for me!

Joel

 

[Derek Willis.]

Mortise cutting jig, for use with a router.

• Pictures 1 and 2 show the jig, a piece of acrylic sheet or mdf or ply about 6mm thick. Drill holes for fixing to your router, fix to your router, then fit a small cutter and plunge through, this will give a centre line with which to work.
• Mark a line through centre and square to the router, drill and fit 2 dowels either plastic, as I have, or timber, at a distance near to the edge.
• Here false plate is fitted to router.
• Here Router is set onto piece to be mortised, then turn the router until the pegs are touching each side and plunge to cut.
• Here in picture 5 I am using the additional fitment that allows the routing of mortises near to the end. A spacer of the same thickness as the piece to be mortised must be fitted to the end of the extending jig.
• Picture 6 shows the extending jig.
• Picture 7 shows all the components.
Your mortise will always be central with the use of a jig like this.
Derek.

 

[Joe]

Very interesting, thanks Derek.

Joel

 

[Steve Maskery]

The only problem with that sort of jig is that you get the mortice central, whether you want it that way or not. That's great for face-frames, for example, but for table rails that need to be kept to the outside for maximum length, it is not so suitable.

How do you use it to cut mortices in, say, the middle of a door stile, far from the end?

With one like mine, or any other vice-held one with stops, you can force it to be central if you want, or make it offset. You can retain stop positions for the duration of the project, you can cut the mortices symmetrically - there are lots of advantages.

My current version is the third incarnation, and it does absolutely everything I could ask of it. It cost me very little to make (well, not counting my time) and I've yet to see anything to match it.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Derek Willis.]

Steve,
I have long admired your jigs, but the post was, how do you cut your mortices?
To cut in the middle of the rail you do not use the end attachment, for offset joints, add a batten to the side.
I also have a double fence with one of my routers that I use for some applications, just as the fancy takes me.
This jig got me the router shown, a Bosch 900, from Routing magazine about ten years ago, in their hints and tips. I also picked up an 18v. combi drill driver from one of the others nine years later, so somone must have liked it.
derek.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Derek
Sorry if I sounded as if I was having a go, that wasn't my intention at all. I was just trying to give Joe the pros and cons, that's all.

Cheers
Steve