Homemade dovetail template

Next, cut the pins by following the instructions, and finally cut the tails. The first two steps were the tricky part. The cutting of the tails is very easy. This written tutorial also has a video version embedded within, if you would prefer to watch.

The tutorial is lengthy but full of dimensions, plans and pictures and quite easy to understand. This jig is excellent for significantly reducing the amount of effort you need to create tight-fitting joints. For this jig, you would need a metal base, a clamping system, pressure bars, a comb or a template for cutting.

The tutorial is not listed in a step by step manner, but you would find instructions on how to go about building yours. Read through the tutorial to make your list as you go along. Also, prepare all the materials you would need before you begin. This is a lengthy video tutorial of about minutes. It is not very instructional, but it is clear and easy to follow. You would need some plywood or MDF, clamps, ruling measures, table saws, among other necessary materials and tools. Making this dovetail jig is not too difficult; it only involves some measurements, cutting, and assembling.

This would come in handy for making boxes, or corners or joints in the workshop. He begins by cutting up some plywood; then, he gives tips on how to make some more cuts for the project. The video tutorial is not so lengthy, but since it has no written plans, you might need to make one for yourself. This designer needed to make many benches in a hurry, and so he created this very helpful dovetail jig to beat the time.

Using a table saw and a trim router, he cut his joint, making time to about 10 minutes instead of 1 hour by hand. In this fully instructional video, he takes you through a non-conventional style of building dovetail jigs. Making a dovetail jig has never been this easy! Sure, you could get yourself a new, factory-made one, but it would be much more helpful to try out any of these tutorials that catch your fancy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Instead of buying a new, factory-made one, why not do it yourself? Simple Homemade Dovetail Jig Before he begins the tutorial, the designer gives a very detailed insight into dovetail joints and everything you need to know about them. Check the tutorial 2. Check the tutorial 3. Check the tutorial 4. Deciding which dovetail to choose for your project depends on factors such as function and design. With technological progress as it is today, woodworking has become much more accessible at a high level.

Creating dumbbells by hand is a feat in itself. But we are now able to use special dovetail templates, cutters and routers to ensure that the joint can be perfectly shaped and reproduced infinitely many times. So, if you create special projects that require multiple generations, you can be sure that the dovetails will help them last a long time. The dovetail clamping devices are almost always made from a metal base, have some form of clamping system, and use pressure rods and a comb sometimes called a template for cutting the dovetails.

The pressure bars that hold the work piece to the template must be cut out of one and half inch hardwood, while the comb can be made from a quarter inch piece hardwood, or purchased ready made and attach to a homemade jig. Many dovetail templates have wing nuts or plastic buttons to tighten the wood in place.

Hardwood cams provide considerable clamping force to keep your work piece stable. The jig comb determines the size of a joint. Half inch dovetails are standard, while quarter inch dovetails are typically used on thinner woods or smaller pieces.

Some templates are available with different comb models for greater versatility. Cutting your own quarter inch hardwood dovetail comb can be a tedious and lengthy process, which requires you to spend a lot of time refining the template to achieve the accuracy you want — all notches should be completely identical in width and the ends of each tooth should be rounded in a perfectly uniform manner. Many hardware stores sell plastic or metal dovetail combs that you can install on a home-made template.

Attaching wing nuts to bolt lock washers is less expensive and more complicated than cutting lugs into hardwood, but screw threads are a lot easier to strip and harder to tighten but they are quicker to loosen. The stencil printing bars must also be very strong so that they do not bend or deform under pressure. One is for use on a table saw, and the other is made for cutting dovetails by hand and both are designed for through dovetails.

In my searching I only found a couple of sources for plans, and they all charged for the plans. Save the money you were going to spend on digital plans to build one and put it towards buying an actual jig.