Bevel question

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:42 am

With the Jointech sawtrain and router table installed, beveling is problematic, at least for me. I purchased an extra finger bridge w/out the fingers, and converted it to a fence for beveling and dadoing. Insuring it's square to the blade is time consuming, however.

I'm considering purchasing a few bevel router bits since most of my work is with 3/4 or less. What do you all think about the efficacy of this approach for achieving accurate bevels.

Thanks,

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:17 pm

Hi,

I'm not all that sure I understand the issues you are having with the Jointech so I'll skip that and head into the use of a router bit for the 45 deg or other bevels. It will be a lot slower then using a saw but it works quite well.

On thicker wood you will have to see how you like to make the final cut, that is as a cut against a straight fence or as a jointed operation with off set out feed fence. Depending on how thick the wood is it may take several passes as you will be cutting about 1.4X the thickness of the wood at the end. Thin wood can of course be done with one pass.

Ed

pkni wrote:With the Jointech sawtrain and router table installed, beveling is problematic, at least for me. I purchased an extra finger bridge w/out the fingers, and converted it to a fence for beveling and dadoing. Insuring it's square to the blade is time consuming, however.

I'm considering purchasing a few bevel router bits since most of my work is with 3/4 or less. What do you all think about the efficacy of this approach for achieving accurate bevels.

Thanks,

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:16 pm

Thanks for the advice, Ed.

My issue with the Jointech is twofold.

One is that the table doesn't tilt with the SS table. I have a MK V. The extension table alone isn't wide enough to hold the fence bridge. Consequently, I must disconnect the Sawtrain table, raise the table on the SS, move the headstock, realign the table, install my homemade fence, then tilt it. And, finally, adjust the fence square to the blade. Not difficult but, sooo time consuming.

Second, There is no way to bury a dado blade. So I use the homemade fence again, with an aux. fence clamped to it.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Wouldn't be the first time. But I haven't had an "AHA" moment in a long time.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:10 pm

I think I'm beginning to see your problem. I have the newer system for the 520 and it just pops on and off the rails as needed. In your case it sounds like you have to do a lot of extra effort. Sorry I know very little about the system you have so I don't think I can help with that.

I have no idea what the fence on your system looks like but on mine there are two ways to mount a sacrificial fence. One is to use the dovetail slot/t-nut slots on top of the fence, that being a dovetail part cut and mounted to a board across the top of the fence or a flat board with holes for t-nuts and then attaching the vertical sacrificial board. Or second the by using the t-slot on the front of the fence (I think this might be the best way. But maybe your fence doesn't look or act like this??

If you can take a picture of your setup sometime I'd love to see it.

Ed

pkni wrote:Thanks for the advice, Ed.

My issue with the Jointech is twofold.

One is that the table doesn't tilt with the SS table. I have a MK V. The extension table alone isn't wide enough to hold the fence bridge. Consequently, I must disconnect the Sawtrain table, raise the table on the SS, move the headstock, realign the table, install my homemade fence, then tilt it. And, finally, adjust the fence square to the blade. Not difficult but, sooo time consuming.

Second, There is no way to bury a dado blade. So I use the homemade fence again, with an aux. fence clamped to it.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Wouldn't be the first time. But I haven't had an "AHA" moment in a long time.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:04 am

Thanks again, Ed.

Stay tuned, pictures at...... 3:00 MST Approx.

Your first suggestion (t-nut slot) was my first thought. But, still have to go through all the machinations described re: re-setting the tables' height for the dado blade.

If only my MS would do long bevels. Knew I shouldn't have sold that RAS!

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:08 pm

Ed,

118 is the JT fence
119 is the back of the home made fence
120 is the home made fence with dado aux fence

Glad I took the pics when I did. Had to remove the head stock this PM. I think the headstock locking rod is stripped.

BUMMER!

Gene

reible · Post by **reible** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:42 am

Wow I think I see the magnitude of your issue. Right off the top of my head I don't see any easy solutions.

One thing that came to mind was what if you purchased a second table with the standard hardware and use the old rip fence for these operations? I'm guessing the whole jointech system comes off for drill press, lathe and the likes and I'm guessing that can't be to big a deal, right?

Shopsmith no longer sells the table but ebay or one of the sellers like Bill Mayo might have one in stock for a reasonable price. If you still have the rip fence then you would be all set.

Would this work?

Ed

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:52 am

Ed,

Removing/reinstalling the JT tables, fence and adjustment hardware isn't a difficult job. Just time consuming. It's a royal PITA when a project requires the use of the router table, dado cuts and/or bevels, as well as the TS. Such is the case with the present job.

Don't think I mentioned earlier that further complicating the set up is that my JT has a built in router table that hangs off the right end. Other JT set ups for the MKV 500 may not be so large/heavy. Not sure.

Buying and using another MKV 500 table and fence sounds like my only option for bevels and dados. I do think it would take only about 1/2 the time, maybe less.

Thanks a lot for brainstorming this with me.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:11 am

Gene;

Do you have a photo that shows how you setup to do bevel cuts. I am having difficulty envisioning your setup process.

reible · Post by **reible** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:42 pm

Hi,

Had one more thought overnight. In cases where you don't have a lot of parts to do and you didn't want to reset things you might want to re-look at the router idea but with a twist or should I say tilt.

One of the things I own that has been a fun gadget and allows me to do some things that would be very hard to do other wise is an "Angle Ease". In concept it is a router table insert that has a part that holds the router either vertical or at an angle up to 45 deg. It fits in the jointech router table on my new system as well as an older jointech top I have.

It is not cheap and it doesn't fit every router but you can have a look at it here:
http://www.woodhaven.com/ProductDetail.asp?Id=2227

I have a couple of not so great pictures of it:
[ATTACH]2583[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]2584[/ATTACH]

The advantage is you can use the bevel bits for the stock angles they have and use a straight bit and the tilt for other angles. I have never tried this but at least in theory it sounds like it might work.

Picture the bit tilted back into the fence when you look at it. I'd offer to give it a go but that would be months down the line when it warms up in the shop.

Ed

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