As an
active beekeeper, I invented this table saw jig in 2013 to make ¾” box joints
for construction of standard Langstroth bee hive boxes of 10-frame, 8-frame, or
nuc configuration. I have sold hundreds of these jigs over the past 10 years. Few
jigs provide the simplicity of operation, efficiency, and safety as this jig. See
my YouTube videos (“Korschgen bee hive box jigs”) and my complimentary hive
handle jig.
Each
jig is handcrafted from high quality Baltic birch plywood. The jig components are sled, sliding box, flippers,
blade guard/ dust box, aluminum T-Track calibration runners, and ¾” offset keys
– for 2, 4, and 8 boards. The jig can be
configured to any table saw with an arbor that accepts a ¾” dado stack. – 2+ hp
motor with 8”dado stack is best. A detailed user’s guide is provided that also
includes plans for making a frame rest jig.
o
Once calibrated to the table saw, the only step
to begin production is to adjust the height of the dado blade.
o
It provides a fast and simple method for
indexing the placement of the hive boards in the path of the dado saw blades
using a series of flippers on a sled and sliding box assembly.
o
The jig permits the clamping and milling of up
to 8 boards at a time with powerful saw and sharp dado blade.
o
It can be used to cut joints in the paired
sides (19 7/8” and 16 ¼” / 14”) of a hive box independently or matching pairs
of boards (19 7/8” or 16 ¼” / 14”) by offsetting the 19 7/8” boards.
o
It includes a safety guard that provides
protection of the operator and removes sawdust when connected to your shop
vacuum.
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Box joints are a preferred joint because of the
strength of the long-grain to long-grain contact between the notches, which
provides a solid gluing and fastening surface.
o
I have designed an accessory sets of flippers
to make 1” or 1 ½” box joints using a ½” or ¾” dado blade respectively
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The jig is shipped 95% assembled in one box
that weighs approximately 27 pounds
What do you need besides this
jig?
1) Stationary
table saw with 2-5 horsepower
2) 8”
dado stack to fit your saw arbor
3) At
least two IRWIN QUICK-GRIP Bar Clamps Heavy-Duty 600#, 12" (1964712) or
similar clamps
4) You
may want to make a simple shim box to take up extra space inside the sliding
box.
5) Set of
plastic tapered putting knives to shim
This
jig overcomes many of the disadvantages of an accessory for stationary
woodworking machines. It takes advantage
of the machine’s work table, embedded miter gage slots, and cutting blades or
bits. It is used to make box joints
(also called finger joints) using a sled and sliding box design on a table saw
or router/shaper table. The sled is an
open box made with two rails, a bottom piece, one end piece, and two miter gage
slot runners fastened to the underside of the jig’s bottom. The sled is calibrated to the machinery table
and is designed to move forward and backward along the machine table using the
miter slots as guides. A sliding box,
with potentially multiple configurations, is precisely mounted inside the sled
using tongue and groove attachments such that the sliding box is suspended
above the bottom of the sled. The
sliding box moves from side to side inside the sled. Multiple workpieces are clamped into the
sliding box and box joints are cut as the sled is pushed through the cutting
tool which may be a saw blade, dado blade, or router/shaper bit. A sliding box that is suspended inside the
sled moves from side to side as the flippers accurately space the workpieces to
the next cutting position. Compared to
most other commercially available jigs, this invention is simple to construct
because of the relatively small number of parts, is easy to use, and it
provides efficient and accurate results.