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Kerf Setting Dado Jig made from a cut-off left over piece of T-track

Most of us who are into woodworking have seen this nice Kerf setting tool in the market and also we have all noticed its ridiculously high price.

In reality it is a very useful jig for cutting accurate dados without measuring, but for that price…!!!
- Get your hands out of my pocket -

I have seen many fellow woodworkers that have made a homemade accurate replicas out of wood of this fine woodworking tool, and I have also seen some really nice adaptations too.
But on the other hand it is just a setting jig; if it works correct then looks are not that important.

So, the other day I was looking into some drawers and I found a cut-off piece of t-track that I used on my router table. We all use them and most times we cut them to size to fit our dimension, as they are sold in specific lengths. So I was thinking why did I save that small 20cm long piece?
And the same night as I was browsing along the woodworking sites I saw this Kerf and it hit me what could I do with that left over piece of T-Track.

So I sat down and CAD a design of a Kerf Setting Jig using a piece of T-Track and some pieces of wood. Here is how I used that "useless" left over piece of T-track to build the Kerf Setting Jig.

Materials List:

2 pieces of T-track
Scrub wood
1 flange bolt with washer and wing-nut
1 bolt with washer and wing-nut

That is all.

Putting the Jig together

The left over T-Track I had was a 3/4 track so.

Use you hacksaw to cut two small pieces of T-track.
One piece 100mm long (4")
Second piece 65mm long (2.5")

On the 65mm t-track I made a 40mm opening on the one side using my drill press to accommodate the bolt section.
In the other site I drill a hole 10mm from the edge to accept the flange bolt. The same hole you will have to drill on the center wood piece and runners of the flange bolt section.
You may need to cut the bolts if they are two long.

Cut a few pieces of 6mm (1/4") and 19mm (3/4") wood and assembly the jig as you see in my SketchUp CAD drawing

Wood Sizes:

Front Piece: 19×16x12mm
Center Piece: 19×21x6mm
Center Piece Runners: Two 6.5×21x4mm (or according to your T-Track opening) glued over under.
Main Rear Piece: 19×55x6mm. There is a 6mm hole drilled 10mm from the inside end of the wood and a recess on the other site for the bolts head.
Rear Piece Runner: 6.5×40x3mm glued face to the outer edge.
Rear Piece Head: 19×12x10mm glued over the main rear piece to the outer edge

To glue the front piece on the aluminum track you can use some epoxy and couple of thin screws if you like.

What did this cost me?
I have no idea what is the price of 2 bolts with wing nuts.

P.S. if anyone don't know how to use and set the jig up, just watch this "Video":
.

Sorry guys, I had uploaded the file but FWW got interested in the jig and so I had to remove it again at least for now.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
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17 Posts
tricky use of left overs. great idea.
 

· Registered
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1,405 Posts
Clever! And great sketch-up work. Thanks.
 

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86 Posts
Very nice! Would you be willing to post your sketchup file?
 

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135 Posts
I think this is one of my favorite replicas of it :) Thank you for sharing it. Do you have a picture of your finished product?
 

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535 Posts
Pawky
Sorry no picture because I am pin down with a back problem. Can only use my PC for now not woodworking. I have not build it myself yet (fresh idea - first chance I will) but it is so basic and it won't look much different from the CAD.
 

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ah, sorry to hear about your back. How long are you going to be down for? Hope you have a speedy recovery
 

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Pawky
Have no idea it's been a week already and have not been able to visit a doctor except from the ER. ASAP I will go for some check ups.
Thanks for asking
 

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56 Posts
I, too, have plenty of track left over. Thanks for posting. I believe I will be making one and playing with it.
 

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Bovine
Sorry I had to remove the file from 3Dwarehouse at least for now because FWW got interested in the jig.
 

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215 Posts
Awesome design! I have some left over t-track from this weekend, I may give this a try. Thanks for posting.
 

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535 Posts
Thank you guys
 

· In Loving Memory
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8,391 Posts
Smart, practical. simple, cheap. What more could one ask for? Thanks for this Steliart.
 

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2 Posts
There is a ton of different kerfmaker designs out there, but from the engineering standpoint this looks by far the best to me! In fact, I was just recently thinking about making one out of small cutoff pieces of a t-track that I have, but I couldn't come up with such simple thing as cutting a slot through a t-track! You nailed it! Talk about thinking outside the box… :)

Even though you had to pull the 3D model, the idea is so simple and intuitive, and the snapshots provide all the info one needs to build it. Thank you!
 

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Froggy

Your very welcome, glad you like my idea
Steli
 

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2,583 Posts
One of the best alternatives I've seen.
 

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535 Posts
rance

Thank you
 

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Steli, I took your idea and made this thing for myself one evening. :) There are some minor modifications, as I had to improvise with whatever I had available… For example, I used some offcuts from a 1/4" phenolic plate instead of wood (and I think that made it a bit more durable). But generally it's your design, so I just wanted to leave a note here, and one more "thank you!" for a clever idea! I didn't want to create a YAKM post (Yet Another KerfMaker), so here is a couple of pics of my little thingy-I hope you don't mind…

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket
 
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