How to make a simple spike with a manual router. How to make a tenon groove connection Straight tenon fixture

Agree, it is very problematic to quickly and efficiently cut a perfect round spike on the ends of round wooden blanks. Well, of course, if you are not a happy owner of a CNC tenoning machine. For those whose workshop or workshop is not so richly “packed”, we offer an elegant way to solve this problem. Make a simple and reliable conductor from improvised materials in 15 minutes

1. Workpiece

You will need a small block of wood or MDF. Approximate dimensions - section 4x4 cm, length about 10 cm. However, it all depends on the diameter of the intended spike and the size of the workpiece.

2. Hole for workpiece

Drill a hole in the bar with a diameter equal to the diameter of your round blank. If the hole turns out with a small allowance, then it will be very good.

A little allowance won't hurt. In the future, this will facilitate the cutting of the spike. But do not overdo it, otherwise you may get backlash

3. Limiter

In order for the workpiece not to fail during processing, it will be necessary to install a limiter. To do this, cut out a fiberboard or thin MDF plate with a size equal to the base of your bar. Of course, you can glue the base to the bar with wood glue, but it makes sense to do it easier - connect these two parts with double-sided adhesive tape.

4. Set up the router

Now set up your tenon cutter. Use a straight cutter. Set the height of your spike, don't forget to compensate for the thickness of the stopper.

5. Adjust the stop

Adjust the router stop so that the center of the router coincides with the center of the hole in the jig

6. Milling the groove

At this stage, cut a groove in the jig blank. It is better to do this in 2-3 passes. On the stop, you can put a mark so that each pass ends in the same place, namely in the center of the hole.

The conductor is ready!

7. Fix the jig

You should securely attach the resulting jig to the stop of the milling machine. The easiest way to do this is with a clamp. Adjust the overhang of the cutter to the diameter of your future round tenon.

The use of spike-groove joints at home will allow you to independently create beautiful furniture, which is also distinguished by reliability. Even the frames of low-rise buildings are connected using this scheme, especially when it comes to serious loads during operation. Therefore, it will be useful to figure out how to make a tenon groove with manual milling cutters.

Tools Used

The sample of material in this case is carried out on the surface of the bars and boards on the side. The main thing is that the intended connection should maintain dimensions in terms of geometry.

To complete the process with a milling cutter, it is allowed to use tools equipped with shanks with a diameter of 8 or 12 millimeters. The so-called groove cutter will become a universal option for any kind of work. The device is supplied with a cutting part, in which the basic principle of operation is described as follows:

1. The surface on the side is involved in the formation of the sides on the side of the spike, the wall part of the grooves.
2. The side with the end part is used when processing the bottom. After that, the necessary layer of material is removed from the base of the spike.

The result is the simultaneous formation of both spikes and grooves on the surface on the sides. For sizes, individual adjustment is allowed, and the owner has ample opportunities in this sense.

Sometimes for grooves and spikes they choose not the shape of a rectangle, but the type of the so-called "dovetail". This option is relevant if increased requirements are placed on the reliability of the connection. Accordingly, the cutter used is also called "dovetail" in this case. Such work can be done without problems with hand tools, if necessary.

Making a stud picker

When parts are processed manually, the router itself does not have additional spatial fixation. But the overall result of the work, the accuracy of the connection itself in the future depends on this.

To assemble the simplest design that can cope with the task, you will need to use:

• Several guides that remain fixed. They should be side and top or bottom.
• The length of the sample is adjusted by using an appropriate movable bar.

For manufacturing, the following sequence of actions is used:

1. A plywood sheet is taken, from one edge of which side elements are mounted in a vertical plane. In the center of the material, you need to create appropriate cutouts.
2. The sides are supplied with guides. On them, the sole of the hand mill moves in the future.
3. The side bars are fixed on the top rails. Then the course of the working router associated with these parts has restrictions.
4. The plywood sheet, which has become the basis for the installation, also serves as a surface for installing the movable element. Then the amount of edge overhang for the future workpiece is easier to control under any circumstances. Fixation is provided by conventional screws, other types of fixing devices.

There are several points in the manufacture that require separate accounting:

• The top guides have a height corresponding to the sum of the thickness of the part under processing and a small gap on which the wedge is installed, which is involved in fixing.
• The emerging spike has a certain length, which is taken into account when determining the thickness of the cutouts for the side elements along the vertical.

When such devices are used, the work is carried out with the participation of manual milling machines of any modern model.

As follows, fixtures are made if dovetail joints are required.

1. A hole is created inside a sheet of plywood with several layers. The part for cutting at the cutter itself protrudes from this part.
2. A plywood sheet is prepared in advance, on the lower part of which the manual milling cutter itself is fixed. Clamps and self-tapping screws are perfect for doing the job, as are other types of fasteners.
3. A board 2.5 centimeters thick is attached to a plywood sheet, which later participates in the movement of the prepared part. The function of the guides is taken over by the design. Boards are disposable consumables.

Creating spikes on bars and boards

Processing is carried out using the following sequence of actions:

• The part to be processed is installed on the plane from the bottom side.
• The edge of the part, where the spike is formed, contains cutouts at the guides at the top. The structure moves inward until it hits the end.
• An element of a movable type must be fixed, while maintaining a certain position.
• We use a wedge tool to connect the guides and the plane located at the top to each other.
• Connection of a manual router with the upper guides.
• With the help of a milling tool on a home milling table, wood is removed from one side.
• When the first side of the workpiece is processed, the second one begins.

The operation will be successful only if the performance and accuracy parameters are high. The setting refers to the required actions before the instruments are turned on. To resolve the issue, actions are performed with the following sequence:

1. The milling tool is lowered until it reaches the surface of the base.
2. Measurement of part thickness.
3. The thickness result is divided by 4. The result is the distance parameter that is followed when raising the cutter above the base.

Wood cutter "Dovetail"

For grooves and tenons under similar circumstances: only half of the usual width. This is due to the features possessed by the compounds of this variety.

The main thing is to correctly adjust the device, fix it in a suitable position.

The tenon-and-groove connection should result in some clearance. It is necessary so that later you can conveniently use the adhesive composition.

How to choose a groove with a router?

The solution to the problem depends on where the grooves are located, what size they have. There are several recommendations for home craftsmen:

• The use of open grooves involves fixing at the tabletop, holding the workpiece along the cutter.
• Accuracy is determined by the height of the cutter, the location of the bar.
• It is recommended to use wood waste for trial operations. This avoids mistakes.
• Sampling is carried out in stages, with several passes.

The main thing after the completion of each stage is to get rid of wood waste in time. Then the tool will definitely not suffer from overheating. When doing work, it is easiest to use a template cut out of plywood. They pass through it with the cutter itself, with the bearing installed.

Conclusion

It is best to use the remains of wooden blocks for training. If the holes and connections match perfectly, you can go directly to the actual building material.

If there are any errors, it is recommended to check again whether the preliminary markup is correctly applied. This is followed by a retraining session. Only when everything is correct, the direct implementation of the main work begins.

Knowing how to make a tenon groove with a manual router, you can even make at home not only beautiful, but also reliable furniture, but also various wood structures, characterized by excellent bearing capacity. According to the "thorn-groove" system, not only elements of various furniture (tables, chairs and shelves) are connected, but also the frames of low-rise buildings that experience significant loads during operation.

In order to make a spike on a wooden beam with a manual milling cutter, several conditions must be met:

• securely fix the workpiece and correctly orient it in relation to the guide sole of the router;
• set the height of the working part of the cutter so that the tool removes a layer of material of the required thickness from the surface of the workpiece being processed.

Even using the simplest tenoning device for a milling cutter when performing such processing, you can not only increase its productivity and quality of the result, but also make the process safer. It is especially important to use such a device, which can be made with your own hands, in cases where the furniture is produced not in single copies, but in series (in this case, the master has to perform a large number of such operations both with the same type and with wooden furniture of various shapes and sizes). details).

Tools Used

The creation of spikes and grooves, with the help of which the connection of two wooden blanks will be ensured, assumes that a sample of the material is made on the side surface of the beam or board with a manual milling cutter. In this case, all geometric parameters of the elements of the future connection must be strictly observed.

To perform this operation with a hand router, you can use tools with shank diameters of both 8 and 12 mm. The most versatile in this case is the groove cutter, the cutting part of which works as follows:

• the side surface forms the walls of the groove and the sides of the tenon;
• the end side processes the bottom of the groove and removes a layer of material of the required thickness from the base of the spike.

Thus, using a tool of this type, it is possible to form both a tenon and a groove on the side surface of a beam or board. At the same time, their sizes can be adjusted within a fairly wide range.

In cases where higher requirements are placed on the reliability of the connection of wooden parts, the grooves and spikes are made not of a rectangular shape, but of a shape called the “dovetail”. Grooves and spikes of this configuration are created using dovetail cutters. It is also possible to perform the procedure for forming grooves and spikes of this shape with a hand mill, but for these purposes, devices of a different design should be used.

Dovetail sampling using a template

So that the question of how to make a groove in a board and a beam or a spike on their side surface does not cause any particular difficulties, it is better to use a power tool equipped with comfortable side handles, a wide guide sole and the option of protecting the spindle from turning during the replacement of the cutter. In addition, it is desirable that such equipment has a side stop, due to which the overhang of the cutter used with it in the kit will always remain constant.

How to make a stud picker

When forming spikes on wooden blanks with a manual milling cutter, it is not fixed in space in any way and is brought to the workpiece manually. That is why it is very important that when using a power tool, the workpiece is in a fixture that can ensure not only its secure fixation, but also the accuracy of the spikes formed on its surface.

The design of the simplest device that is able to cope with such tasks is:

• several fixed guides (lower, upper, side);
• movable bar, due to which you can adjust the length of the sample.

Such a device is manufactured, the dimensions of the components of which are selected individually, in the following sequence:

1. Along the edges of the plywood sheet, side vertical elements of the same height are fixed, in the central part of which cutouts are made.
2. Guides are installed on the side elements, along which the sole of the hand mill will move.
3. To limit the travel of the hand router along the upper rails, the side rails should be fixed on them.
4. On a sheet of plywood, which plays the role of the base of the device, it is necessary to install a movable element, with which the amount of overhang of the edge of the workpiece to be processed will be adjusted. For fixing, you can use a regular thumb screw or any other suitable fastener.

In the manufacture of the device of the proposed design, the following points should be taken into account:

• The height of the top guides should be the sum of the thickness of the workpiece and the amount of small clearance required to install the fixing wedge.
• The cutouts in the side vertical elements are made so wide that it takes into account the length of the spike being formed.

It is possible to work with the device of the proposed design with a manual milling cutter of almost any modern model, the options of which provide for the possibility of adjusting the cutting speed, the amount of feed and overhang of the working part of the tool used.

To create a dovetail spike on the side surface of a beam or board, a device manufactured as follows is used.

• A hole is made in a sheet of plywood, from which the cutting part of the dovetail cutter will protrude.
• A manual router is fixed from the bottom of the prepared plywood sheet. To do this, you can use clamps, screws or any other fasteners.
• On the surface of the plywood sheet, along which the workpiece will move, a board 2.5 cm thick is fixed. It will act as a guide element. Such a board is a consumable and is used once with a cutter of a certain diameter.

Such a device can be installed between two chairs or used to place it in a more convenient and reliable design.

Creating spikes on bars and boards

Using wood splicing cutters for a hand router and the above fixture, processing is performed in the following sequence.

• The part to be machined is placed on the lower reference plane.
• The edge of the part on which the spike will be formed is placed in the cutout of the upper guides and moves in it until it stops against the movable element of the fixture.
• The movable element is fixed in the required position.
• Using a wedge element, the upper plane of the part is pressed against the upper guides.
• A manual router is placed on the upper guides.
• The tree, using a tool installed on the router, is first removed from one side of the spike being formed.
• After processing one side, the workpiece is turned over and the formation of the second side of the spike is performed.

Even such a device, simple in design, makes it possible to process tenon-groove joints with high precision and productivity using hand mills.

Before starting work, such a device must be configured. This can be done using the following algorithm.

• The tool installed in the hand router is lowered until it comes into contact with the surface of the base plywood.
• The thickness of the part is measured.
• The thickness of the workpiece is divided by 4. The result will be the distance by which it is necessary to raise the cutter above the base surface.

Dovetail, detachable spike connection (trapezoidal grooves), used in mechanical engineering and joinery for reliable fastening of parts to each other. In this material, we will consider the manufacture of devices that facilitate the production of grooves in a tree using a manual milling cutter.

Do-it-yourself wood router accessories

The machine itself is a very ancient invention of mankind, descriptions of the principles of milling appeared in the 16th century, and the prototype of the machine was the invention of Leonardo da Vinci, who proposed rotating a round file to increase the processing of the product, which can be considered the first analogue of a cutter.

And already the American inventor Eli Whitney over the years of his life from 1765 to 1825 brought to mind all the scattered attempts to create a full-fledged machine, for which he is rightfully considered the creator of the first milling machine, although not all scientists agree with this statement.

And since the machine has such ancient roots, there are a great many devices for the manufacture of various parts, it is not possible to describe them all in the light of this material, and therefore we will consider only some of them, in my opinion, the most important and useful.

Universal device for tongue and groove connection

factory plate for making tongue and groove joints

It is used with a router for cutting the corresponding grooves and spikes, it is installed in a vise, and the part is pressed against the device with a clamp. Usually sold in stores.

appearance of the connection

Consider slot milling fixtures

Cut out the top piece, a 18mm plywood table top 40cm long and wide enough to handle the thickest piece you plan to cleat.

Cut two 5x10 cm bars, sawing them the same length as the top. In the future, the bars will play the role of clamping the workpiece and centering it relative to the groove in the tabletop. To prepare the top, draw a line through the center of the top, then cut a groove along the line from one end.

schematic representation of the tooling

note

The notch should be the same width as the copy ring you will be using with your cutter. The notch should be long enough to match the length of the longest slot you are going to cut.

Then mill two adjustment slots perpendicular to the center line. Finally, drill a viewing hole between these two slots. To assemble the entire structure, screw the bolts into the jaws and secure the top to the bars with wing nuts and washers.

To use our equipment, draw a groove on the workpiece and mark the center line on it. Loosen the thumbs and set the blanks between the bars so that the center line connects with the top line of the fixture, check that the edge of the blank is against the edge of the top.

Hold the lambs. Align the router bit with one end of the slot drawing, then mark guide lines on the top surface of the table along the edge of the router base.

How to work with snap-in tongue and groove

Repeat this one more time to mark the lines of the other end. Mill the slot at the bottom, starting the cut by aligning the base of the router with the first auxiliary line, and stop milling when the insert reaches the second auxiliary line.

Let's make a device for making spikes with our own hands

Spike making product

Made of wood and plywood, the jig shown above allows cutting rectangular spikes with two shoulders. The object to be machined is located with the front surface below the jig, while the router moves along the stop from above, removing the excess in two passes.

The piece consists of two parallel base bars, a stopper and a stop, all made from wood the same thickness as the piece, in this case 25x75mm bars, and a top and support made from 18mm plywood.

Base bars should be approximately 400 mm long; cut the top surface of the plywood approximately 200mm x 250mm and screw it to the joists as shown in the picture. Screw the stopper on the ends of the base bars along with the support. Set the stop approximately 25mm from the end of the top surface.

cutting out a thorn with a device

Countersink holes for all screw heads and make sure to make all corners square. Drill an inspection hole in the top surface to accurately place the workpiece exactly on the marking.

The recommendations of experts on how to make a tenon with a manual milling cutter ensure the convenient use of this tool in the production of furniture, load-bearing structures from lumber. Elements of tables and chairs are assembled on spikes of a simple configuration. Spikes of complex configurations of increased reliability are used for the manufacture of frames of cottages using half-timbered technology.

Figure 1. Scheme of the root tenon.

To create a spike with a milling cutter, it is enough to fix the workpiece relative to the guide surface for the sole of the power tool, set the required height of the working body - the cutter. Home-made devices from improvised materials significantly improve the quality of the spike, the safety of work, and are convenient for mass production of the same elements or interlocks on workpieces of various sizes and configurations (Fig. 1).

The choice of power tools, cutters

A standard tenon is a two-sided selection of wood from one edge of the workpiece. For this, any hand router with a collet of 12 mm or 8 mm is suitable. Rectangular slot cutter is perfect for machining two parts used in this joint:

• side surface, lower end are necessary to create a groove;
• the spike is made by the end edge of the tool with a manual milling cutter.

Figure 2. Scheme of a device for milling spikes.

Thus, having filled the cutter once, the master gets rid of the need to reinstall the tooling, which is very convenient during construction, serial production of furniture.

The dovetail spike is more reliable, durable, and for its manufacture you will need a similar cutter with the same name. However, the adaptation in this case will be completely different. The hand router for the tenon is a universal tool, so it does not need to be replaced. This type of power tool has comfortable side handles, a wide sole, and a spindle lock from turning when changing equipment. The overhang of the cutter at the moment of cutting cannot be changed due to the side stop.

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Making a stud picker

Unlike a professional machine, the working tool does not have a fixation in space. It is fed onto a fixed workpiece with both hands. Therefore, the manufacture of a device for clamping a part at the first stage is a reasonable necessity. The simplest device for this is the design (Fig. 2) of fixed guides (upper, lower, side), a movable bar, which regulates the length of the sample. To assemble it, you must perform the following steps:

• fix on a piece of plywood (along its edges) side vertical elements of the same height with central cutouts;
• cover them with guides along which the sole of the router will move;
• put side bars, limiting the course of the power tool along the upper guides;
• install a movable element on the bottom plywood, which regulates the departure of the edge of the workpiece, which is subjected to milling.

Figure 3. Spike sampling scheme.

To fix the movable bar, a standard thumb screw or special fasteners are used. The dimensions of all structural elements are selected individually:

• the height of the upper guides is equal to the thickness of the workpiece in which the spike is made, taking into account a small gap for installing a fixing wedge;
• the width of the notch in the vertical elements depends on the length of the tenon created by the hand router.

To work on this device, a manual milling cutter of any modification, manufacturer, is suitable, since most models provide for the adjustment of cutting speed, feed, departure of the working body.

For the dovetail spike, a device with the opposite principle is used:

• in a sheet of plywood, located horizontally, a power tool is motionlessly fixed;
• its body is located below, the cutter comes out from the back of the sheet into a through hole;
• a bar of hardwood (beech, birch, oak) is attached to the desktop;
• a piece of board 2.5 cm is fixed on the bar, which is a consumable (used once with a certain diameter of the cutter).

Structurally, the fixation of a manual router in a sheet of plywood is solved by several options - clamps, self-tapping screws. It is important that the fasteners do not protrude onto the working side of the plywood. The sheet itself can be attached to a workbench, lean on a couple of chairs, fixed on several rows of timber, goats, scaffolding.

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Stud selection: straight version, dovetail modification

Video 1 shows in detail how to make a spike at home by making the simplest fixture for one-time or mass production. The technology of work on the created device for a straight spike is as follows:

• the part is placed on the lower support plane on the opposite side from the movable bar;
• the edge of the workpiece, on which the spike is milled, is extended into the cutout of the upper guides until it stops in the movable element at the desired distance (the length of the spike);
• the movable bar is fixed with a lamb or a clamp;
• the workpiece is wedged with a special element between its upper plane, the upper guides;
• a hand mill is placed on the upper guides;
• the lower end of the tooling removes wood from one side of the spike;
• the workpiece is turned over, the operation is repeated for the other side of the tenon.

Dovetail wiring diagram.

The technology provides high performance for the same parts. Thanks to the device created once, you can make a spike on parts of any configuration, size. The router is set up after it is installed on the upper rails:

• the cutter is lowered to the stop on the lower plane of the plywood;
• the thickness of the part is measured;
• the tooling rises to the desired height (usually the thickness of the workpiece divided by 4).

Straight spikes for high-quality fixation in reciprocal grooves are usually connected with glue.

This provides a high connection resource, prevents loosening of the load-bearing frame of buildings and structures during the operation of furniture (Fig. 3).

The choice of cutters for the dovetail connection is arbitrary, experts recommend a groove about half the thickness of the part. A simple way to make a structure with this connection is shown in video 2. The sequence of operations is as follows:

• horizontal placement of a plywood sheet with a manual milling cutter fixed on the underside;
• fixing one side of the guide bar with a screw (a consumable piece of the board is attached to the bar from the side of the cutting tool);
• installation of a guide bar at the required distance from the center of the cutter with fixation of its second edge to the plywood with a clamp (the width of the workpiece minus the diameter of the dovetail cutter in the wide part, divided in half);
• selection of a groove to the desired length (the width of the workpiece with a spike);
• setting the guide bar to the required distance for selecting the tenon (the clamp is removed, the cutter cuts into the consumable piece of the board in such a way that the distance from its vertical plane to the center of the cutter is: the width of the part minus the width of the groove, divided in half);
• fastening the second side of the guide bar with a clamp;
• selection of the side surfaces of the workpiece.

After fitting the spike into the groove, the thickness of the spike is adjusted. It should enter the reciprocal groove without effort, with a small gap necessary to accommodate the adhesive composition. If necessary, the guide bar is moved, the milling is repeated until this condition is met.