Monday morning surprise: Delta tenon jig.

[tvrgeek]

It never occurred to me the large difference between the table saw miter slots and the blade, brand to brand etc. Inches. When I swapped my Ridgid contractor for my Harvey, I only had to tweak my Osborn miter gauge.

So, picked up a Delta tenon jig. ( used, fair price) First, it wobbled. Easy fix, the bottom plate was not flat, so I honed it to sit without wobble. Could have been bad machining, could have been dropped so not pointing any fingers. While I was there, de-burred the edges as they could cut you. Again not surprised as this is not a Bridge City jig and I was not expecting that level.

Set it down to reset it to square. WHAT! The closest it gets in 1 3/8 from the blade! I could use it backwards in the right slot, but it is obviously made for the left slot. I would never have guessed they would differ more than a quarter inch or so. Clearly Delta did not as they would have provided a series of holes for the miter bar to attach.

Looking at the catalogs, they do not say anything about being machine specific. Looking at the WoodRiver pictures, they show their miter bar in different positions in different pictures but make no mention. I see lots of complaints about it not being square. Well, it may be a pain to adjust the slot to the base and the bar to the base, but there is lots of adjustment. A better design might have a fixed point and a screw adjuster, but it is not an expensive design. After I relocate the miter bar ( It was not flat either and could have warped the baseplate. )

So, I will drill the baseplate and move the bar. It's Monday. It looks like plenty of room to get it so the stop screw gives at least a hairs safety margin. I was thinking about if a 1/32 sheet of something on the face would be smart. Even 320 grit PSA paper maybe. I am guessing, I should target for about 1/8 inch as the minimum cheek against the blade.

 

[Keye]

What the heck! "Universal miter bar for use with all table saws with 3/8-in x 3/4-in miter slot." Found this for the Delta tenon jig. Could it be a different or newer model. I have a couple of different ways to cut tenons so I would not be looking for this jig. With all the back flips Delta has done over the years I am surprised they ever made a quality machine. All of my heavy metal is Delta, USA made, and I think it is all quality equipment. If I had know the history of Delta when I was setting up shop I probably would not have bought Delta.

Scott, you are fortunate to have the skill sets to overcome this, most of us do not.

 

[Charles Lent]

You will find that the other manufacturers of these tenon jigs have several sets of holes allowing the bar to be attached with a pair that work for your saw. I believe that the Delta jig was intended for use only with their Unisaws, so why should they have made it with more holes? My newer and lighter version of the Delta Tenoning jig does have several sets of holes to allow it to be used with other saw models, but not likely every other saw brand. The 5/8 arbor shaft was finally standardized but not miter slot to blade dimensions, Many saw manufacturers haven't even held their miter slots to the 3/4 X 3/8" dimensions that Delta seems to have started and stuck with. None of my prior table saws did, and it was always a nightmare to come up with ways of adapting manufactured jigs jigs to fit them. It would help the saw users considerably, if all table saws had accurate 3/4 X 3/8" miter slots and standardized miter slot to blade spacings, 5/8" arbors, T Square style fences, etc. but this hasn't happened, and likely never will. The manufacturers want to sell as cheap as possible and are unconcerned that other brands of table saw accessories may not fit their saws.

Charley

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I had an Incra miter sled set up for a Ridgid table saw. I upgraddd to mu Sawstop and had to purchase the panels again as the distance between the miter slit and blade arr different. Interestingly as well, Incra uses an odd thickness MDF so you have to go to them to purchase the new panels. This may be very common to have differences between suppliers and models within suppliers

 

[tvrgeek]

Well, mine now has another set of holes.

Slit the clearance for the lock bolt a little so the bar is not right on the edge, hole in the miter bar to access the screw deburred and cleaned up. Sits on the saw dead solid. There is about .0025 play in the slot. Seems like a little much. So debating dimpling the bar, or if I get ambitious, slot each end, Expand slightly and tap so I can put in setscrews to expand it just a hair. I could cross-drill and use nylon setscrews. Maybe a smarter design. Guess a little grey paint will finish it off.

Another "standard" nightmare. Seems there are about 50 or more throat plate sizes. My hole is the same as a MP 66, but different spacing. How freaking hard would it be to have a far more standard throat plate? Think about how many different die-cast jigs some of these companies must have! Just not smart from a manufacturing standpoint. Obviously, some of these folks have never taken the Troy Institute "Design For Manufacturing" courses.

 

[tvrgeek]

I had an Incra miter sled set up for a Ridgid table saw. I upgraddd to mu Sawstop and had to purchase the panels again as the distance between the miter slit and blade arr different. Interestingly as well, Incra uses an odd thickness MDF so you have to go to them to purchase the new panels. This may be very common to have differences between suppliers and models within suppliers


Incra, like Festool, makes things unique to force you to pay the price. There are two marketing concepts. One is " I want the whole pie" Apple and Microsoft both have that attitude. The other concept is "make a bigger pie" Where the whole pie market may be a billion dollars, a bigger pie concept may mean you get half of 5 billion dollars. Unfortunately, egos often prevail over smart business.

 

[junquecol]

Scott, instead of nylon set screws, consider nylon, or brass tipped set screws.

 

[sawman101]

I had a Delta morticing jig I got from Mike Davis a hundred years ago; it worked fine with my Delta table saw. I bought a Jet Super Saw 10 cabinet saw and sold the Delta, only to later learn the miter slots on the Jet were much further from the blade than the Delta saw. There was not enough adjustment to make it work, so i ended up selling it. I've now got a homemade tenoning jig but really haven't had any use for it yet--maybe someday I'll build something big--or not.

 

[tvrgeek]

Scott, instead of nylon set screws, consider nylon, or brass tipped set screws.

Yea, it would be set screws. Had not thought about brass.

 

[tvrgeek]

I had a Delta morticing jig I got from Mike Davis a hundred years ago; it worked fine with my Delta table saw. I bought a Jet Super Saw 10 cabinet saw and sold the Delta, only to later learn the miter slots on the Jet were much further from the blade than the Delta saw. There was not enough adjustment to make it work, so i ended up selling it. I've now got a homemade tenoning jig but really haven't had any use for it yet--maybe someday I'll build something big--or not.

Exactly what I was saying and drilling two holes solves the issue.

 

[tvrgeek]

Finial tweaks. By trial and error after slightly elongating one of the bar holes, I got the face of the jig within .0015" of parallel to the table. Table is within .001 to the blade. Close enough for Government work. I will make some sawdust and check fit before I "snug" the miter bar. I used a sheet of paper to make it snug for adjusting.

 

[pop-pop]

My Delta tenoning fixture will rock on the saw bed if I tighten the lock screw normally. I added a “barely snug” reminder label like this:

 

[tvrgeek]

I found my base was not flat. After I honed it flat ( 220 grit on the TS top), then honed the mounting side of the miter bar flat, mine no longer rocks. If more than snug makes you not flat then I suggest the top piece is not flat. Of course, you should not need to be more than snug.

 

[junquecol]

For mine, I built an out rigger so material passing over throat plate isn't the means of support.

 

[tvrgeek]

An outrigger will of course work and I thought about it, but it is not needed if the baseplate is flat. I would not rely in the work for location. If your insert is not dead flat, then there would be possibility of rocking across it. Going to make a lot of sawdust before I consider further mods. ( miter guide snugness most likely) I did notice the new version has both hand grips over the base, not one way over in line with the work. It would be too easy to lean on the right grip and tilt the jig. An outrigger would solve that. I think keeping force over the track, and not biased where it could tip across the ZCI will work fine. I do like perfection, so future design changes are not out of the question.

Truth is, it is and old and not a terribly well thought out design. Lack of "squaring" adjustment is the biggest omission. Sand cast probably from recycled scrap iron. No adjustable stops for repeat angles, no micro adjustments for tilt or rake. The castings did not sit in the yard for a year to relax and machining was not close tolerance. But they don't cost $1000 either. I think I have mine tuned to be better than the fence saddle jig I used last time. What more can I ask? Learn how many thou' I can compress a tenon in the vise?