General Tools and Instruments 870 v.1 - Manual

No. 870
ADDITIONAL TIPS & TRICKS
TWO WAYS TO MORTISE A WORK PIECE THAT IS LESS THAN 2" WIDE
Method #1
The center of the clamp which holds the work piece is 2" below the positioning bars so if you wish to clamp stock in the
jig for mortising that is less than 2" wide you’ll need to position the stock using a ‘shim’ as well as re-setting the bit in the
router to accommodate the width of the shim.
Assuming you were going to mortise a work piece that was 1-1/2" wide. You would use a 1/2" shim and place it on top of
the work piece when bringing it up to the positioning (swing) arms. You would then tighten the clamp screws and retract
the positioning arms and remove the shim before cutting. Adjust the router bit depth by increasing it by the thickness of
the shim (in this case 1/2") over the desired mortise setting.
Method #2
The second method would be to have a work piece that was twice the width of your finished work piece (plus the kerf of
your circular saw blade). Then you would cut your mortises on both sides of this piece. Follow the regular mounting
instructions and after completion of the mortise cutting you would simply rip the work piece lengthwise (in half) yielding
two finished pieces.