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Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

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Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 05 Mar 2018, 00:13

I have finally spent a half day in the workshop :shock: It has been a while but I have had finally been able to have a potter about and get to a task that has been on my 'to-do' list for quite some time - setting up an Incra I-box.

Most of my 'woodwork' is an off-shoot of DIY. I can fix things up, I can repair things, I can potter around the house. I have a fair selection of tools, but mostly of the decent quality but not heirlooms variety. No Festool here, but very little shed bought stuff either. For the last few weeks I have been putting shelves in an airing cupboard and stripping and refitting the hundred year old doors that had a hundred years of paint on them. Jobs like that I can take in my stride and make a pretty good fist of them.

What I never seem to have been able to get the hang of is joining two bits of wood together. In fact the butt joint is my staple joint. You see what I really like (and aspire to) is to produce quality small scale joinery. Box making. Scroll saw work. Puzzles and intricate work that takes time, skill and patience. I don't have any of those 3 things ;) As such, I am always on the look-out for a little help, particualrly in the skill department. I have a David Baron dovetail guide because I don't have the time to learn or practice fully hand cut dovetails. I have a pocket hole jig because it is easier and faster than half laps or mortice and tenon joints (hey - it produces tight butt joints OK!). One area I have really struggled with however, is finger joints. I just never seem to get it right. Too tight, too loose, too random. So I finally bit the bullet and bought (actually last Summer, but what the heck, this is the first time I have had to try it out) what is supposed to be the Rolls Royce of finger joint jigs - the Incra I-box. My days of sloppy joints must surely be over I thought, solid, tight, if not overly attractive, finger joints should now be mine to command.

The jig comes in a fairly weighty box, nicely packaged and protected, even has an instructional DVD (if you can put up with the irritating voice-over on it - available on youtube if you want to check it out)

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The bits are not overly numerous, and it seems fairly simple to put together, despite the strange numbering of the bolts, but it all goes together fairly easily. One feature that I was looking forward to was the 'glide'bar' mechanism - a small plastic washer that when rotated, is supposed to take any slop out of the bar in your mitre slot. Except the circular plastic washer is just that - circular. No matter how I position it, it does nothing other than sit there. It is not on a cam, it is not oval and I am stumped as to how it is supposed to work. Oh well, there is only a tiny bit of slop, so a strip of blue electrical tape on the side of the bar takes up thhe slack. Yes, I fully expect this to slough off within 10 minutes of use, but I only have an afternoon and I want to get to a perfect finger joint today!

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Onwards with the overly complicated instructions, not helped by the typical American assumption that everyone has a dado blade in a table saw. Managed to get things together and aligned, managed to get the 'kiss' calibration set-up, managed to make a test cut without running the jig into the router cutter (a definite bonus). Managed to leave off the entirely useless but incredibly irritating perspex protrusion to the front of the jig. Look - shavings as proof!

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OK, so lets see how it get's on with a full board width and a number of fingers. Now bear in mind I have not taken the time to set this up in terms of board width, I want to test the tightness of the fingers and the fit of a full width, hence the odd spacing in the photo below:

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9.5mm cutter (or thereabouts) and a first attempt - fingers are a little tight but nothing 'easing' with a rubber mallet cannot rectify. But the joint is not 'perfection' as most of the testimonials seems to indicate - forum reviewers and google-land seem to rave about the simplicity and ease of use; the perfect results first time every time that this jig provides. Probably because I am using some scrap pine that is soft and fluffy I think. Give it another go and take care this time to be as accurate as possible. One tip I note on the second use is to ensure you blow the shavings out after EVERY pass over the cutter. This affects the depth of cut and certainly evens up the finger depth. OK, lets try it on some wider board.

Dry fit and still too tight. Not a problem I say to myself - I will just look at the troubleshooting part of the instructions and be back to perfect joints in a jiffy. Except there are no troubleshooting instructions. No indication at all as to what you need to do to tweak the fit. So I play some more. Now this jig works by moving two pins to act as the spacers for one socket to register in the correct position and align the timber for the next socket. To do this you undo a black locking knob, turn a silver knob a hairs bredth to allegedly increase or decrease spacing by 1/1000th of an inch at a time. Then tighten the black locking knob and off you go. Or not as the case may be.

I now seem to be introducing incramental error into my finger joints somehow. I must have tweaked, touched or somehow otherwise introduced some slop into this that was not intended. I have no idea how. It only has 2 wheels for adjustment, how hard can it really be?! The first pin fits, but by the 10th pin, I am almost 5mm out :o The 'holes' are all the same size as they are cut by a router cutter, so the spacing between them must need tweaking. OK - back to the silver knob, twist by 1/1000th of a inch and go again. Still 5mm out over 10 pins. Get irked and tweak by 3/1000th of an inch. 3mm out over 10 pins. OK, not great but getting there. Tweak by another 3/1000th of an inch. Now 2mm out in the wrong direction over 10 pins. And so on. And so on. And so on. I spent all afternoon trying to get this to work. I reset it from scratch. Twice. I checked the 'fit' on scrap multiple times. I drank coffee and calmed down then tried again. And again. And again. I then ran out of time and still do not have a consistent cut and fit I am happy with. It might be the soft pine. It might be my lack of patience. It might be my lack of skill.

One thing I do know - having the ability to adjust the fit of a piece of timber by 1/1000th of an inch at a time sounds like you should easily be able to end up with the perfect fitting joint. In reality, I should have stuck with a butt joint.

On the plus side, I am am in the workshop so infrequently that the next time I get an afternoon to try out my new Incra I-box I will have forgotten all this frustration, and tell myself quite happily that perfect finger joints are just a few cuts away given the adjustability down to 1/1000th of an inch - how hard can it be?
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Andyp » 05 Mar 2018, 08:40

Steve, sounds very frustrating. Due to the frequency, or more correctly infrequency, of use of some of my tools I feel your pain. Inca do have a good reputation so perhaps a post on one of the American forums where they are more popular would help.
Perhaps here http://lumberjocks.com/topics/59008
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Malc2098 » 05 Mar 2018, 10:57

Steve, you don't seem to be the only one suffering. A quick search revealed several if not many people with the same issue.

This forum might help.

https://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52429
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby RogerS » 05 Mar 2018, 11:10

The Incra is imperial, isn't it ?

Your cutter is metric.

Maybe one of the causes ?

Best finger joints I ever got was using my old Woodrat.
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 05 Mar 2018, 11:49

Thanks chaps. I have slept on it and think I need to do 2 things - make a plywood template for a specific cutter, and use the router cutter itself to set the offset. Difficult to explain but in my head it works. I think yesterday I was over complicating the situation while trying to work it out on the fly, coupled with having cut one side of a finger joint and then trying to tweak the jig to make a mating piece when I detected a discrepancy. What I should have done was reset the jig and cut both halves again rather than 1 half. Isn't hindsight wonderful! I have also realised that of course if the first pin is, say, 1/1000th out, then the second pin will be 2/1000th out and so on. The cumulative error is a function of doing the same thing incorrectly multiple times, and will only become noticeable over a wide run, not a small 2 or 3 finger test.

The jig works like any other essentially - the cutter cuts the slot, then the pins provide the offset (which should be the same width as the cutter). The Incra jig has 2 additional functionalities - the lead screw allows the offset to be adjusted by 1/1000th of an inch at a time to tweak a joint, and the two pins allow a friction fit to the previously cut slot to give a guide as to accuracy. These could effectively be 1 pin closest the cutter and simply allow the finger to slide up to it - but two pins ensures correct registration and prevents the timber slipping back towards the cutter giving thinner fingers than intended.

The other beauty of this jig is that it allows any sized cutter to be used, metric or imperial. So long as the offset is the same width as the cutter, it should produce a perfect fit. The calibration and dual lead screw should take care of this. I think I need to play a bit more as I am sure it is me and not the jig - I agree that Incra stuff is usually good (I have one of their fences). I also think exact stock preparation with square edges is vital, but that is more for the first and last pin than fit throughout.

I will return to this next weekend hopefully and see if I can put this insight to use before I forget it!
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby 9fingers » 05 Mar 2018, 17:46

I made a box joint jig to my own design a few years back. Written up on this forum somewhere.

Whilst it is very satisfying to adjust everything to produce joints with a "honeymoon fit" I can prove to be a nightmare when it comes to to the glue up for a box.
Setting the clearance to give a 0.25 mm (10 thou in old money) as a minimum. If you are doing a wide joint then allow a bit more.
My jig goes down to 4mm and when making something about 160mm wide (about 20 pin-space pairs) I was grateful of the extra clearance.

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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 11 Mar 2018, 22:13

Well I think I have finally solved this little problem, and now have acceptably tight finger joints that I am happy with. The trick seems to be to cut both sides of the board each time you tweak and do a test - it is impossible to tweak one board to fit an existing board.

No pics because I had to finish this for my youngest son:

Incra_6.JPG
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Each of my boys chose a vehicle from the rather excellent book by Les Neufield entitle 'Tremendous Toy Trucks'. This was the third and final one, although it has taken rather a long time to finish this off - it has been sitting on the bench almost finished since about xmas. Modified slightly from the original design and I have concerns about how long the string will last but this is easily replaceable. Just need to make him a couple of small pallets to play with now, although he seems to be using it to transport SWMBO's phone quite happily!
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby DaveL » 11 Mar 2018, 22:48

Well I think any boy would be pleased to have that, nicely done.

Glad you got the jig sorted.
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby 9fingers » 11 Mar 2018, 22:52

StevieB wrote:The trick seems to be to cut both sides of the board each time you tweak and do a test - it is impossible to tweak one board to fit an existing board.



Indeed it is very similar with jig cut dovetails. Very rarely can they be tweaked.

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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Malc2098 » 12 Mar 2018, 10:25

Love the truck!
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Phil » 12 Mar 2018, 10:37

Malc2098 wrote:Love the truck!


:text-+1:


How old is your boy?
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 12 Mar 2018, 11:34

Thanks Chaps. Youngest son is 8 and he chose the fork lift. The elder 2 sons chose a dump truck and a semi-truck with logs on the trailer. I am fully expecting to make at least a few running repairs!
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Andyp » 12 Mar 2018, 11:38

Nice one Steve,

I have never been more satisfied then when giving self made toys to children, my own and others.

I think you should show us photos of the other trucks too please.
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby RogerM » 12 Mar 2018, 21:13

That's fantastic. Just bought the book from Amazon on the back of that. I have a 2 1/4 year old grandson who is vehicle mad, particularly Lightning McQueen and of course Thomas the Tank Engine. But mainly "rayth carth".
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 12 Mar 2018, 22:25

Andyp wrote: I think you should show us photos of the other trucks too please.


Your wish is my command! Sorry about the odd light spots in the photos - this is the ceiling lights reflected in the kitchen worktop. I think my favourite of these 3 is the semi with logs, then the dump truck. The string solution on the forklift is inelegant and already starting to wear (although that is partly my choice of string) but all 3 seem to be appreciated.

Roger - it is a great book, although I adapted slightly as I went along. Hope you have as much fun with this as I did. I still have somewhere the Richard Blizzard plans for a Rolls Royce, a Land Rover and one of the big US fire engines. When time allows......

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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Woodbloke » 12 Mar 2018, 22:28

RogerM wrote:That's fantastic. Just bought the book from Amazon on the back of that. I have a 2 1/4 year old grandson who is vehicle mad, particularly Lightning McQueen and of course Thomas the Tank Engine. But mainly "rayth carth".

I remember yonks ago there was a guy called Richard Blizzard who did some fantastic toy trucks, one of which if memory serves was an American fire engine with a ladder that extended about 6'. At one time, I had both his books but I think I stupidly sold them some time ago - Rob
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby MattS » 12 Mar 2018, 23:30

Brilliant trucks all of them, but I agree the logger is awesome!

Just in from the workshop, making my daughter a crib for her dolls for her birthday tomorrow :shock: bit of a last minute decision to make it, hence it will not be finished! She has other presents, and it is dry fitted so she can see it.
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby RogerS » 13 Mar 2018, 09:53

Woodbloke wrote:....At one time, I had both his books but I think I stupidly sold them some time ago - Rob


There's one on Amazon for 33p :D
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Andyp » 13 Mar 2018, 16:09

Yep. Great trucks. Thanks or sharing.
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby Phil » 14 Mar 2018, 14:25

Andyp wrote:Yep. Great trucks. Thanks or sharing.


:text-+1:

Definitely very GOOD! :eusa-clap:

Like the logger. Have you thought about making a Bell Logger to load & offload the logs? Or one of those Volvo log grabbers?

My grandson is 4 months, so if I start making now it should be a great 21st present! :lol:
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Re: Incra I-box - mini review and initial teething troubles!

Postby StevieB » 15 Mar 2018, 22:15

Phil wrote:Have you thought about making a Bell Logger to load & offload the logs? Or one of those Volvo log grabbers?


To be honest - nope. I did these 'as and when' and my sons have been very patient. I have more DIY related things to do, or at least I will as soon as it stops raining/snowing/freezing. Maybe when I retire!
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