How to make a tenon-groove connection?
Thorn and groove - what is it?
First of all, you need to determine what the tongue and groove are. This is nothing more than a way of connecting parts.
It is used most often in joinery, as well as in other types of production. There are many types of grooves and tenons, but we'll talk about this another time.
Correctly made spikes and grooves are firmly connected to each other. This connection is considered one of the most durable.
Tongue groove connection method
First, you need to determine for what purpose this connection method is needed. If it is a table, then the jumpers in it are usually connected to the vertical legs.
Consequently, the grain of the tree runs vertically and horizontally. If this is a wall table or a bedside table with drawers, then the jumpers here will be located a little differently. They will be horizontal relative to the legs.
In any case, such a connection will be the most reliable. When making a large number of spike-groove connections, special machines are used. If you need one or more spike-groove places, and there is no joinery equipment at hand, then it would be advisable to do this manually. To do this, you will need a set of carpentry tools, including:
- hacksaw;
- clamp - 2 pcs;
- measuring tool;
- a pencil for marking.
First, let's make a spike for the future connection.
To do this, you need to take a bar and mark the dimensions of the future thorn on it.
First we mark the length of the thorn. We do this on all surfaces of the workpiece.
After that, we put the workpiece on the table, set a flat bar on it along the transverse line of the length of the thorn and fix it with a clamp. This is necessary in order to obtain a perfectly perpendicular cut.
We make cuts along the marked perimeter of the length of the thorn, rearranging the bar with the clamp.
We proceed to sawing out the section of the thorn.
With a clamp, we attach the workpiece to the table in a vertical position.
To obtain a straight cut, we will use a previously prepared T-shaped template. It is a plywood plate with a bar fixed to it, as in the photo. We attach the template to the workpiece with a clamp. Next, we make cuts from the wide sides of the tenon.
On the narrow sides of the section, if it is small, cuts can be made without using a T-shaped template. It is important to control the position of the hacksaw blade, it should be strictly parallel to the workpiece.
As a result, we get a high-quality spike according to the given dimensions.
We turn to the manufacture of the groove.
Again, we start with the markup. On the workpiece, at the thorn-groove junction, we apply the size of the thorn section.
We fix the workpiece with a clamp on the table. If the workpiece is thin, then for the convenience of fastening, we take several parts or a board of the appropriate size and fasten them with a clamp, as shown in the photo.
First, we cut the hole in width, to ensure perpendicularity, the chisel is set along the corner.
We carry out a deepening to a given size, according to the mark of the length of the thorn, having previously applied it to the sting of the chisel.
After the specified depth is reached, we clean up the groove and insert the part with a spike.
The tongue-and-groove connection is now complete.
How to make a tenon-groove connection correctly? A little more subtleties
Not being able to make a thorn-groove connection on a special machine, it can be made with high quality at home, according to the method of Yu. A. Egorov.
To do this, you need to calculate the cutting width of the saw, which can be determined by the value of the setting of the teeth. You only need to make a few cuts on any bar.
Proceeding directly to work, we measure the thickness of the first part (the future spike) and draw a line on the intended place of the groove on the second part.
Now we apply both parts to one another so that their ends coincide. On the side edges, relative to each other, we shift them by the width of the cut.
We fix the parts in the workbench and make cuts evenly across the width. In the case of different thicknesses of parts, a thinner part contains deeper cuts and vice versa. We pay special attention to the fact that the cuts do not create cone-shaped spikes.
If the offset is less than the kerf, the parts will fit tightly. This will be important for any kind of furniture fixture.
By making the shift more than the kerf width, the normal operation of the detachable fasteners (on the hairpin) is ensured.
Observing the depth and longitude of the cuts, we make new ones in the middle of the spikes we do not need. After that, carefully remove the unsuitable spikes with a chisel, obtaining grooves from them, and clean them.
If the connection is supposed to be permanent, it is set on glue and the entire product is sanded.
How to make a thorn groove connection with a router
Thorn groove connections, as we can see, can be done manually. However, if there are a lot of tenon and groove connections, it is better to use a router. A milling cutter with a work table will be especially useful in such cases.
To facilitate the process of obtaining a hole in a workpiece for connecting a tenon-groove with a router in a large number, for example, making stools, a jig can be made.
Then making the grooves will take you a few minutes.
To do this, initially, restraints in the form of rails are installed on a sheet of plywood and holes are cut to the size of the required groove for the drawer side and the projectile. Two rails are attached along the width of the router, limiting the lateral shift, the other two are set taking into account the length of the device and the size of the groove.
We attach two bars to the table, according to the size of the workpiece, so that it can move freely along the length.
We expose and fix the emphasis.
Then we fix the device with self-tapping screws to the bars on the table.
We take equipment equipped with a straight cutter and set the milling depth. We do this using a ready-made sample.
We set the milling depth taking into account the thickness of the jig.
A prerequisite for milling is the fastening of the workpiece with a clamp, otherwise it can move under the force of the cutter.
Then we directly process the groove.
The groove hole is ready.
Let's move on to making a thorn. In small-scale production, it is convenient to do this with a circular saw.
We start making the tenon by measuring the groove. The depth of the groove is the length of the tenon.
We set the size of the groove length on the machine, taking into account the tool width. We set the circular saw at the level of half the difference in the width of the workpiece and the length of the groove from the table surface. After that we make two cuts along the length of the thorn. Test cuts during setting up the circular saw are best done on an unnecessary piece of wood, otherwise you can ruin a good part.
The preparatory work has been completed. We proceed to the direct cutting of the thorn.
To do this, set the circular saw to the size of the spike length, and the size from the cutting tool to the stop, as half the difference in the width of the workpiece and the length of the groove. We make two cuts along the width of the workpiece from opposite sides.
The next operation will be to change the size from the tool to the stop. In this case, the distance will be equal to half the difference in the height of the workpiece and the width of the groove. We make the two remaining cuts.
Now we take a joiner's knife and round off the corners of the tenon.
The final processing is carried out using sandpaper, for convenience fixed to the bar.
We check how the tenon enters the groove. It should fit snugly and not wobble.
Thus, we examined some types of spikes and grooves that can be made, both by ourselves and by ordering at the factory.
Although lately metal guides and all kinds of new fasteners have come into fashion, the tongue and groove connection still deserves respect and is one of the most durable connections.
Using it not only in woodworking products, various enterprises began to produce better quality goods.
And also you can watch a video of making spikes on a table circular
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The classic tenon joint is still the main one in the manufacture of wooden doors and furniture. Of course, no one has been making spikes by hand for a long time, working with a hacksaw - a reward and a chisel. Easier and better quality parts are obtained after processing on machine tools. But this does not mean that such connections cannot be made at home, using the most common tools.
A tenon joint involves hollowing out a socket on one part and cutting out a tenon on another. Swotting is a separate topic, one of the options is in the article.
The thorns can be flat root, flat plug-in, round plug-in (dowels, dowels). Manufacturing in the article.
Here we restrict ourselves to making the main flat tenon using a circular saw.
When making a trim for a wooden door, spikes are required on horizontal bars. If a tenoning machine is not available, then the tenons can be sawn out on any milling machine or circular. Only for the circular will have to make a special emphasis, so that the part is strictly vertical during processing.
First, we mark the part along the length with spikes. To do this, subtract two widths of vertical bars from the width of the door and add two lengths of the thorn.
In this case, the length of the pins is 60 mm. , maybe a little less or more, but this length is just right for the door.
With a door width of 700 mm. and the width of the canvases is 110 mm. , the jumper length is 480 mm. ... Plus two spikes of 60 mm. , total length of the workpiece is 600 mm. ...
The thickness may also differ, here the thickness of the parts is 40 mm. ...
Spikes on the circular.
We mark and trim the part along the length of 600 mm. ... Now we need a variable height circular saw. The photo shows the usual inexpensive "Corvette", but the model does not matter. We set the saw height to 12 mm. and a fence by 60 mm. , by external divorce.
We saw through the part across from all sides and from each end, so we get the shoulders of the thorn. By the way, this part of the work can be done with a hacksaw.
The most important thing is to accurately cut the thorns in thickness. I have a 15.5 mm slotted drill. , gives a socket with a width of 16 mm. , respectively, we need spikes with a thickness of 16 mm. ...
The milling cutter in the photo is homemade, a table with a vertical shaft, there is no carriage. Therefore, I cut out the thorns with a circular saw installed on the router. The saw gives a load less than the cutters and you can handle the parts by holding them with your hands. How to make a device for working with a hand-held circular saw,.
What is worth paying attention to, it is desirable that the spike goes against the stop.
In this case, everything is simple, the spike rests on the shaft. The width of the saw to the shaft, I have about 58 mm. which is just right for the job. If there is no stop, then saw through the thorn before reaching the shoulders 3-5 mm. , then cut with a chisel.
We expose the saw at a height of 12 mm. on the upper divorce and we pass the first thorn, checking it on the nest. The spike should fit tightly into the socket, but loosen with your hands.
When the saw is exactly aligned, we drive all the thorns of the set, immediately sawing out the thorns in thickness and width. If necessary, the spikes are reworked with a chisel, the planes are leveled, the ends and side edges are rounded. For the assembly of joinery, round tenons are also used - dowels. Homemade can be useful for filling nests at home.
Spikes with a hand router.
Assembly of tables, coffee tables, chairs, doors and cabinet sides, it is also better to do on spikes.
Furniture spikes can also be made using a hand router. First, we mark the part, taking into account the required length of the spikes. Then we saw off the shoulders on a circular or hacksaw. We put the part on the work table and fix it with clamps.
At a short distance, but across the workpiece, we install a block of exactly the same thickness and also pull it with clamps to the work table.
We put a barrel end mill on a hand router, adjust the height and carefully mill the spike plane. The main thing here is to set up the router so that after passing the tenon on both sides, you get the exact thickness of the tenon. And after setting up, we run all the other parts of the same thickness.
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Once I needed to make many boxes of different sizes from plywood. As you know, plywood does not like fastening with self-tapping screws to the end and often splits from this.
I had a tenon cutter for a router, but it had low productivity, and besides, when using low-quality plywood, the cutters quickly became dull.
And the sharpening of the cutter gradually changes its diameter, and it becomes impossible to work with it on the tenon cutter. Therefore, the task was set to create a new, more powerful tool with the ability to cut thorns immediately in a pack of blanks to speed up the work.
To solve this problem, I used a stationary circular saw, for which I made a special device. I make the grooves with a block of discs, and the accuracy of movement is ensured by a stud, which has a fixed thread pitch. I'll tell you how I made this device.
Tenon cutter base
1. An old homemade saw stop came in handy as the base of the thorn cutting device.
2. On the sides of the stop, I installed vertical posts made of larch, which were additionally reinforced for rigidity with side plates. I pre-pressed the bearings into the racks under the driving pin. The hairpin was used with an M14 thread and a pitch of 1.75 mm.
3. Moving along the hairpin is done with the help of a wooden block in which a long nut is hidden. Using a shorter nut may cause the unit to skew while driving.
Support board
The blanks of the boxes in my design are fastened with clamps to the support board. To make it last longer and not wrinkle from the clamps, for its manufacture I used a larch decking board, which I leveled on a thickness gauge.
At first, I planned to make the support a single board, but it would require a lock on the bottom and, in addition, the bottom edge would be damaged by the saw when cutting the thorns. If I raised the support board above the level of the spikes, then there would be a problem of chips on the workpieces, especially from plywood. Therefore, I made the support board in two parts.
4. The lower, narrower and shorter part of the support board is rigidly attached to the stop of the tenon cutter base, and the upper part is left movable. It is moved by means of a block of wood with a nut and a pin along the groove in the bottom of the support board.
5. In the lower part I installed a removable anti-splinter pad made of MDF. I installed a side stop on the movable part of the support board - strictly perpendicular to both the board and the base plate. Then I attached a block to the edge of the base as an additional attachment and made a cut in the base for the disc to pass.
6. For safety, in the front part, where the disc comes out, glued a protective block. On the sides of this bar there is a place where the handles will be installed for the convenience of moving the tenon cutter along the saw table runners.
7. To control the position of the disk, set two pointers. The first shows when the backing board is set to the "zero" position, that is, when the disc is in close contact with its plane with the side stop. The second helps to count the revolutions when the stud rotates. As a second counter, I used a wooden "barrel", rigidly fixed to a hairpin, on which I applied risks in 1/4 turn increments.
8. To ensure faster performance, I used a "sandwich" of two identical discs and spacers between them. There are special kits for setting the exact width of the groove, but they are expensive, and I do not have one. To get the gasket of the desired thickness, I cut out a duralumin washer with a thickness slightly less than necessary and brought it to the required dimensions using self-adhesive aluminum tape. I would like to point out that it is better to use new identical discs. I had one new, and the second was already a little used, as a result, when cutting, a small step appears at the base of the spike.
9. After a lot of trials and adjustments, I got a "sandwich" with a cutting width of 5.25 mm, which corresponds to 3 turns of the stud (1.75 mm x 3 = 5.25 mm). This made it possible to make cleats with a width of 5.25 mm, turning the stud between cuts 6 full turns. If it was necessary to make larger spikes, then the number of revolutions was proportionally increased.
10. The tenon cutter is ready for use.
Additional refinement of the tenon cutter
On this, the manufacture of tenon cutters could have been completed. However, after a short operation, several shortcomings in its work were discovered.
Firstly, counting a large number of revolutions is not convenient - you can easily get lost. Secondly, if an incomplete rotation of the stud was required, then the calculation became even more difficult, and the accuracy fell. Thirdly, since the gap between the pin and the moving support board did not allow the handle to rotate normally, it had to be taken out to the maximum to the right, and this protruding long part of the pin made the device not very convenient.
To remedy these shortcomings, I decided to mount the "reducer" on a pin of two gears at right angles to each other. The size of the gears was selected so that for one revolution of the drive gear, the pin makes 3 revolutions. The most affordable option for me was to make gears out of wood, so I used 13 mm birch plywood as the material.
11. I got the drawings of the gears using the Matthias Wandel gear generator, which can be found on his website. Then I pasted the printouts onto the plywood and cut out the gears with a band saw.
12. To ensure good gearing, I cut their teeth at an angle of 11 degrees. Moreover, he cut different sides of the tooth, respectively, with an inclination in different directions. My band saw allows you to tilt the table in one direction only, so I did not use the tilt of her table, but made an inclined base and attached it with a clamp to the saw table. First, I cut out the left sides of the teeth when tilting to the right, and then I turned the stop and cut out the right sides. He connected both cuts at the base with a hand jigsaw.
13. After that, I sanded each tooth and drilled a center hole.
14. The gear works only with the upper parts of the teeth, so I did not carefully process their lower parts.
15. Installation of the "reducer". First, I cut off part of the right pillar with a hand hacksaw and tried to install a furniture nut for attaching the pinion gear. However, this option turned out to be a failure. Due to the bearing installed in the rack, it was not possible to secure the nut tightly with long self-tapping screws, and the large lever of the drive gear led to strong beats. The idea of simply putting a large gear on the bolt was also bad: for the gear to rotate easily, it needed a little play, and it also caused wobbling.
16. I had to press the bearing into the gear, and instead of the furniture nut, put a 3 mm thick metal plate with fasteners that went beyond the bearing in the rack. To compensate for the thickness of the metal plate, a recess was made in the gear on the inside.
17. I installed a handle on the drive gear and numbered the teeth for convenience (a turn by one tooth is equal to 1/4 of a turn of the stud). Downstairs on the counter made a counter to the risk for precise positioning. After that, I sawed off the extra piece of the hairpin on the right and covered the structure with wax for better glide and protection from moisture and dirt.
18. Turning the pinion gear by a different number of revolutions, I get studs of different thicknesses and can even make them unequal.
