http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?

"Locutus" wrote in message


http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?

Only you can determine that, but don't be scared of it. There is certainly
nothing wrong with using this variation on "loose tenon" methodology.

If you don't have the tools or skill to do the usual M & T joinery, or the
equipment to do make tenons for the more prevalent method, you should find
it a viable option.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/13/05

Kind of like, if you don't know how to ride a horse, a car is a viable
alternative.

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
Only you can determine that, but don't be scared of it. There is certainly
nothing wrong with using this variation on "loose tenon" methodology.

If you don't have the tools or skill to do the usual M & T joinery, or the
equipment to do make tenons for the more prevalent method, you should find
it a viable option.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/13/05

The beadlock system is an incredibly easy way to do floating tenon joinery.
The amazing thing about it is that you can make the mortices with nothing
more than an electric drill, a 3/8" or 1/2" drill bit, and the Beadlock
fixture for that size, held in place with a clamp. I've had one (mine will
do both sizes) for several years and use it frequently. In fact, I have even
purchased the 3/8" special router bit so that I could make my own 3/8" tenon
material.

There's only one thing that I felt needed improvement with their fixture and
the fix for it was easy. The alignment mark/hole is a D shaped hole. The
flat side of this hole has to be aligned with the mark on your board. It is
a bit difficult to get positioned correctly because the straight edge of the
hole that you have to align to your mark isn't bright or contrasty enough. I
fixed this by filing the plating off of the top surface of the flat side of
the hole with a small file (I just put a small bevel on the edge). This gave
me a bright clear edge line that made it much easier to position the fixture
accurately.

Using the Beadlock jig is simple. Hold your boards together in the position
that you want them joined. Make a straight line mark across the joint where
you want the centerline of the tenon located. Align the straight side of the
jig's D hole edge to your pencil mark and clamp the fixture to your board.
Drill 3 holes through the jig's drill guide into your board. Loosen the
thumb screws and slide the drill guide to the second position. Drill 2 more
holes through the drill guide. Loosen the thumb screws and move the drill
guide back to position 1 and redrill the original three holes to clean them
out. Remove the clamp and jig. Then do the exact same procedure to the other
board. Cut the supplied tenon material to the proper length and then
assemble your joint with glue and clamps. It's so easy that I once had my 7
year old grand daughter help me. She drilled about 40 perfectly aligned
joints with no problems and no help from me.

--
Charley

"Locutus" wrote in message
...

http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?

"Charley" wrote in message
...
The beadlock system is an incredibly easy way to do floating tenon
joinery.
The amazing thing about it is that you can make the mortices with nothing
more than an electric drill, a 3/8" or 1/2" drill bit, and the Beadlock
fixture for that size, held in place with a clamp. I've had one (mine will
do both sizes) for several years and use it frequently. In fact, I have
even
purchased the 3/8" special router bit so that I could make my own 3/8"
tenon
material.

Is it all much different than putting in a few dowels?
I can see that allignment is easier because all the dowels have to be
perfect or they won't work, but otherwise...

"Toller" wrote in

Is it all much different than putting in a few dowels?

Yep ... for starters, more glue surface area, which equates to a stronger
joint.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/13/05

Pretty much the same thing. What is a Beadlock? Bumpy loose tennon. What is
a loose tennon? Elongated dowel.

"Toller" wrote in message
...
Is it all much different than putting in a few dowels?
I can see that allignment is easier because all the dowels have to be
perfect or they won't work, but otherwise...

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 03:08:05 GMT, "CW" wrote:

Pretty much the same thing. What is a Beadlock? Bumpy loose tennon. What is
a loose tennon? Elongated dowel.

"Toller" wrote in message
...
Is it all much different than putting in a few dowels?
I can see that allignment is easier because all the dowels have to be
perfect or they won't work, but otherwise...



what's a biscuit jointer?.. *lol*
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

"Charley" wrote in message
...
The beadlock system is an incredibly easy way to do floating tenon
joinery.
The amazing thing about it is that you can make the mortices with nothing
more than an electric drill, a 3/8" or 1/2" drill bit, and the Beadlock
fixture for that size, held in place with a clamp. I've had one (mine will
do both sizes) for several years and use it frequently. In fact, I have
even
purchased the 3/8" special router bit so that I could make my own 3/8"
tenon
material.

There's only one thing that I felt needed improvement with their fixture
and
the fix for it was easy. The alignment mark/hole is a D shaped hole. The
flat side of this hole has to be aligned with the mark on your board. It
is
a bit difficult to get positioned correctly because the straight edge of
the
hole that you have to align to your mark isn't bright or contrasty enough.
I
fixed this by filing the plating off of the top surface of the flat side
of
the hole with a small file (I just put a small bevel on the edge). This
gave
me a bright clear edge line that made it much easier to position the
fixture
accurately.

I've used the Beadlock jig and the alignment problem is actually worse than
you pointed out. We all figured out right away we had to file a bevel on
the straight edge of the hole. (I even painted mine white) The real problem
is you have to flip the jig over to do the mating hole, i.e. leg to apron
joint. So you align the leg and apron, place a straight mark accross the
joint and you're off. But on one side you're sighting above your mark and
on the other side, below the mark. I even tried filing a V notch in the
center of the flat to try and determine if I was exactly on my mark and it
still doesn't always yeild a perfectly aligned joint every time. How much
does this problem misalign the joint? - just enough to irratate the hell out
of me. In frustration I sent Beadlock a product improvement suggestion
complete with statement of the problem, solution, and drawings. Simply
rotate the D window 90 degrees and put a V notch dead center like an open
gun sight. I never heard back from them, not even so much as an
acknowledgement that they had received my suggestion. Presumably they've
already manufactured a bagillion of them in China and don't want to hear
about it. I'm currently stress testing the jig in my driveway every night
when I come home. Parking my pickup on top of it hasn't seemed to improve
its accuracy any so far.

Using the Beadlock jig is simple. Hold your boards together in the
position
that you want them joined. Make a straight line mark across the joint
where
you want the centerline of the tenon located. Align the straight side of
the
jig's D hole edge to your pencil mark and clamp the fixture to your board.
Drill 3 holes through the jig's drill guide into your board. Loosen the
thumb screws and slide the drill guide to the second position. Drill 2
more
holes through the drill guide. Loosen the thumb screws and move the drill
guide back to position 1 and redrill the original three holes to clean
them
out. Remove the clamp and jig. Then do the exact same procedure to the
other
board. Cut the supplied tenon material to the proper length and then
assemble your joint with glue and clamps. It's so easy that I once had my
7
year old grand daughter help me. She drilled about 40 perfectly aligned
joints with no problems and no help from me.

--
Charley

"Locutus" wrote in message
...


http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?

"Locutus" wrote in message
...
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?


Go look at

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/prod-bdl.htm

There is some good stuff there.

I have worked on several projects with the bead lock tenons. They all
worked well. One was to join together several arc shaped peices for a
circular solid wood desk top. We had to do some fancy blocking to do the
clamping and glueing. But once it was done, we were able to use a circle
jig and cut a perfect circle.

Another good use to make up things that need to be broken down for shipping
and put together for display. You glue in one side and leave the other
free. Maybe sand down the loose one a little bit.

I guess what I like the most were the curious folks who wondered how the
peice was held together. Of course, I tell them tall tales of wooly mammoth
glue.

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 13:18:14 -0500, "Locutus"
wrote:

http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...=5392#moreinfo

Anyone have any experiences with this? Is it worth the money?

The premade tenon stock is fairly expensive, and if you have a router
in which to use the bit to make your own tenon stock then you may as
well just use the router and a jig to make normal floating tenons. So
in a nutshell, if you have a router you don't need it, and if you
don't have a router you're better off putting the money towards one.


-Leuf