Lock Miter Joinery and Setup 

Thank you, presented very good. The trick for centerline board is simply great too!

Love that bit, have used one for years, nice to make faux beams with it, especially on cedar.

Thanks for posting. Some bit manufacturers also sell set up blocks for their bits which is a time saver.

Yesterday I was at 2 hours trying to set the bit correctly. I just gave up and went on to another job. Good grief why is this so hard? Your video really helped me, thanks.

I don't have one of those bits but I want one bad. I am planning on getting the smaller cutter for 3/8" - 3/4" thick stock as I will be using it to make drawer cases, not the drawer box itself but the case the drawer will slide into, out of 1/2" hardwood veneer ply and apply an edge treatment/edge veneer. I need to be able to make these things fast and accurate and not have to deal with 45 miters and all of the fussy clamping to get them perfectly square. My design is for a higher end jewelry box case type design for a fancy tobacco pipe rack/stand that will be mounted to the drawer/box assembly and I need to be able to set it up fast in order to make small production quantities in lots of about 10 - 20 cases at a time. I have been watching several videos for setting these up and your ideas are great. I think I will be using a vernier height gauge for measuring stock thickness and getting the height adjustment of the cutter to be dead nuts on the first try as the gauge will be accurate to .001" and will eliminate any fussing at setup. And then I will design and make a setup block from Delrin for adjusting the fence to also get that dead nuts accurate right away. There might be a micro fraction of a tap here and there on the fence to get that dimension dead nuts at setup but with the proper gauge fixture I think I can make one that will get it on first try on 98% of the setups. I will also be making a sacrificial fence that the cutter can be plowed through so the fence opening matches the cutter profile and so there is only a fraction of a inch between the cutter edges and the fence which will also help in fast repeatability. I don't have a fancy router table with micro height adjustment nor do I have the funds to get one just yet so well thought out setup gauges/fixtures will be key to a quick and easy tooling changeover. Thanks for the video - all of them I watch and the issues I see in setups give me great ideas for quick and easy tool changeovers and repeatability.

I've seen videos where they set up the bit using the thickness of the workpiece and not half it's thickness. I'm curious whether there's a difference or not. It seems that trying to find the center of the bit is inherently flawed, especially since the bit manufacturers don't add a center line on the bit. I bought the Zokmok bit a couple of weeks ago and used Wes Hamstra's set up technique and it worked just fine. It still took a couple of test pieces to get it dialed in but it worked. I just used a test piece and straightedge. First, lay the piece flat and use the straightedge to match the top of the bit set the height of the bit. Then stand the piece up against the fence and use the straightedge to match the front edge of the cutter to set the depth of the fence. Either way, I guess, it's all about getting it in the ball park and then making the final adjustments, but the "finding the center" method just seems to be more trouble than is necessary. Having said that, it is the method demonstrated by Stumpy Nubs so there must be something to it. That's why I'm curious if there is a difference.

Interesting how to do it thank you for explain

Hola: muy interesante la guia que hiciste para configurar la altura. La segunda configuración no la entendí muy bien...

Agradecido 😊

The coolest part is that the same cutter is used on all the mating surfaces.

Hard to set up but worth the trouble if you have long miters to deal with like column wraps!

Man, as much as I hate setting up my router normally, I don’t think I’d ever want to set that up. I can see the benefit in the final result, but I don’t think I’d bring myself to all that work unless I was running a whole bunch of miters. Nicely done with the demo, but I really hope I never need to set one of those up.

I just did some tapered columns, I ripped them with my tracksaw and they came out great. I’m thinking about getting a big router and that would be one of the things I make. Do you think this would make a lock miter and land perfect on a that? If you’re looking at a column there would be a square base, the top 48” or so would be square but tapered smaller at the top. Probably 11” wide at the lower part and 7” wide at the top.

I really wish you would have taken some of your test pieces and shown what you do with the fence or the height after running some of the test pieces. That would have been very beneficial.

I haver not seen this used on end grain as you would when making boxes.

Who makes those feather boards?

Loved the video. Thank you for the tips. There is no “th” in the word height. Height does not rhyme with width.

How does this joint work on end grain?

is lock miter 6mm suitabl for mini trimmer ??

If the bit depth is set "pretty close", wouldn't moving the fence in and out change the bit height in relation to the workpiece?

How about get one good test piece and keep it for your setup gage forever. No more guessing and trial n error.

Looks like it’s to hard to setup. So I think I’ll still use the butt joint it’s still reliable and not near as dangerous as locking bit. Plus I don’t have that much time

Fairly good but use editing software...so we don't have to see a whole piece of wood go through the bit e.g.. This is not necessary and what is common in most poor/entry level YT instructional videos. Also stop moving the test pieces around when fitting the 90 degree pieces e.g. - so WE the viewer can actually SEE if the fit is good. We can't when they are in motion.