"JointAbility - for large panel cutting and dadoing."

	Last week, there was a lot of interest in the first part of the JointAbility story. The one question which was asked most was "what about boards longer than 5 feet?"    A good question. Here is the answer: the 8-foot JointAbility. This goes together and is used exactly like the smaller unit.    I won't go into the installation step-by-step.
I imagine that the long JointAbility will do a great job of trimming and jointing long, rough cut boards — and I will get some in and put it to this test.    BUT, what I wanted to do is to see if it could be the answer for large panel cutting. In the past, you have seen me cut large panels to rough dimensions and then take them to the table saw to make the final cuts.    My question is "why not  do all the cutting and edging right here?" I have set up a "large panel work area." Since this is so portable, I will take it outside when the weather warms up a bit more.    I am bringing in the heaviest panel I can think of — a 4' X 8' sheet of white melamine chip board. I am using one of those panel handlers (photo insert is from Rockler catalog - click here to go there.)    All I have to do is guide the heavy panel to the horses and flip it on — much easier on my back.
	May you learn from my errors. As soon as I laid the heavy sheet on the horses, two things became very evident. First, the height of the horse is a bit low — the JointAbility frame raises the panel about 1 1/2". Second, when you try to push a panel this heavy and large, the horses want to move and teeter.    So off comes the large panel for the moment.
It didn't take any time at all (or skills) to find some boards that I could use to both raise the horse surface and tie the horses together. I did make sure that the dry wall screws are countersunk so that they will not mar the surface of the panel.
	Now with the heavy panel supported on the horses, I can make my marks for my first cut.
On the "outfeed" side, I place a couple of roller stands to hold the cutoff.
	I have moved my marks so that they line up with the guide bar on the side away from me. The piece that I am cutting to exact dimentions is the piece in the JointAbility, not the cut off. You will see why in the next step.
Now, I run my router along the JointAbility's guide bar. I have a perfect edge that is exactly cut to my marks. You can see that the cut off piece is resting patiently on the roller stands.
	I have rotated the piece, and I am now cross cutting to the dimensions.
Then, I route the edge to the exact, final dimension.    It is interesting to note that while the trim saw leaves some chipout of this board, the router gives a perfect finished edge.
	Having cut the panel to the dimensions I want, I adjust my router depth to 1/2 the thickness of the board. Now, I can see how easy it is to use this setup for dadoing and rabbeting the pieces.
Happily, it couldn't be easier. The fact that the JointAbility's guide board can be lined up with where the dado or rabbet will be, makes this task easy and accurate.
	The groove and rabbets are cut perfectly and with no chip out.    The JointAbility works very well for cutting large panels. It saves my back, and I no longer have to cut every panel twice.    Next, what I want to do is to get some long rough cut boards and see how this JointAbility will work with them — coming next.

  Note: the following information on the JointAbility comes from the new manufacture/seller Hawk Wood Working Tools by RBIndustries  -- Tel: 1-800-487-2623

950-0001 jointability unit5’  299.00

950-0002 jointability unit8’  349.00

850-0101 saw guide assembly          29.95

850-0103 holster & attachment plate 49.95 

840-9262 bit double flute carbide tipped ½” shank ¾” diameter x 1 ½ loc  39.00

840-9263 bit double flute carbide tipped ½” shank ¾” diameter x 2” loc     69.00

840-9264 bit double flute carbide tipped ½” shank ¾” diameter x 2” ¼ loc 79.00

840-9265 bit double flute carbide tipped ½” shank ½” diameter x ½”loc     39.00

840-9266 bit double flute carbide tipped ½” shank ½” diameter x 1” loc     39.00