Porter-Cable 4115 1/2-Inch Box Joint Template

by Porter-Cable

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Used with the 4112 dovetail machine, the Porter-Cable 1/2-inch box joint template produces strong, professional looking box joints. This template installs easily on the dovetail machine for quick set up. Constructed of aluminum, the template guides the router in cutting consistent, strong box joints. It requires a 5/8-inch template guide and 1/2-inch straight cutting bit for 1/2-inch material (sold separately).

From the Manufacturer

Porter-Cable 4115 1/2-Inch Box Joint Template

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 23 x 6 x 1 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00002241F
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 4115
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,616 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Simple As It Gets, July 13, 2000

By 

Wayne Cease - See all my reviews

This review is from: Porter-Cable 4115 1/2-Inch Box Joint Template (Tools & Home Improvement)

If you think the dovetail template is easy, this is easier. There are only two things to set, and both are easy: 1) depth of cut, 2) left-to-right position of the board for finger layout.

The finger joints fit together great. I get much smoother cuts than with my table saw box joint jig.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Took me a few minutes but once I got it this was easy, April 1, 2002

By 

"dsharp70" (Conway, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Porter-Cable 4115 1/2-Inch Box Joint Template (Tools & Home Improvement)

Follow the manual, to a point. The box joints are cut with the board mounted in the front clamp but you have to mount a board under the back clamp. The manual says that this board should be at least 1/4" thicker than the board you are cutting box joints on. I didn't get why it had to be 1/4" thicker until I made my first cut and thank goodness that I followed the manual because the extra 1/4" is to keep you from running the router bit into the metal base of the jig.

I was using 3/4" stock and the only way I could get a 1" inch board (actually it was a 3/4" board and a 1/4" piece of plywood) clamped through the back clamp was to remove the bushings under the clamp knobs, otherwise I couldn't thread the clamp knobs. This worked great and the board was still clamped tightly.

To get the pins and tails offset correctly between two pieces, the manual shows you how to rotate the boards, basically the manual has you cutting a pin on the top left of a board and a tail on the bottom left of a board or vice versa. This way if you cut both ends of four boards you could flip the pieces around to get them all to fit and make a box. I wasn't making a box and the way the manual had me adjust the boards I was cutting pins on both edges of the boards so no matter which way I flipped the boards I was always going to have a 1/2" of a board sticking up and a 1/2" of another board hanging down. When I went to adjust the edge guides to realign the pins and tails I discovered that the edge guide moves exactly a 1/2". That allowed me to push the edge guide all the way to the left to get a tail on the left or push the edge guide all the way to the right to have a pin on the left. (This will make more sense when you use the temple, I promise.) Using this I marked each board as either pin or tail. I setup the template to have a pin on the left and cut all the boards marked as pins. Changed the template to cut a tail on the left and cut the rest. It was quick and easy and the alignment was dead on.

The bottom line is that it make take you a few minutes to figure this out but once you do it is easy to use and the box joints fit perfectly and look great.