How To Make A Slot In Wood

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Cutting slots in wood is often known as mortising, and it can be done with a drill press. You'll need to set up a fence guard on your drill press table to make sure you move your board straight. Attach a Forstner bit to the drill and set up the proper plunge depth. You can use a router to put a slot in a piece of wood, but this takes skill and a router. Likewise a drill press, you can drill a series of holes in a line and cut out the excess with a chisel. But I'm guessing you don't have tools like a router and drill press otherwise you would not be asking this question. I would like to make something like this out of wood. The 'slots' would be about 1/4 inch wide. But how would be the best way to route them??? I would need them to come in an angle to the piece, and I only know how to route either perpendicular to the edge or end grain - not at an angle. Rout a slot across the base of the jig on top. Put a piece of scrap wood in front of the base, underneath, to keep the bit from splintering when it exits this cut. CM: And now you’ve got your indexing slot, so you know exactly how to line this jig up for cutting dadoes. Slot hinges are a great solution for a project with thin walls and help you to avoid splitting the walls. George Vondriska is joined by AJ Moses to discuss how to cut accurate slots for slot hinges. Using a drill press and a simple jig, AJ demonstrates an easy way to cut these slots, similar to using a biscuit joiner.

I’m working on a new woodworking project that involved cutting through-slots for bolts in a couple of boards. The two boards will act as adjustable arms to hold a dowel handle for a garden cart.

I have cut shorter and narrower slots using a table-mounted router for a coin bank. These bolt slots were considerably longer and 1/4' wide so I was reluctant to use the same technique. I don’t have a plunge router – which would probably be the fastest and easiest way to do this.

Wood

Crowd-sourcing ideas

After checking a couple of woodworking forums for ideas – including one where someone trying this on a router table said the board 'shattered' (yikes!) – the general consensus seemed to be todrill out most of the material and clean up the slot later with a coping saw.

That sounded good (and safe) to me.

Since my slot was only 1/4' wide, I decided best approach was to use a 1/4' Forstner bit in a drill press to define the slot and remove most of the material, then clean up the slot with a file and sandpaper.

The shaft on the 1/4' bit was larger than the bit itself so I had to flip the board over to drill all the way through the 3/4' material. It’s probably a good idea to do this anyway to avoid tear-out unless you have a backer board underneath when you’re drilling.

What to do

Drilling

  • Mark the centre points for each end of the slot in the blank and use a nail or awl to punch a small hole for orienting the bit.
  • Set up the drill press with a Forstner bit the same size as the slot you’re cutting. You’ll need to attach a fence to the drill press table to maintain a straight line as you drill along the length.
  • Place the blank against the fence and lower the bit. Adjust the fence and blank so the point of the Forstner bit enters the small punched hole. Clamp the fence in place, slide the blank to the mark at the other end of the slot and check that it’s aligned properly.
  • Put a mark on the edge of the board that’s against the fence. Keep this edge against the fence when you flip the board over and drill the other side. This ensures the holes are in line even if your a hair off centre of the board.
  • Turn on the drill press and drill the each end hole to define the slot – drilling about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through the board. After that, just keep drilling holes and moving the work piece along the fence, overlapping holes just enough to keep point of the bit entering new wood. The slot will fill up with shavings which you should clear out if they get in the way.
  • Once you’ve drilled the length of the slot, clean it out with a screw driver or something similar. Flip the board over (keeping the same edge against the fence).
  • Repeat the process starting with the end holes. It doesn’t matter which direction you work in.

A COUPLE OF NOTES:

  • If you’re making a wider slot, you may want to make an additional pass to remove the 'peaks' between holes.
  • If you have a mortising chisel & bit you could swap that in once you’ve drilled the end holes.

Cleaning up the slot

  • After the drilling is complete, clean out the shavings with an awl or small screwdriver.
  • Clamp the work piece on edge to your bench and use a flat file to remove the high points left between the drilled holes being careful not to hit the rounded ends of the slots.
  • Wrap a small piece of sandpaper around a drill bit (smaller than the slot) to sand the ends of the slot.
  • After filing off most of the rough surfaces in the slot, wrap some sandpaper around the file and use it to finish cleaning up the slot.

If the slots were 1/2” wide or more, I probably would have used a jigsaw and straightedge to clean up the slots before sanding.

Learn how to make a simple router jig for cutting dado slots. This simple jig makes it easy to cut accurate dadoes with a router. This jig is easy to build and simple to use.

Tool: Triton Plunge Router

Transcript:

How To Make A Slot In Wood

Chris Marshall: Hi folks, I’m Chris Marshall, with Woodworker’s Journal Magazine. One of the strongest ways to install shelves in a bookcase — like this one — or a cabinet project, is to fit the shelves into dadoes in the sides. But to do that, the dadoes need to be cut perfectly straight and to exactly the right width for your shelving material. (And when I built this bookcase, I also needed the shelf dadoes to stop right here. Those can be tough to cut accurately with a table saw and dado blade.

CM: So for stopped dadoes like that, I reach for a simple-to-make slotted dadoing jig for my router. Here’s the one I used for the bookcase project. It’s got a platform to support my router base, with a slot down the middle that fits a 1” outside-diameter rub collar mounted in my plunge router. The jig’s base rests against the edge of my bookcase or cabinet side panel, and it squares the long slot across the panel when I clamp it in place. And if you look here, there’s an even deeper slot cut into the base. That’s made by the actual router bit you’ll use with the jig. It will show you the exact position your router will cut the dado slot, so it’s a SUPER handy index to set this jig accurately.

CM: And once the jig is clamped in place, this slot makes sure that my router can’t drift off course when I’m routing my dadoes, because the rub collar can only go in one direction — straight. With this jig, you’ll always rout dadoes with confidence —whether you’re building a bookcase or another shelving project. And in this short video, I’ll show you how to build one of these jigs.

How To Make A Deep Slot In Wood

CM: Start by cutting two, 6-in.-wide platform pieces from 1/2”-thick MDF or plywood. I made mine 26” long, which will allow the jig to cut dadoes up to about 18”. But, you can make the platforms however long you need them to be for your projects. (Flipping jig over to show) As you already know, you’re going to need a base piece for the jig. Make it from 3/4” scrap, 3” wide and exactly 13” long. And you’ll also need this 13”-long bridge piece too, to secure the platform pieces at the end of the jig. I made my bridge 2-1/2” wide.

CM: Start assembling the jig by brad-nailing or screwing one of the platform pieces to the base piece, flush with its end. Attach the bridge piece in the same way to the other end of the platform, but this time, to its opposite face. Now we need to fit the jig to our router’s 1” outside diameter rub collar. This will be the dedicated size that you’ll always use with this jig. For the next step, grab a steel rule or a scrap that measures exactly 1” wide. I’m going to set the second platform piece into position here, and then set the rub collar between the platform pieces, over the base. Now, I’m going to slide my steel rule between the platform pieces on the other end, under the bridge. That establishes our 1” slot.

CM: Now clamp the second platform in place carefully, making sure that the slot doesn’t change. Then nail the parts together to secure the second platform. If you’ve built the jig carefully, the rub collar should slide in this slot without extra play. There’s just one last step to do before your slotted dadoing jig is ready for use. Install a bit in your router that you plan to use with this jig. I’ve got a 23/32”-diameter straight bit in mine. It cuts a dado that’s the perfect width for today’s undersized 3/4” plywood.

How To Make A Slot In Wood With A Drill

CM: Now install the rub collar and set the router for a 5/8”-deep pass. Rout a slot across the base of the jig on top. Put a piece of scrap wood in front of the base, underneath, to keep the bit from splintering when it exits this cut.

How To Make A Wooden Slot Car Track

CM: And now you’ve got your indexing slot, so you know exactly how to line this jig up for cutting dadoes. That’s it! Oh, one last thing: it’s not a bad idea to write the bit size, and rub the collar size, right on the jig — so you’ll remember what to use with it, later. These slotted jigs (B-roll) are my FAVORITE way to rout dadoes. Quick, easy and accurate! I hope you like yours just as much as I do. And, if you liked the looks of the bookcase [B-roll] at the beginning of this video, you can find free, downloadable plans plus a video that will show you how to build it, by visiting woodworkersjournal.com. Thanks for watching.