Box joints are the lazy man's dove tail.
They are pretty easy to make, look awesome, and are really strong. Box joints are most easily made on a table saw with some sort of jig (there's lots of variations from commercial to homemade). But what if you don't have a table saw? This was exactly my problem, but I solved that by making this overly complicated, slow, clumsy, but incredibly accurate box joint jig for my miter saw.
Miter saws take up much less space compared to a table saw, but they don't have much functionality other than chopping to length. In order to make box joints on a miter saw, I turned to the many other designs for box joint table saw jigs out there for inspiration. I took the most common and best concepts from other designs and wrapped them up into my own - of course tackling the whole it's-a-miter-saw-not-a-table-saw issue.
The video below describes how I built the machine and demonstrates its capabilities (and fall downs).
While it may be inferior to a table saw jig, I hope others can use it as inspiration to build something of their own, even if they think they don't have what it takes. Many people think there's only one way to do something, and if they don't have what it takes then it's probably not going to happen. But working with what you have already can force you to come up with creative solutions and learn new skills.
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