New Product — "CMT Tenon Maker"

She takes a few minutes to adjust the insert height so that the top is in perfect alignment with the router table top.
	She turns the height adjustment crank to elevate the router so that she can install the new bit.
This is the product shot from Woodpeckers website. I show it because it displays the other way to adjust the height of the router. The steel L-handle device is inserted and then turned 1/4 turn to allow the router to be brought up or down quickly. It is a nice picture isn't it?
	Andrea  installed the CMT Tenon Cutter. It is a big router bit set. As with all router bits, she is careful to install at least 75% of the shank in the collet, and that the collet is firmly tightened. She uses two bent wrenches to accomplish this.
Andrea will be setting this bit up to cut 5mm thick tenons. She wants to shape stave ends to fit mortises that are cut with the Festool Domino Joiner. She uses a 5mm thick Domino tenon to serve as a setup gauge.    She will make a sample cut and see how it works.
	She cranks the elevation until she sees that the tenon will be centered on the 3/4" stock.
Just as she would when cutting a coped end of a rail, Andrea runs the sample through the cutter using a square scrap of MDF to serve as a backer board and help her keep the sample square to the fence.
	You can't tell it from this photo, but the tenon was too loose in the mortise. She will have to add a spacer of two to make the tenon a bit larger.  The question is by how much.
The fix is quite easy. She places one or more spacers in the mortise alongside the sample tenon. When it is tight, she places those spacers in the bit stack.
	It takes about 2 minutes to make the spacer adjustment.
The adjustment works. She has a tenon that is just the right thickness.  Now, she can make wider mortises or use a hand saw to trim the tenon width. The hard part is done. The tenon fits well and she now can record the combination of spacers that will allow her to replicate the 5mm tenon at any time.
	Andrea is proud of her new found skill. The CMT Tenon Cutter is a precision tool that allows precision cuts.  It can produce tenons with thicknesses  between the 3/16" and 3/8" shown above — and in metric as well.    You can be sure that we will be using this bit set many times in the months ahead. It will be the chair maker's dream.

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