Beaded face frames-jack miters with the Festool CMS.

[Brice Burrell]

Beaded face frames-jack miters with the Festool CMS.​

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Those of you that visited my old site may remember the article I did on the jack miter. This new blog post sort of adds another element to the old school jack miter joinery, the beaded face frame. A few years back the Kreg company came out with their system to make beaded face frames and that's where I got the this idea. From what I've seen the Kreg system looks to be a great way to make beaded face frames. However, with a $380 price tag you'd need to make a lot of beaded face frames to justify that kind investment. I though about using the CMS with sliding table as an alternative to the Kreg system. You don't need the Festool CMS to use this concept, almost any router table would do. The Kreg system built in some great indexing features that make cutting all the parts easy.  While the method I'm showing in this article has a little more layout, it does have the advantage of working with things you probably already have for your router table.

For those of you that may not be familiar with the beaded face frame and/or jack miter, let me give a short explanation. A beaded face frame has a bead routed into the inside edges (door/drawer openings) of the face frame. At the intersections of the rails and stiles the jack miter is used to make the joint. A jack miter is a joint where the profile, in this case the bead, is remover at the joint. On the rails the bead is cut off the end of the pieces at a 45° angle, the stile the bead is notched out with 45° angles on the end(s) of the notch. See the picture below.

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I shot a quick video outlining the process that might help you get a better idea of how this whole beaded face frame-jack miter thing thing works. Check it out below.



Okay, I admit the process I used in the video is a little rough and more care would need to be used to make this work on a full scale project. One of the things that would certainly help would be stops to index the cuts for the jack miter joints. You could use the flip stops for the MFT/3 table for precise repeatability on multiple pieces. For longer pieces the fence for the MFT could be used on the siding table. For a regular router table stops could be added to a wooden extension on the miter gauge. In the photo below I have the fence and flip stops from the MFT/3 on the CMS sliding table.

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You could use the Kreg notching bit instead of the Festool bit I used in the video and you probably have a beading bit in your collection already. Another thing you'd might want is the pocket screw jig to join the face frames.  So, with a couple of bits and the setup I have for the CMS or a miter gauge on a regular table and you'd be all set. This seems be a decent way one could make beaded face frames (or jack miters for trim) without investing in a pricey dedicated jig. 

In the interest of full disclosure, this product was provided free of charge by Festool USA to facilitate instructional content.

 

[mastercabman]

Great video!
I would use the Kreg bit instead.Cuts the jack miter in 1 pass! [smile]

 

[Brice Burrell]

Great video!
I would use the Kreg bit instead.Cuts the jack miter in 1 pass! [smile]

Yes, one pass would certainly make it easier, but you're limited in the width for your rails and stiles.  When the height of the Kreg bit is set to remove the bead that sets the width of stock.  If your stock is wider you need two or more passes.  That said, if I had the Kreg bit I'd probably use it. 

 

[mastercabman]

Great video!
I would use the Kreg bit instead.Cuts the jack miter in 1 pass! [smile]

Yes, one pass would certainly make it easier, but you're limited in the width for your rails and stiles.  When the height of the Kreg bit is set to remove the bead that sets the width of stock.  If your stock is wider you need two or more passes.  That said, if I had the Kreg bit I'd probably use it. 

Yeah i know,but then again most rails and stile are standart 1.5" wide.
And i think Kreg offers bits for 1.5" and 2" wide stiles.
I bought the bits a couple years ago and made my own beaded face frame fence.Works pretty good,but not much demand for that look.

 

[ericbuggeln]

I really like the look. Something different. The Dark Blue and Green Blog is becoming the place to be. Thanks Brice

 

[ericbuggeln]

Thanks Chris, always wanted to hear feedback on the Kreg jig. I dont know if Ive ever heard anyone talking about it. Could you pocket hole those the way you would do with regular FFs? I usually use 1 3/4", Eric

 

[ericbuggeln]

Sorry, ive been dealing with some really stupid people lately and feel like i cant chance anything, Eric

 

[woodwreck]

As always, the effort is appreciated, the loyalty to a Festool Solution admirable, but

Okay, I admit the process I used in the video is a little rough and more care would need to be used to make this work on a full scale project. One of the things that would certainly help would be stops to index the cuts for the jack miter joints. You could use the flip stops for the MFT/3 table for precise repeatability on multiple pieces. For longer pieces the fence for the MFT could be used on the siding table. For a regular router table stops could be added to a wooden extension on the miter gauge. In the photo below I have the fence and flip stops from the MFT/3 on the CMS sliding table.

add in the omitted setup labor and particularly free components from Festool leaves me to respectfully suggest that the Kreg one-time setup is both  more forthright and effective.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I tried the Kreg FF system after the price dropped.
I returned because of defects but kept the ideas and made my own.

The main problem with the one I had is that the face of the fence was not close to square to the table.
The sliding motion wasn't as smooth as I expected either.

Looking at the Kreg system in a catalog it's easy to get the impression that the fancy fence is the critical part, but it's really the least important part. The bits and the ideas are the key.

Added a fence to a miter gauge and got great results using Kreg router bits and Kreg's setup gauges.
(Actually I just added a fence and a miter slot bar to a piece of plywood. The fence was over 6 feet long so I could measure intermediate joints in 8 foot stiles and with a well adjusted miter bar and waxed sliding surfaces it worked very smoothly. I did add low friction outrigger support for the long stuff, moved slowly enough to keep whiplash to a minimum with the router speed at the lowest setting.)

In addition to the big bits the idea of working from the center of the joint and measuring offsets from the center are the most important contributions. To that end the 1/2" diameter stub "bit" is very useful in calibrating your fence.

Using the offset from center idea it's easy to make intermediate sized joints. For example, using the 1-1/2" bit with 1-3/4" stock simply requires two slightly offset passes.