Leigh FMT Frame Mortise and Tenon Jig

If you can use a plunge router, you can cut strong and perfectly fitting mortise and tenon joints in no time. Easily rout single, double, twin, quadruple or even triple mortise and tenon joints, plus angled and compound-angled joints, in stock up to 3" x 5". Virtually any plunge router will fit and still be available in seconds for other uses.

Nothing provides matching joint halves with the ease and accuracy of the new Leigh FMT! Named one of Workbench Magazine’s Top 10 Innovative Tools of 2004, the FMT Jig allows you to rout both parts of the joint with just one joint guide, one router bit and one jig setup. Make pefect joints for everything from match-stick frames and miniature tables (rout joints smaller than 1/4" — so tiny they’re almost beyond belief!) to full-size chairs and 6-foot garden gates. It’s remarkably easy to set up perfectly aligned multiple mortises and tenons on the FMT. Precision and repeatability are made possible by adjustable table limit stops that control the table’s range of motion in both X and Y axes. With each mortise or tenon position sighted and limit stops set, you’re ready to rout double, quadruple, or even triple joints with the same ease and precision as a single mortise and tenon. Joint tightness is infinitely adjustable by simply turning a calibrated knob; the fit is recordable and repeatable. Sliding cursor provides easy alignment. Bolts to a board and clamps to a bench. No dedicated router is required! Comes with universal sub-base that attaches to virtually all plunge routers, five 5/16" guides that will make over 20 sizes of mortise and tenon, guide stand, 5/16" spiral upcut cutter with 1/2" shank, two cam-action Speed-Clamps, outrigger bars, adjustable sidestop fence, fully illustrated user guide, screwdrivers, and mounting hardware. Accessory kit includes eight 1/4" guides, four 3/8" guides, four 1/2" guides, eight-piece High Speed Steel spiral upcut bit set, and wood storage box. The ACMTC Accessory Kit includes the same components in the regular kit, but with solid carbide bits.

Customer Reviews and Photos for: Leigh FMT Frame Mortise and Tenon Jig Average Rating: (3.5) (4 customer reviews) Add your review...

1) Submitted by Matt Arnold, from Rogers, AR on 12/5/2007 Customer Rating: Oh yea, now this is one fine piece of equipment. Sure it cost a lot, but if you are serious about making fine furniture, then the FMT is a must in your shop. I just completed my first piece with the FMT it has show through tenons. With my normal way of making this joint, it would take me a half day and then more than likely it would look terrible. But with the FMT, it took me only 15 minutes and i held tolerances to a few thousands. So don't think twice about getting a FMT. Just do it , you will be very pleased.

2) Submitted by Kenneth Kaiser, from Battle Ground, WA on 11/24/2008 Customer Rating: The product is sturdy enough and after working with it a bit it is easy to achieve repeatable results. My problems have been with the clamping system and the alignment system (i.e. the alignment bar that can be attached for vertical milling. The clamps are a little difficult to use when you are holding the piece in position and trying to clamp it with the other and tightening it with the other. The router mount is difficult to slide,but as I said once you have the system set up for the process it is easy to repeat with great accuracy. My other issue has been that I am assembling 46 window frames for an old railroad car. The frames require at least three different mortises for each frame. I like to build a little make a little but without a way of easily "marking" or "remembering" where your set up is you have to do all of one kind at once or go back through the set up again. With the advances in micro electronics and the cost of the jig it would seem that adding some sort of memory feature that would facilitate returning to a previous set up would not be an impossible engineering feat within the current price structure. Also it is difficult to see for alignment purposes. I was working with pieces of window frame and trying to align the router over the location of the mortise was a challenge because it was difficult to see to align the bit. Once it was set up it was much easier and things went quickly. It is pricy though and it would seem that the engineering costs should have been recovered.

3) Submitted by Shane Miller, from Davey, NE on 11/13/2007 Customer Rating: Although this unit is rather costly it does exactly what it says it will do. My first project was building 11 different sized cabinet doors with mortise and tenon joints at each of the corners. In less than 3 hours I was done with all the joints and they fit perfectly. This time included assembling the jig, reading the instructions and several practice runs. Now that I'm set up it takes longer to set the router depth than it does to set the jig. Do recommend a very solid plunge router with a base that has little play during the plunge motion. By the way that will not be a Porter Cable. Mine and several other reviewers got poor results with the Porter Cable. I used a Freud and others have highly recommended the Bosch.

4) Submitted by G. Wicklund, from Chicago, IL on 1/27/2008 Customer Rating: What a disappointment! The construction is of remarkably poor quality; moving parts are shoddy plastic. I am quite afraid the FMT won't stand up to years of heavy production use and I am all too eager to send it back for a refund. For such an exorbitant price, I expected much finer workmanship. Besides the serious quality-to-price issues, the FMT's real major flaw is how incredibly overengineered it is. This thing can rout 1/16" tenons in matchsticks. But who is ever going to need to do this? Larger stock is all but impossible to secure in the jig and tenons must be done as multiples (2...or even 4). With all of this "flexibility", this jig really not much more than a big compromise. In its defense, the FMT does just what it says it does. But I just think there are so many better (cheaper too) ways to do it. If you're already making mortise and tenons on your own, this thing will just be a setback. People who like silly shop toys will like the FMT; woodworkers who expect quality will feel sorely ripped off.