Apparatus for cutting aligned notches in parallel wooden frame members

A portable power tool for cutting notches of predetermined cross section in a series of boards which are connected together in parallel relation and have outer coplanar faces, said tool comprising:

• a body adapted to be held and be manipulated by a user;
• means forming a first guide surface carried by said body lying essentially in a predetermined plane and facing in a first direction toward said boards to abut against and move across said outer faces of the boards and thereby locate the body against movement in said direction beyond a predetermined position;
• a rotary cutter carried by said body and mounted for rotation relative thereto about an axis which extends essentially perpendicular to said plane, said cutter projecting in said first direction beyond said plane of said first guide surface, and having a diametrical cross sectional configuration corresponding essentially to said predetermined cross section of the notches to cut aligned notches of said predetermined cross section in said outer faces of the boards as said first guide surface moves thereacross;
• said first guide surface extending at least partially about said rotary cutter to engage said faces of the boards at different sides of the cutter;
• a motor carried by said body for driving said cutter rotatively about said axis and located beyond said plane of the first guide surface in a second direction away from said boards;
• means forming a second guide surface carried by said body and located beyond said plane of the first guide surface in said second direction away from said boards, and facing essentially transversely of said axis of the cutter, and constructed to engage a straight side edge of an elongated guide member which is secured temporarily to and extends across said boards outwardly beyond said faces, and adapted to move along said side edge in a predetermined relative orientation as a cut is made in the boards;
• and
• means forming a third guide surface carried by said body and located beyond said plane of the first guide surface in said second direction away from said boards and facing in said first direction at a location to abut in said first direction against and move slidably along an outer face of said temporary guide member;
• there being no part of said tool other than said rotary cutter which projects in said first direction beyond the plane of said first guide surface.