Practicum: Application of Skills Part 2

Time got away from me last Sunday, and didn't make it out to the shop again until today.  It's probably a good thing as the tapering jig ended up posing a lot of difficulty, and it alone is nearly an article in and of itself.  Today I made the adjustable stop and the tapering jig, which primarily used rip and cross cuts to complete.

Adjustable stop

Tapering jig

Once again the voice activation on my phone's camera was acting up again, so I didn't get as many pictures as I would like.  I get into a flow when I'm working, and forget to move over to the tripod and snap a shot, or I forget to move the tripod entirely and it's in completely the wrong location.  I'm pondering some different options to bypass this difficulty, but it will be a little bit before I'm able to do anything with them.  Soon!

Adjustable Stop

The adjustable stop is made from 2x4 and 3/4" ply wood.  I "milled" the 2x4 on the table saw, and it's pretty darn close to square.  John Heisz has a really great video demonstrating a good way to do this.  He also has a much more in depth article about the process.

After cutting the side pieces, I placed them loosely to either side of the fence and measured across to determine the length of the top.  Since I have the 520 Pro Fence, the dimensions given in Power Tool Woodworking For Everyone don't work, as they are for much smaller fences.  I ripped some scrap plywood to width, then cut it down to about 5 inches.

Cross cutting the side pieces

Pretty good!

Taking measurements for the top piece

Ripping some plywood to width for the top

Cross cutting to length

I drilled pilot holes for the screws, and then laid out the marks for the threaded T-nut, and used a 1/2" spade bit to drill it out.  I hammered the T-nut into place, and used some scrap wood and c-clamps to finish pressing it down nearly flush with the wood.

Pilot holes drilled, now preparing to drill for the threaded T-nut

Hammer it home!

Hammered into place

Top attached with screws only

Then it was a simple matter of screwing the top on to the sides, and threading in the eye-bolt.

Locking eye-bolt threaded into T-nut

In position!

Tapering Jig

Next I moved my attention to the tapering jig.  I originally planned to use plywood for this jig, but all of my scrap of sufficient size are slightly bowed.  A couple of weeks ago, I got some really nice hard country maple, and thought I'd use that instead.  I only have a small amount, so I ripped and cross cut the two smallest boards.  They were somewhat rough, and one of them was slightly bowed, so I thought I'd try out my jointer.  This was an utter failure.  I'm going to have to read up on jointer functionality and dealing with slightly bowed stock.  I should have stuck with the table saw method.

The piece that was sad

I'll be able to salvage some usable stock from this, but it was not suitable for the jig with the skills and tools I have available.  I dug deep and managed to find a piece of plywood that was in good enough shape, so I used that instead.

 I ripped the stock to width, then cross cut to length. 

Ripping to width

There wasn't much cutting for this project.  Mostly it was hardware.  After cutting the arms, I cut the stop block to size, drilled a 1/4" inch hole through it with a 5/8" counter sink on the bottom to accept the carriage bolt, then glued it to one of the arms taking care to keep it flush with the back edge.

Gluing stop block into place

After the glue dried, I laid the arms end-to-end and positioned the hinge.  I marked the screw positions, and carefully drilled pilot holes, and screwed the hinge in place.  Self-centering bits are definitely a purchase I will make soon!  

Hinge placement

 The cross-tie is made from a small piece of 1/2" plywood that I found in the scrap bin.  Using the plans, I measured and marked a 12"x2" blank for all the cuts and holes.  I used a 1/4" bit to drill the two end holes of the slot, drew some connecting lines, and cut out the rest of the waste with my jig-saw.  I cleaned it up as best as I could with a file, but it's a bit rough.  It works fine, though, so that's good enough for a shop jig!  I then set up the bandsaw and cut the tapers...for the tapering jig...Mhm.

Cross tie in place

I measured 12" down from the hinge end, and made a square mark across both arms, made corresponding marks on the cross-tie at the 1:12, 2:12, 3:12 points.  At full extension, this jig cuts a taper at just under 3.75":12".  It is also much larger than I thought it would be!

Set up at a 3":12" taper

Marks at the 12" point for calibration

In the process of making this jig, I made an unfortunate discovery regarding my cabinet.  While preparing the stop, I needed to bore a 1/4" hole through the center of the wood.  I was going to use the horizontal boring function, but much to my chagrin, the cabinet top stops the table's support tubes from descending far enough to position the table below the level of the drill chuck.  I will have to make some adjustments.

After all is said and done, though, it was a productive day.  I have now finished the 4 jigs that I thought would showcase the skills that I learned in the first five assignments of lesson 1!

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Skill Building: Learn All The Things!!! Part 1

Results from todays lessons

As I mentioned in my cabinet post, having theoretical understanding of a technique is immensely far removed from being able to actually perform that technique.  I learned that there are many skills and techniques that I need to practice on the ShopSmith.  Fortunately, ShopSmith offers a self-study course.  I decided that before moving on to any more actual projects, it would behoove me greatly to go through this course, and learn how to do a lot more with my machine.

The course is broken up into 10 different sections, each of which have several assignments.  I began Lesson 1 today, and made it through the first 5 assignments.  These start off very basic, and get progressively more advanced.
Assignment 1 I actually performed last week (inadvertently).

Already done!  Woo!!!

Ripping lumber

In Assignment 2, you learn a basic rip (with the grain) cut.  Starting with a 3/4" thick board that's 6" wide and 2'-3' long, set your rip fence 4" from the inside tooth of your blade.  Power up the machine, and make just a small nick in the stock to check your measurement.

4" from left edge of board to left edge of nick

With the machine powered off, make any necessary adjustments with either the fence or the quill, and complete the cut.

Off-cut remains on the table while the blade comes to a stop

Assignment 3 is the cross (across the grain) cut.

Cross cutting lumber

Using the 4" wide piece of stock created in Assignment 2, use the miter gauge (set at 90*) to first cut about an inch off of one side, then flip the board end for end.  This keeps the same edge against the face of the miter gauge and will ensure that ends are parallel.

Line it up...

Make the cut

From the freshly cut end, measure 20" and make a squared mark across the width of the board.  With the machine off, line up the cut line so that the blade will cut just above it, removing only waste wood.  Power up the machine and make the cut.

Measure and mark

Align properly with blade

Make the cut

Squared up cut.  The bottom edge was against the miter gauge.

Those are the two basic cuts on a table saw.  Pretty simple, but they are absolutely fundamental.

Crosscutting to equal lengths

Assignment 4 demonstrates the process for cutting multiple pieces to the same length.  This is a necessary skill for many projects, and one of the few times that the fence will be used in conjunction with the miter gauge for through cuts.

This is not normally safe!

In order to avoid crosscut stock from binding against the fence and causing a dangerous kickback, a stop block is used to provide some clearance.  This is clamped to the fence on the infeed side of the blade, far enough back that the stock will have cleared the block before it has passed far enough through the cut to separate.  This assignment uses a 3/4" thick piece of lumber that is 3" wide and 30" long.  The stop block is clamped to the fence so that it's trailing end is about 1" forward of the leading edge of the blade.

Stop block clamped to fence

Fence assembly set 5.5" from inside tooth of saw (measured to the block)

Make a cut in a scrap piece of stock to check length, and make any necessary adjustments to the fence assembly.  Using the actual stock in the miter gauge, butt the piece gently against the block, and make the first cut.  Return to the starting position, and repeat.  Do this until your stock is not long enough to be completely supported across the face of your miter gauge.

Making first cut

It is the proper length!

Continue making cuts

At end of cut, pull stock away from blade, and return to starting position

One more cut

To cut this last section to length, use a previously cut piece laid on top to mark a cut line, then proceed as with a normal crosscut.

Guide piece

Mark it up!

Line it up, make the cut

Equality is fun!

More advanced techniques with the table saw configuration

Rabbets (or rebates if you're in the UK), are grooves running along either the end or the edge of a piece of stock, and provide a lot of glue surface for strong joinery.  This is a very important technique to know how to perform properly.  This assignment uses a 3/4" thick lumber, 3" wide and 30" long.  The edge rabbet is 3/8"x3/8" while the end rabbet is 3/4"x1/2".  Two different techniques are demonstrated.

To make the edge rabbet, first set the table so the blade extends 3/8".  Move the fence so that it is located 3/8" from the outside tooth of the blade.  Press the edge of the stock firmly against the fence, and make the cut.  Since this is not a through cut, the upper saw guard must be removed, so take extra precautions to keep your hands away from the blade.  To quote Matt Vanderlist, "Fingers and thumb, don't be dumb!"  Power off the machine, move the fence so that it is located 3/8" from the inside tooth of the blade.  Press the uncut face of the stock firmly against the fence, and make the cut.  This will remove a thin section of wood from the edge of your stock on the outside of the blade, so you should be safe from dangerous kickback, but stay out of the way to be safe.

I use a combination square for setting blade height and close-to-the-blade fence placement

Setting blade height

Setting fence position for first cut.  Measured from outside tooth of blade.

Make first cut in face of stock.  No guards, so be careful.

Fence adjusted, uncut face against fence.

What a pretty rabbet!

To make the end rabbet, I used this same piece, and used the uncut edge against the miter gauge.  The assignment called for a fresh piece of lumber, but I didn't see a good reason to cut of another piece of stock.  Table height was adjusted to 1/2" and fence was set at 3/4" from outside tooth of saw.  Holding the stock in the miter gauge, and butted against the fence the first cut was made.  The stock was then moved over the thickness of the blade (in my case I shifted the stock to the left, but it depends on which side of the blade your fence is on), and another cut was made.  Lather, rinse, repeat until the edge of the stock is reached.

Blade height

Fence and stock in position, held firmly against miter gauge.

Start of second cut

Repeat until all waste wood is cleared out.

I'm beginning to feel a bit more comfortable with these sawing techniques, but I made sure to practice both methods of making rabbets several times.  I think I'll get the hang of this!  More assignments on technique coming soon!

Part 2 and Part 3 now available!

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