TOP SHOP TIPS FROM READERS 5 EASY STEPS TO GET YOUR # 1 TOOL IN SHAPE WWW.ShopNot6S.COm A Publication of August Home Publishing K THE ULTIMATE SHOP-BUILT PAN SAW A Quick & Easy Way to W Crosscut & Rip Plywood pg.i6 TABLE SAW TECHNIQUE The Secret to Adding Graceful Curves to Your Next Project EXCLUSIVE ROUTER TABLE JOINERY No-Fuss, Easy & Accurate PLUS! HANDY MUST-HAVE Contents Shoulder Plane page 32 Bending Plywood page 46 2 Features dream shop project Sliding Carriage Panel Saw_ The secret to this panel saw is the unique sliding carriage for your circular saw that allows you to accurately cut full-size sheet goods — whether you're crosscutting or rip- ping a sheet to size. hands-on technique Open Floating Tenons ONLINE EXTRAS weekend workshop Stacking Storage Totes You can create rock-solid mortise and tenon joints on your router table — with nothing more than a straight bit. It's difficult to combine quick and easy hard- ware storage with portability. These stacking hardware totes give you both. fine tools Dovetailed Shoulder Plane 16 26 28 32 The heirloom-quality of this shoulder plane is easily seen in the solid brass sides dovetailed to the steel sole. But it's the micro-adjustable depth of cut that will have you using it again and again to fine-tune the joinery on your projects. Departments Readers' Tips 4 router workshop 5-Step Router Tune-Up 8 Been neglecting your router lately? All it takes is a quick “once over " to keep your router on the job. materials & hardware New European Hinges 10 Learn more about a few European-style hinges that can come in handy for tricky situations. jigs & accessories Patternmaker's Vise 12 Is a patternmaker’s vise the ultimate workbench accessory? Learn all about it and then you decide. Shop Short Cuts 14 — Shop-tested tips and techniques to solve your woodworking problems. ShopNotes No. 88 Cutoffs Stacking Storage Totes page 28 hands-on technique Metal Jeweling 30 Adding a decorative touch to metal surfaces is easy with this simple technique. in the shop Metalworking Tips & Techniques 40 Working with metal isn’t all that difficult. These tips and techniques will get you started. setting up shop Workbench Location 44 What’s the perfect location for a workbench? Find out what to consider before you decide. mastering the table saw Bending Plywood 46 We'll show you a simple table saw technique for bending plywood into a smooth curve. great gear Hearing Protection 48 Protecting your hearing is a must. Here's what you need to know to do it right. Q&A 50 Sources 51 L et's face it, maneuvering and breaking down full sheets of plywood on the table saw can be a real pain. The sheets are heavy, awkward, and difficult to control. Production shops solve the problem by using a panel saw to cut sheets down to size. Commercial panel saws use a metal frame to hold a plywood sheet upright. Then a circular saw mounted to a carriage in the center of the frame is used to crosscut or rip the sheet. It's a slick set-up, but there are a couple of problems. First, panel saws are expensive. A new one can set you back several thousand dollars. Second, you need a lot of wall space to accom- modate one. (To rip a full sheet, you need a minimum of eight feet in front of the carriage and another eight feet behind it.) In this issue, our feature project solves both of these problems. For starters, instead of a fixed, center-mounted carriage, our shop-built panel saw features a carriage that moves side- to-side. This way, all you have to do to make a rip cut is slide the carriage over the sheet. And since the plywood doesn't have to be pushed through the saw, you don't need as much wall space. In fact, all you need is ten feet — about half as much as a traditional panel saw. Not only does this new design save space in your shop, but you can save money too. If you already have a circular saw, you can build the panel saw for about $350 in materials. A real bargain compared to buying one. This symbol lets you know there’s more infor- mation available online at www.ShopNotes.com ShopNotea ONLINE ^EXTRAS www.ShopNotes.com 3 Tips for Your Shop V 4 XV 2 DADOES - GUIDE SLED ON CHANNELS NOTE: SLED SLIDES ON DRYWALL CHANNELS PRESS CHANNEL INTO MITER SLOT Benchtop Table Saw Sled ▲ Drywall Channel. Aluminum channel can be cut to size and press-fit into the miter slot of your benchtop table saw. FENCE PROVIDES SOLID WORKPIECE SUPPORT The table of the portable saw I use in my shop is often not large enough to cut anything other than small pieces safely and accurately So I decided to add a crosscut sled. I cut a couple of dadoes in the underside of the sled to ride over rails that will be fit into the miter slots later. These dadoes corre- spond to the position of the miter slots on the saw, as shown below. The miter channels on my saw were too small to accept most man- ufactured runners and miter bars. So I used a piece of l /i drywall channel that I picked up at a local NOTE: LENGTH OF CHANNEL EXTENDS 6 " BEYOND EDGE OF TABLE SAW TO SUPPORT SLED IN STARTING POSITION (SEE DRAWING ABOVE) home improvement center to make a set of rails for the sled to slide on. The rails are easy to make. First, cut the drywall channel to a length that's a little longer than the miter slot. Then press-fit the channel into the miter slot. You'll find the channel sticks up about Vi" above the table top. This way, the dadoes can be guided by the channels as you push the sled across the table when making crosscuts. Once I finish using the sled, the channels can be removed from the slots and stored away with the sled until the next time they're needed. Gerald Layman Davison , Michigan FENCE / (10 X 36) DRYWALL CHANNEL #0 x V/z" Fh WOOD5CREW a NOTE: sled 15 MADE FROM 3 4" PLYWOOD. FENCE IS 1" HARDWOOD Fold-up Router Table My workshop shares space with the family car. So it's important that all of my power tools be portable and take up as little space as possible. After building the upgraded router table top from issue Submit Your Tips No. 85, 1 attached the table top to a pair of 2x4 's with screws. Then , after removing the top of an adjustable clamping table, I mounted the router table to the clamping table stand, as shown in the photo below. The table is firmly supported by the clamping table base. The nice thing about the table is it can be raised and lowered to match the task at hand. Best of all, I can remove the router and quickly fold the table up to store it against the wall whenever it's not in use. Kurt Soukup Spring , Texas If you have an original shop tip, we would like to hear from you and con- sider publishing your tip in one or more of our publications. Just write down your tip and mail it to: ShopNotes, Tips for Your Shop, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number (in case we have any questions). If you would like, you can FAX it to us at 515-282-6741 or simply send us an email message at: shopnotes@shopnotes.com. We will pay up to $200 if we publish your tip. The Winner! Congratulations to Clark Robbins of West Lake, Michigan. His tip on making a micro-adjust for the router fence was selected as winner of the Porter- Cable router just like the one shown at the right. The micro-adjust allows accurate adjustments to be made to the router fence. To find out how you could win a Porter- Cable router check out the information above. Your tip just might be a winner. EDITOR Terry J. Strohman SENIOR EDITORS Bryan Nelson, Vincent Ancona ASSOCIATE EDITORS Phil Huber, Ted Raife ASSISTANT EDITORS Ron Johnson, Mitch Holmes, Randall A. Maxey, Dennis Perkins EXECUTIVE ART DIRECTOR Todd Lambirth ART DIRECTOR Cary Christensen SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jamie Downing SENIOR ILLUSTRATOR Roger Reiland ILLUSTRATORS David Kallemyn, Peter J. Larson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ted Kralicek SENIOR PROJECT DESIGNERS Ken Munkel, Kent Welsh, Chris Fitch PROJECT DESIGNERS/BUILDERS Mike Donovan, John Doyle SHOP CRAFTSMEN Steve Curtis, Steve Johnson SR. PHOTOGRAPHERS Crayola England, Dennis Kennedy ASSOCIATE STYLE DIRECTOR Rebecca Cunningham ELECTRONIC IMAGE SPECIALIST Allan Ruhnke VIDEOGRAPHERS Craig Ruegsegger, Mark Hayes ShopNotes® ( ISSN 1062-9696) is published bimonthly (Jan., March, May, July, Sept, Nov.) by August Home Publishing, 2200 Grand Ave., Des Moines, LA 50312. ShopNotes® is a registered trademark of August Home Publishing ©Copyright 2006 by August Home Publishing. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: Single copy: $4.95. One year subscription (6 issues): $27.95. Canada/Intemational add $10 per year, U.S. funds. Canadian Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement Number 40038201. Send change of address information and blocks of undeliverable copies to P.O. Box 881, Station Main, Markham, ON L3P 8M6. Canada BN 84597 5473 RT Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Moines, I A and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send change of address to ShopNotes, P.O. Box 37103, Boone, IA 50037-2103. »vw>w.ShopRlotes.tom ONLINE SUBSCRIBER SERVICES • ACCESS your account • CHECK on a subscription payment • TELL US if you've missed an issue • CHANGE your mailing or e-mail address • RENEW your subscription • PAY your bill Click on " Subscriber Services " in the list on the left side of our home page. Menus and forms will take you through any of the account-maintenance services you need. HOW TO REACH US: FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES OR QUESTIONS, WRITE OR CALL: Customer Service 2200 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50312 800 - 333-5854 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT OR SEND AN E-MAIL TO: orders@shopnotes.com August Home JL Vcubusminq company Printed in U.S. A. www.ShopNotes.com 5 The router table in my shop gets lots of use. But it's always difficut to make fine adjustments to the fence. So I built the micro-adjuster you see in the photo above using a few parts I had around the shop. The adjuster is easy to build. Start by drilling and tapping a strip of Vi" aluminum to accept a piece of threaded rod. And then bend the aluminum strip into an "L" shape. the adjusting block and add washers and locknuts, like you see in the drawing and detail below. This allows the alu- minum strip attached to the fence to be moved forward and backward one thread at a time when you make fine fence adjustments. Fence Adjustment. To use the micro-adjuster you'll first need to lock down the opposite end of the Next, drill two holes in a hardwood adjusting block. One hor- izontal hole for the threaded rod and a vertical one for the hold-down. Then you can cut a dado at the bottom of the fence to hold the piece of L-shaped alu- minum in place. Assembly. Put the pieces together by slipping the threaded rod through Fh MACHINE SCREW THREADED ROD ADJUSTMENT BLOCK TURNING KNOB fence. Then set the micro-adjuster by tightening the knob on top of the adjusting block. Use the turning knob to adjust the fence to the desired position. Once the fence is located where you want it, lock down the other end of the fence. Then all that's left is to turn on your router and you're ready to go. Clark Robbins White Lake, Michigan ShopNotes No. 88 END VIEW (CROSS SECTION) NYLON BUSHING LOCKNUT & WASHER ROUTER TABLE FENCE 3 /d" LOCKNUT & FLAT WASHER VVx 1 M DADO UNDER FENCE 'A" x 1" - 6" ALUMINUM ANGLE V 2 h x - 1V 2 NYLON BUSHING TURNING KNOB r BLOCK PLANE Chamfer Plane SIPE PIECE (iVfe x T/& - V 4 Hdbd.) ENP VIEW CROSS SUPPORT fV 2 x 2V Z - V 4 Hdbd.) TRIANGULAR RUNNER C/a x % - 7Va) 3 /© M -PIA. RARE-EARTH MAGNET CUT V©" x y 4 ” PAPO FOR EXPOS EP SLAPE SIPE SLAPE RUNNER MAGNET e A block plane makes quick work of chamfering the edge of a workpiece. To ensure a constant width and angle of the chamfer, I built the base shown in the photo above. It slips over the plane to make Vi" chamfers and doesn't require any setup. The base is simply two triangular- shaped runners glued to a pair of side pieces. Then cross supports are glued into notches in the front and back to hold the sides together. Two rare-earth magnets glued into recesses in the runners hold the plane securely in place. A shallow dado is cut in the top of the runners at the mouth of the plane for the exposed iron. The base is easy to use. With your block plane in the base, position the V-shaped groove of the runners over the edge of the workpiece. Then plane the workpiece until both sides sit flush. It worked so well I made a second one for Vs" chamfers. Frank Penicka Mount Pearl, Nfld., Canada Quick Tips A P.A. Jones of Gig Harbor, WA, stores her veneered Mi edgebanding in empty cookie tins. Since the tins seal tightly when closed, they keep the edge banding organized, safe from damage, and protected from moisture until they’re ready to be used. A Whenever a wing nut needs adjustment Len Urban of Rancho Mirage, CA . uses a wrench made by routing a stopped groove in a piece of hardwood for leverage. A Michael Bethel of Louisville, KY, stacks 3 /q hex nuts he has around the shop to provide standoff space whenever he needs to mount pegboard to the wall. www.ShopNotes.com 7 Workshop A quick 5-step Router Tune-up On some days, it seems like I turn my router on first thing in the morning and it only goes off with the lights at the end of the day. While this might be a stretch. I'm guessing you can relate to the value of a well-tuned router. The emphasis here is on well- tuned, because when the router you depend on isn't working right, things can get frustrating real fast. That's why I make it a point to peri- odically give my router a quick "once over." This simple five-step tune-up only takes a few minutes and easily pays for itself in less wasted time and aggravation. The workhorse router in my shop is the Porter-Cable 690 shown in the photos, but the same basic steps apply to almost any router. 1 . Height Adjustment First, I turn my attention to the inside of the router base and the motor housing that slides into it. The problem is that after countless bit changes, height adjustments, and the cuts that follow, these two parts get roughed up and covered with grime. Once this happens, you can forget about making the quick, accurate height adjustments that you rely on. But solving this problem is pretty simple. First, take some fine sand- paper or an abrasive pad and use it to remove the accumulated grime, scratches, and burrs from the motor housing (photo above). Next, do the same to the inside of the base. A small wire brush will get into the grooves in the base that can get caked with dust. And after wiping down the motor and base, a light coat of spray lubricant completes the job. 2. Lock Mechanism A Out With the Old. The bolt is bent, the knob chewed up and the threads are wearing out. A In With the New. An inexpensive solution is to upgrade to an easy- to-grip, lever-type lock. The next step is to inspect the mechanism used to lock the motor in place after you adjust the bit height. For most routers, this means tightening a knob and bolt to clamp the base snugly around the motor. Ideally, firm finger pressure should be all that's needed to tighten or loosen the knob — no pliers. And when tightened, the motor shouldn't budge. Cleaning and lubrication with some light grease is the first step. This will often free up a sticky mecha- nism. But with heavy use, this is one part of a router that just plain wears out. So if on inspection, your lock is starting to look like the one in the photo at left, don't take a chance. You can replace or upgrade the lock and not have to worry about surprise height changes. — 8 ShopNotes No. 88 3. Motor Although a router motor is designed to stand up to hard use and dirty conditions, there are a couple of routine things you can do to keep it and all the other electrical parts in top shape. Dust is the number one enemy here. It's constantly being sucked through the motor and settling in every nook and cranny. So the goal is to prevent excessive wear by keeping the inside of the motor as clean as possible. The photo at right shows how easy this is. After removing the motor cover, a sharp blast of com- pressed air will dislodge most of the dust. And as you can see in the inset photo, the switch and other elec- trical connections need attention as well. Brushes. While cleaning the motor, I like to inspect the brushes. Badly worn or chipped brushes make the motor work harder. The near brush in the photo at left is pretty worn and ready for replacement. The phenolic base plate is where the router meets the wood. So naturally, it gets a lot of wear and tear. And a rough, dinged-up base plate can make routing harder and possibly leave "tracks" on the workpiece. The simple cure for a worn base plate is shown in the photos at right. First, I make sure the base plate screws are tightened securely. Then 1 use some fine sandpaper on a sanding block to remove any scratches or burrs. A quick buffing with a fine abrasive pad fol- lows. The final step is simply to minimize any friction, as shown in the far right photo. 5. Collet The final stop is the business end of the router — the collet that holds the bit. The goal here is to make cer- tain the collet gets a guaranteed, rock-solid grip on the bit while also allowing hassle-free bit changes. The photos below show my short checklist. Plenty of life left Worn out brush A Blow Out the Dust. It’s unavoidable — the inside of a router traps dust. But all it takes to clean out the motor and the important electrical connections is a blast of compressed air A Keep It Smooth. Lightly sanding the base plate with fine-grit sandpaper will keep it smooth and level. A Make It Slick. A light coat of surface lubricant will make the base plate slide effortlessly First, I work on the shank hole in the collet. It should be smooth and clean. Next, you want to make sure the collet seats properly by cleaning the debris out the arbor socket. Finally, I lubricate the threads so that the collet nut can be tightened and loosened easily. A. A A Clean Shank Hole. A brass wire brush is the perfect tool for gently cleaning the shank hole. www.ShopNotes.com A A Snug Fit. The accumulated dust and debris in the arbor socket should be wiped or blown out. A Lubrication. A coat of white grease on the arbor threads ensures hassle-free bit changes. materials & Hardware problem-solving Euro-style Clip-On Hinges. • An easy-to-use ' ' ' I spring-loaded clip connects the ' — , I mounting plate and the hinge. \ When you come up against a tricky door installation, chances are there’s a hinge that will do the job. European-style or concealed hinges were originally designed to solve a specific problem. Builders needed a hinge that would work on a cabinet without a face frame, be easy to mount and adjust, and finally, not be visible. A tall order. But what the designers came up with hit the nail right on the head. These two-part hinges were so handy that woodworkers wanted to adapt them to other applications — especially problem installations. And the designers answered the call. Now, the challenge is keeping up with all the new types being offered. Here are a few special hinges that may come in handy in your shop. You'll find sources on page 51. FACE FRAME HINGES hinge mounting plate had to be fastened directly to the side of the cabinet. To use them on a face frame (and many wood- workers did), you had to shim out the sides of the cabinet flush with the edge of the face frame. This extra work is no longer nec- essary. Today, as shown in the main photo above, you can find several types of Euro-style hinges that will easily handle all kinds of face frame applications. CLIP-ON HINGES When I first used Euro-style hinges, I found one minor inconvenience. The hinge and the mounting plate were held together with one of the screws that was responsible for mak- ing adjustments to the position of the door. So every time I removed and reinstalled the door, the posi- tion had to be readjusted. The clip-on feature, shown in the inset photo at left, changed all that. Here, the hinge and the mounting plate simply snap together and the door stays in adjustment. This handy option is available on most types and brands of Euro-style hinges. INSET DOOR HINGE Inset doors that sit flush with the outside of a face frame are a favorite of mine. Now there's a Euro-style hinge specifically made to handle The original Euro-style hinges were ► Inset Doors. You get the classic not meant for use on cabinets with look of an inset door with all the a face frame. To work correctly, the features of a Euro-style hinge. this door type. As you can see in the lower photo on page 10, this hinge has a unique mounting plate that is screwed directly to the back side of the face frame. This makes installing an inset door quick and easy — with no modifications to the cabinet. WRAPAROUND HINGE Nowadays, entertainment and media centers are really popular projects. They give the look of a beautiful piece of furniture while hiding all your electronic gear behind closed doors. The problem comes when you open the doors for access. With a standard hinge, they're left standing out from the cabinet like a pair of wings. The left photos above show the answer. This 270° degree wrap- around hinge can be easily installed on cabinets without a face frame. The neat trick is that it allows the door to fold out of the way, snug to the side of the case. MINI CUP HINGE To mount a Euro-style hinge, you have to bore a large "cup" hole in the back of the door along one edge. The standard diameter for this hole is 35 mm or about l 3 /s". In most cases, this isn't a problem. But in the narrow, rab- beted door stile, shown in the lower left photo, you can see this size hole won't work. In this situa- tion, a switch to a mini cup hinge is an easy fix. This type only requires a 26 mm cup hole (about 1") and is a much better fit. ZERO-PROTRUSION HINGE Adding pullout shelves or drawers to the inside of a cabinet can be a great convenience. But here's the catch. Even when opened wide, the doors can end up partially blocking the opening. Banged up doors and pullouts are usually the result. Using zero-protrusion hinges, like the one shown above, solves the problem. As the hinge swings the door open, it also moves it back out of the opening. At just past 90°, the door clears the opening and the pullout is free to slide. SILENT CLOSE HINGE Many, newer Euro-style hinges are self-closing. When the door reaches a certain angle, a strong spring in the hinge snaps it closed. This is a nice convenience but can be annoy- ing. A loud bang and the chance of pinched fingers are the downside. Well, how about a hinge that closes so softly you won't hear it or feel it. The Evolve™ Silent Close hinge, shown below, contains a small pneumatic cylinder that counteracts the spring in the hinge to close the door whisper quiet. A ◄ Silent Close Hinge. A small pneumatic cylinder concealed in the hinge quiets the "bang. " 3 Accessories the do-it-all Pattern- maker’s Vise Add versatility to your workbench with this top-of-the-line vise. ◄ Tilts Horizontal. This vise can tilt a full 90°, and its jaws can open as much as a foot wide. T Holds Tapers. The front jaw swivels up to 5° to grip a tapered workpiece. At the turn of the 20th century, Emmert Manufacturing produced a bench vise to help patternmakers make wood parts for castings used in manufacturing. Unlike typical vises, the Emmert vise could twist and turn in sev- eral directions and angles. This allowed patternmakers to adjust a workpiece to a comfortable posi- tion without having to loosen the vise, adjust the workpiece, and tighten it down again. Simply flip a lever here or a knob there, and position the vise (and the work- piece) right where it needs to be. While the company no longer exists, the Emmert is still a highly sought-after vise, commanding prices up to $800. Fortunately, other companies now make sim- ilar vises (see Sources on page 51.) Versatility. In the "nor- mal" position, this vise works just like any bench vise. Spinning the handle opens and closes the front jaw to hold a workpiece. Unfortunately, the jaws of a standard bench vise can't get a good grip on a tapered workpiece, such as a table leg. However, by adjusting the collar on the face of this vise, you can swivel the fronts w up to 5° to grip the workpiece (far left photo). For workpieces with steeper tapers, you can add an accessory to hold the workpiece (see box on next page). Tilting. But what really sets this vise apart from a typical wood- working vise is the tilt feature. You can see what I'm talking about in the photo on the left. ShopNotes No. 88 The vise can be tilted upward a full 90° so it's parallel to your benchtop. To do this, simply reach underneath the workbench to the back of the vise and loosen the cam lever that locks the tilting bar. And, if you need to, you can lock the vise, along with the workpiece, any- where along the way. Rotation. Besides tilting the vise, you can rotate the vise a full 360° at the same time. For example, you can rotate it 90° to let the jaw's long edges grip a ver- tical workpiece (top left photo) to handcut dovetails for a drawer. Or, you can tilt and rotate the vise to position a complex workpiece like a cabriole leg for easy access (main photo on opposite page). Little Jaws. The extra-wide jaws can open as much as a foot and are great for large work- pieces. For smaller workpieces, you can rotate the vise 180° to use a pair of smaller jaws. These T jaws have the advantage of holding workpieces above the benchtop (see top right photo). Heavy Metal. But all this versa- tility comes at a cost. First, these vises are made of cast iron and steel and can weigh 50-55 lbs. So, you'll need a heavy-duty work- bench to mount this vise. Second, the vise you see here sells for $200. Other vise makers add features and refinements that can push the price to as high as $650. So, shop around and get what's best for you. When all is said and done, though, a patternmaker's vise is the top of the line when it comes to woodworking vises. & ▲ Small Jaws. Spin the vise around to use a pair of 2" jaws that hold small workpieces above the benchtop. Options: Extra Holding If all the tilting and rotating aren't enough, there are a couple of accessories that make a patternmaker's vise even more versatile. Vise Dogs. The top photo at right shows the two pairs of spring-loaded dogs. Two dogs are located on the front jaw and the other two are in the rear. These dogs allow you to clamp odd-shaped workpieces. Or, you can just use the dogs on the front jaw with your bench dogs to help hold wider workpieces. To use the vise dogs, just push up on the round extensions that stick out from underneath the jaws. Springs hold the dogs in place, and all you have to do then is tighten the vise to secure the workpiece. Swivel Jaw. The bottom photo shows an auxiliary swivel jaw that mounts to the right side of the rear jaw. This auxiliary swivel jaw can tilt as much as 30° in either direction (top to bottom) to hold work- pieces that have steep tapers. The auxiliary jaw is designed to be attached and removed quickly and easily. It has a tongue that inserts into a square hole in the rear main jaw. A ridge along the back of the auxiliary jaw fits into a groove in the rear jaw. This gives the auxiliary jaw its ability to easily swivel up and down. www.ShopNotes.com Swivel Jaw. Attaching a thin leather pad to the auxiliary jaw prevents the workpiece from \ slipping. #\ Our Shop Saw Guide Cutout There were a few things about building the panel saw on page 16 that had me scratching my head. The biggest challenge was finding a way to make the cutout in the sliding saw carriage. You could make this cut with a jig saw. But I wanted a straight, clean edge. Plunge Cut The answer was to use the table saw. In a nutshell, this involved raising the blade up through the workpiece. But making a blind cut like this calls for careful setup. I started by drawing the cutout on the workpiece, extending the end lines to the edge of the panel (photo at right). Next, with the saw turned off, I raised the blade to its highest posi- tion and marked the location of the back edge of the blade on the rip fence, as you can see in the photo above and the drawing at right below. Then I positioned the rip fence to make the first cut. Shop Short Cuts Making the Cut. Before turning on the saw, I lowered the blade below the table. Then, I aligned the layout line of the workpiece with the mark on the rip fence. Finally, I clamped a hold-down to the rip fence to keep the work- piece flat on the table. To start the cut, turn on the saw and slowly raise the blade up to its highest position. Then you can make the cut. When you reach the end of the cut, turn off the saw. End Cuts. After cutting the other side, you can cut the ends. These aren't critical, so I used a jig saw. € Cutting a shallow Rabbet One of the great features of the totes on page 28 is how they stack on top of each other. To keep the stacked totes from binding, I made a relief cut along the bottom inside edge of the dividers. This detail is really just a wide, shallow rabbet. So you can cut it on the table saw with the parts upright. The trick is supporting such a tall workpiece. In the draw- ings below, you can see how I buried the blade in a tall auxiliary fence. To recess the blade, I set the rip fence in position and slowly raised the blade to the right height. A*-- BURY BLADE SO Vte" OF BLADE WIDTH IS EXPOSED TALL AUXILIARY FENCE ShopNotes No. 88 « Drilling Carriage Rail The key to cutting accurately with the panel saw is to make sure the conduit the saw carriage rides on is mounted flat and straight. To do this, you need to drill the holes straight through the conduit. At the same time, you also have to drill the holes in line with each other. Drill Guide. To take care of the first problem, I made a drilling guide (drawing at right). The guide slips over the conduit and has a cross hole that I drilled at the drill press to guide the bit. Now, it's just a matter of sliding the guide to the right location and drilling the holes INDEX BLOCK KEEPS RAIL FROM SPINNING SO GUIDE HOLES REMAIN ALIGNED with a hand drill. Index Block. To keep all the holes in the same line, I made a long index block like you see in the drawing above. It's basically a longer version of the drilling guide. guide. Then position the index block over the conduit and drive a screw through the hole in the con- duit to hold it firmly in place, as shown in the right detail. Now, move the guide over to the next Panel Saw: Creating a Pocket One other challenge I came across while building the panel saw was making the saw base. To hold the circular saw securely on the base, it sits in a shallow pocket made for both the rip and crosscut positions. The saw is held in place by a set of quick-release toggle clamps. Making the base blank is pretty straightforward. It's just a small piece of plywood. The trick is making the pockets for a hand-in- glove fit. But with a router and a short pattern bit, you'll find that the solution is no trick at all. Create a Template. To begin with, place your saw in the crosscut position on the base. Just be sure the blade is parallel to the edge. Then you can create a template by cutting strips of W hardboard to wrap around the saw base. Carpet tape will hold them in place, as shown in the top drawing at right. Rout the Outline. Now, with the pattern bit, rout the outline of the saw base (second drawing from the top). Next, peel off the strips and place the saw in the rip position. Then repeat the routing process. Remove the Waste. With the out- line of the pockets established, you can clean up the remaining waste. For this, you'll need to remove all the strips and reset the bit depth to match the outline grooves you just made. Then, starting at one end of the pocket, work the router back and forth across the waste until you have a clean, flat recess. A Few Tweaks. Before attaching the toggle clamps, there are a few other details you may need to take care of. First, you might need to square up the comers of the pockets with a chisel. Then, depending on the saw, you may need to rout additional relief pockets for the handle or motor to allow your saw to sit flat in the pocket. You can trace the outlines and rout the recesses freehand. NOTH: CREATE ROUTING TEMPLATE BY WRAPPING 5AW BASE WITH STRIPS OF HARDBOARD the drilling guide. The index block keeps the rail in the same position for perfect hole alignment. A ATTACH STRIPS FIRST: ATTACH TOGGLE CLAMPS TO BASE TO FULL DEPTH NOTE: BE SURE CLAMPS WONT INTERFERE WITH SAW www.ShopNotes.com 15 - " — ^ Its the hassle-free way to cut plywood. And it has features that will save you time and money. ^ 0*1 Mj Rip Cuts. When ripping sheet goods , the saw slides along the top rail for smooth, easy cuts. An easy way to break down sheets of plywood is on a panel saw. The trouble is, these saws can cost a thousand dollars or more. But besides cost, most panel saws take up a lot of wall space. That's because the saw carriage is fixed, so you need ample room to load and unload the panel. And for ripping, that means you'll need a full 8’ on both the "infeed" and "outfeed" side of the saw. But the panel saw you see here solves both of these problems. First of all, you'll save a lot of money by building the saw your- self. (Ours cost less than $350, without the circular saw.) And second, once the sheet of plywood is in place, it never moves. Instead, a sliding carriage guides the circular saw so you can make both rip and crosscuts accurately. ShopNotes No. 88 SAW POSITION FOR RIP CUTS ^ PLASTIC LAMINATE FEET . SAW POSITION FOR I CROSS- CUTS T-TRACK GUIDES SAW BASE FOR SMOOTH, STRAIGHT CROSSCUTS SUPPORT GRID MADE FROM “TWO- BY” STOCK REPLACEABLE DOWELS SUPPORT SHEET STOCK RAIL SUPPORT BLOCKS ADJUSTABLE I LEG LEVELERS SUPPORT WEIGHT OF SAW X SAW GUIDE ONLINE EXTRAS CABLE CLAMPS KEEP - POWER CORD OUT OF YOUR WAY DURING CUT TOP RAIL MADE FROM lO’-LONG EMT CONDUIT CABLE CONNECTS SPRINGS TO SAW BASE SECTION OF T-TRACK PROVIDES SOLID MOUNTING POINT FOR SPRINGS Exploded View Details OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 1S"D x 120 M W x 70"H TOGGLE CLAMPS MAKE IT EASY TO REPOSITION SAW OR REMOVE IT FOR OTHER TASKS FOR HARDWARE SOURCES, TURN TO PAGE 51 KNOBS LOCK SAW BASE FOR ACCURATE RIP CUTS ShopNotea To see a video of the panel saw in action, go to our website: ShopNotes.com SLIDING DOOR ROLLERS GUIDE CABLE SMOOTH SLIDING BEARINGS ALLOW FOR EFFORTLESS RIP CUTS CAM CLAMP QUICKLY LOCKS SAW CARRIAGE IN POSITION FOR CROSSCUTS STOP KEEPS SAW FROM SLIDING OFF TOP RAIL SIDE VIEW (CROSS SECTION) www. ShopN otes.com SPRINGS SUPPORT WEIGHT OF SAW FOR BETTER CONTROL building the Panel Saw Base Tackling a project the size of a panel saw may seem a little daunting at first. A great way to make it more manageable is to break it down into sections. That's what you see here. This way, you can use each sec- tion to build on the next. I started by building the fixed portions: an upper assembly that guides the saw carriage and a lower one that cradles the panel. CARRIAGE SUPPORT ASSEMBLY The first section to build is the upper portion of the panel saw that sup- ports the sliding saw carriage. The carriage will ride on a 10-length of EMT conduit, as you can see in Figure 1. This rail is supported by a long plywood panel and a handful of hardwood rail support blocks. PIPE SUPPORT SLOCK (1 x I 5 /© rgh. - 2V Z ) NOTE: PIPE CENTERED ON SUPPORT PANEL (TURN TO PAGE 15 TO DRILL CONDUIT) Although the construction isn't complicated, what's important is making sure the finished assembly is as flat and straight as possible. So I took a little extra time to find the flattest sheet of plywood to make the support panel. After sizing the panel, I needed a way to align the support blocks perfectly. To do this, there's a groove cut in the support panel. Support Blocks. As for the blocks, they're shaped to securely anchor the conduit but not get in the way of the saw carriage. You'll find all the details you need to make these parts in the box below. Attaching the Rail. After com- pleting the blocks, you're nearly ready for assembly. All that's left is to predrill the rail. The setup I used to drill the rail is shown on page 15. Rail Support Blocks The blocks that support the long piece of con- duit are pretty simple. The only thing is you want to make sure they're identical. Two at a Time. I made the blocks from an oversize blank, as you can see at right. The larger blank is easier to control. The first thing to do is drill the mounting holes. Then you can drill a couple of larger holes to create the "seats" for the conduit. To do this accu- rately, I set up a fence and stop block on my drill press (left drawing below). Notches. Before cut- ting the blocks to shape, I took the blank over to the table saw and cut notches along the bottom edge to create tabs to fit the groove in the support panel (right drawing below). Then I cut the blocks to shape on the band saw. 18 ShopNotes No. 88 SECTION VIEW GRID LEGS WALL CLEAT SUPPORT PANEL Then, I used T-nuts and machine screws to hold everything together. PANEL SUPPORT GRID The upper assembly you just com- pleted is attached to a large grid, as in Figure 2. Besides fully support- ing a sheet of plywood while it's cut, the grid also has a heavy-duty lower rail that the workpiece rests upon. The Grid. Despite its size, building the grid won't take much time. That's because it's made from 2x2s. There are two things to point out. First, the screws are set into deep countersinks so the saw blade won't hit them (Figure 2a). The other thing to mention is that the center and outer posts act as feet for the panel saw. Each one has a simple leveler consisting of a bolt and T-nut (Figure 2b). Once the grid is complete, you can screw it to the upper assembly. Lower Rail. Along the bottom, you can see a wide, lower rail. This is simply a 10-long 2x6. Along the rail, I drilled a series of holes to hold short sections of dowel. They support the bottom edge of the plywood, as in Figures 2 and 2b. The dowels aren't glued into the holes so you can replace them if they get chewed up. Stops. Before attaching the rail to the grid, I also installed some #B X 2" Fh WOODSCREW #6 x IVV Fh WOODSCREW HORIZONTAL GRIP RAIL (1V£ X 1V 2 - 96) SHORT GRID LEG (1V 2 x 1V 2 - 5&) #& x w Fh WOODSCREW #6 x V Rh WOODSCREW /SAW GUIDE STOP V/z x 1V 2 - V/z (ONE AT EACH END) WALL CLEAT | FIGURE (IVfe x 4Vz - IS) 3 /©" x 6" LAG SCREW © 1 LONG GRID LEG (1V 2 X 1V 2 - 63) IOV 2 #S x V/z" Fh WOODSCREW T-NUT 3 /©" HEX NUT 3 /©" WASHER NOTE: SCREW CLEATS TO WALL BEFORE ATTACHING GRID stops at each end. These are nothing more than short pieces of aluminum angle. One is used as a workpiece stop. The other two prevent the saw carriage from sliding off the ends of the rail. The lower rail can now be screwed to the grid. As you are doing this, make sure the rail is perfectly parallel to the support panel. This will ensure that you get straight, square crosscuts. Cleats. To mount the grid to the wall, I made a set of angled cleats and attached them to wall studs with lag screws. Once they're in place, you can hang the grid and screw it down (Figure 2a). 3/4" X 2 " DOWEL LOWER RAIL LOWER RAIL (1V 2 X 5 Vz - 120 CENTERED OVER GRID) BOTTOM OF SHORT GRID LEG SECTION VIEW NOTE: ATTACH LOWER RAIL AFTER SCREWING GRID TO SUPPORT PANEL ASSEMBLY NOTE: DOWEL RESTS ARE NOT GLUED FOR EASY REPLACEMENT ^ © DOWEL RE5T ( 3 4 X 2 ) WORKPIECE STOP IV 2 x 3 4 - 1V 2 (V©" THICK) 3 /©" x 4" CARRIAGE •OLT NOTE: GRID PARTS ARE MADE FROM 2x2 STOCK www.ShopNotes.com v 19 FIGURE NOTE: BACK VIEW SHOWN CARRIAGE FRONT ( (4V Z x 20 - 3 4 Ply.) #S x 114" Fh WOODSCREW CARRIAGE TOP (1 3 4 x 3 - x W FH WOODSCREW LOWER BEARING SUPPORT MOUNT #0 x 1 * 3 4"Fh WOODSCREW BEARING SUPPORT>^o LOWER ^ BEARING o n SUPPORT !4"-20 x 3 4" Rh MACHINE SCREW I ' Lm * / \ WASHER \ (BORED TO V 4 ") 1 4"-20 HEX NUT %" O.D. BEARING Smooth Sliding. The carriage rides along the rail on three sets of bearings. sliding Carriage At this point, the base of the panel saw is complete. The next step is to build the sliding carriage that rides on the rail. This carriage needs to have a firm grip on the rail so any cut you make is straight and true. But it also needs to slide smoothly for pre- cise rip cuts and for easy positioning to make crosscuts. In the drawing below, you can see all that goes into making this portion of the panel saw. It consists of an L-shaped wood assembly with a set of aluminum supports. Bearings on the supports allow the carriage to glide smoothly along the conduit rail (photo above). Carriage Top. I started building the carriage by making the top. It's really just a thick board with a pair of angled grooves cut in it. Each groove is sized to accept a piece of aluminum angle. The End View drawing below shows you just where to make the cuts. The exposed leg of each piece of aluminum angle has a pair of bear- ings bolted to it (Figure 3). To keep the saw carriage level, you'll need to make sure the holes are drilled accurately. Then to provide clear- ance for the bearings, I used 3 /i6 M washers that I drilled out to Vi". Screw it in Place. The aluminum angles should fit snug in the grooves. But to ensure they stay in place during use, I drove a couple of screws into each piece. Face. The bearings in the top ride on the top of the rail. But for the best accuracy and stability, the car- riage needs to grab onto the bottom of the rail as well. To do this, I screwed a plywood face to the front of the top. Then, I made a pair of aluminum angle sections to wrap around the rail, as shown in the End View below. LOWER BEARING SUPPORT MOUNT (1V 2 x XVz - 20) END VIEW (CROSS SECTION) END VIEW (BLANK) -3 ► in CUT GROOVE AT 45° ’4 — ' PRE-DRILL PILOT HOLES #3 x V/z" Fh WOODSCREW 2SZQ2 SECOND: MARK POSITION OF BRACKET THIRD: SLIDE ASSEMBLY UP Vsz" AND SCREW TO CARRIAGE FACE A Firm Grip. Although attaching this assembly of aluminum angle and bearings seems simple enough, there's one thing I should point out here. The bearings need to grab the rail with just the right FIRST: CLAMP BEARING ASSEMBLY TO CARRIAGE FACE ShopNotes No. 88 amount of pressure. If the grip is tight, the carriage will be too stiff to operate smoothly. A loose grip results in the carriage jiggling as it moves. But don't worry, there's a simple way to get just the right amount of squeeze on the rail. Here's how to do it. Start by put- ting together the lower aluminum angle and bearing assembly, but don't screw it to the face just yet. Then place the carriage assembly on the conduit rail. Now, clamp the lower bearing assembly so it just touches the rail, as in Figure 4. Mark and Drill. With a pencil, mark the location of the aluminum angle on the carriage face, and then remove the clamps. Now, mark and drill the mounting holes so the angle is about V 32 " above the line you marked. That should give just the right pressure for a solid grip. LOCKING ASSEMBLY There's only one other part that you'll need to make to complete the saw carriage. And that's the lock, as illustrated in Figure 5. This simple assembly allows you to make accurate crosscuts in a sheet of plywood by securely clamping the carriage to the rail. And you'll find that making it is pretty simple, too. ROD w/LOCK NUT & WASHER FIGURE Luck (1x5-5) CAM LEVER CAM WASHER LOCK DETAIL 5 ► 2 1 2 !4"-DIA THRU HOLE DIA 1 9 / 16 " DIA. 2V 2 NOTH: LOCK IS MADE FROM 1"-THICK HARDWOOD / TO CENTER LOCK AROUND PIPE. TEMPORARILY WRAP PIPE WITH TAPE. THEN CLAK AND INTO PLACE Making the Lock. In Figure 5b, you can see the lock starts as a square blank. For the lock to fit over the rail without binding, I made a hole in it that's a bit larger than the rail. This is just a matter of sanding the hole after it's drilled. The next thing is to prevent the lock from catching on the rail sup- port blocks as the carriage slides. You can do this by cutting away a portion of the back edge, as shown. The final step is a relief cut. This allows the lock to flex a bit to fix the carriage in place. And to get the lock to flex and clamp down on the rail, I used a cam clamp, a bolt, and some washers, as you can see in Figure 5. Using a fast-acting cam clamp really makes setting up the saw for crosscuts fast. When this step is complete, you can screw the lock assembly to the carriage, as shown in Figure 5a. Materials & Hardware PANEL SUPPORT A Support Panel (1) 10 X 96 - 3 / 4 Ply. B Pipe Support Blocks (7) 1 x l 5 / 8 rgh. - 1V 2 C Long Grid Legs (3) V / 2 x V / 2 - 63 D Short Grid Legs (4) V/ 2 xV/ 2 - 58 E Horizontal Grid Rails (5) 1>/ 2 x V / 2 - 96 F Lower Rail (1) V/i x 5>/ 2 - 120 G Dowel Rests (19) y 4 x 2 V 1 H Wall Cleats (2) V / 2 x 4 y 2 - 18 CARRIAGE 1 Carriage Top (1) 1 3 / 4 x 3 - 20 J Carriage Front (1) 4’/ 2 x 20 - 3 / 4 Ply. K Lock (1) 1x5-5 SAW GUIDE & PANEL L Saw Guide Panel (1) 20 x 68 - 3 / 4 Ply. M Left Foot (1) 1 x % - 3’/ 2 N Right Foot (1) 1 x V s - 7 O Saw Base (1) 16'/ 2 x 16 V 2 - H Ply. • (1) 1 Va x 10’ EMT Conduit (V/ 2 " OD) • (7) Va-20 x 3" Rh Machine Screws • (7) Va-20 Pronged T-Nuts • (16) #8 x 2" Fh Woodscrews • (51) #8 x F/ 2 " Fh Woodscrews • (3) 3 / 8 "-16 Pronged T-Nuts • (3) 3 / 8 "-16 Hex Nuts • (3) 3 / 8 "x 4" Carriage Bolts • (1) 1 Vi x V /2 - 36" Aluminum Angle (Vs thick) • (1) Va x Va" - 72" Aluminum Angle (Vs thick) • (1) 1 Vi' x 48" Aluminum Bar (Vs thick) • (10) Va"-20 x Va Rh Machine Screws • (15) Va Hex Nuts • (6) R4 Steel Bearings (Va ID, Vs OD) • (6) V\6 Washers, bored to Va • (11) #8 x 1 Va Fh Woodscrews • (2) #8 x V/2" Rh Woodscrews • (17) #8 x Va Fh Woodscrews • (1) Va" x 2" Lag Screw • (2) lW-Dia. Steel Patio Door Rollers • (1) V 4 " x V 4 " Hex Bolt • (1) V 4 " x 1 Va Hex Bolt • (1) Vs x V\6" Awning Pulley • (2) 9 Ae x I6V2 0 x .054" Extension Springs • (1) 7 1 x V\e" Braided Cable • (2) V\6 Compression Cable Clamps • (8) #8 x Va Rh Woodscrews • (12) #8 x V 2 Rh Woodscrews • (3) 48" T-Tracks • (4) V\s" x 1" Flange Bolts • (4) V\6 Washers • (4) V\e" Through Knobs • 0) V\e" Cam Lever w/ Washer • (1) Va"-20 x 6Va" Threaded Rod • (1) Va- 20 Nylon Lock Nut • (2) Va Washers • (2) Rubber-Insulated Wire Clamps • (3) Toggle Clamps w/Screws • (4) Vs x 6" Lag Screws • (4) 3 / 8 " Washers • (1) 4’ Self-Adhesive Measuring Tape • (1) 12’ Self-Adhesive Measuring Tape • (1) 12" x 12" Plastic Laminate www.ShopNotes.com 21 building the Saw Guide NOTE: TO ATTACH GUIDE TO CARRIAGE, SEE SOX ON OPPOSITE PAGE OVERVIEW All that's left to build is the business end of the panel saw — the saw guide and saw base. These are both shown in Figure 6 at left. As the name implies, the saw guide both positions the saw for rip cuts and provides a smooth. SAW V GUIDE \ SCREWED! TO CARRIAGE #3 x W Fh WOODSCREW PLASTIC \ LAMINATE FOR SMOOTH SLIDING RIGHT FOOT (1 x % - 7) TOGGLE CLAMPS HOLD SAW IN TWO DIFFERENT POSITIONS LAMINATE cy SAW GUIDE a> END VIEW ^ TO MAKE CUTOUT IN SAW GUIDE. TURN TO PAGE 14 NOTE: ROUT RECESS IN SAW BASE, TURN TO PAGE 15 LEFT FOOT I 1 (i x % - y/z) 5* straight path for making crosscuts. The saw base is really just a large plywood plate that rides between T-tracks on the saw guide. Saw Guide. The first of these to build is the saw guide. In Figure 6, you can see that it consists of a long plywood panel with a parallel set of T-tracks to guide the saw base (more on this later). Cutout. After sizing the guide, the next step is to provide clearance for the saw blade. So there's a large cutout in the guide. Now, you could make this cutout in a few dif- ferent ways. But I chose the table saw to do the job. The reason I did it this way is to get clean edges that are parallel to the outside edges of the guide. You can find the step-by-step process on page 14. (Later, I'll use the edge of the cutout to mount the saw guide to the sliding carriage.) T-Track. After making the cutout, the next step is to attach some T- track to the sides of the guide. GLUE PIECES OF LAMINATE TO SAW GUIDE ▲ Two-Position Base. The circular saw clips into the base with toggle clamps for ripping and crosscuts. These will act like railroad tracks to help the saw run perfectly straight during a cut. The tracks also add rigidity to the assembly. There's one other thing about attaching the T-tracks to point out. Since the guide is longer than the 48"-long T-track, you'll need to use two pieces for each side of the guide. And to keep the saw base from snag- ging on the joints, it's a good idea to stagger the joints — one at the top and the other near the bottom. You can see how I screwed the tracks to the guide in Figure 7. The key is to position the tracks parallel so the saw base can slide smoothly. To do this, I used a plywood spacer. (Later, you'll make the saw base out of this spacer.) After attaching one track flush to the edge of the guide, I set the spacer down next to it, and then screwed the other track in place. Feet. Before attaching the guide to the saw, I made a pair of feet for the bottom of the guide. These feet support the guide so it's parallel with the piece being cut. But plain wood feet wouldn't slide smoothly on the lower rail. So to keep the sliding assembly run- ning as smooth as possible, I glued 22 ShopNotes No. 88 a piece of plastic laminate to the bottom of each foot (Figure 6b). Mounting the Guide. At this point, you're ready to attach the guide to the carriage. To ensure accuracy, you want to make sure the guide is mounted square to the lower rail. You can see how to do this in the box below. SAW BASE The other part of the saw guide sys- tem to make is the saw base. It fits between the T-tracks mounted on the guide, as in Figure 7. This extra-large baseplate has shallow pockets in it to hold the cir- cular saw in one of two positions. One great feature of the base is that the saw is attached with toggle clamps. This lets you quickly repo- sition the saw to switch from rip- ping to crosscutting (or vice versa). Making the Base. To make the base, start with the spacer you made earlier. Then cut it to final size, as shown in Figure 7. To provide enough depth of cut for the saw, I routed shallow pockets in the base. These have the added benefit of holding the saw in position for cutting. Turn to page 15 to see how to do this. FIRST: screw T-TRACK FLUSH TO EDGE OF SAW GUIDE END VIEW NOTE: SAW GUIDE. SAW BASE, AND SPACER ARE MADE FROM 3 4" PLYWOOD SAW GUIDE (20 x 63) % — T SAW T / ^ SAW x a / / Y -Y^\ ' /cninp \ \ \ b — ► *4 ^ 1 ^ PLASTIC Rabbets. After routing the pockets, I cut a rabbet on each side of the saw base. The rabbets are sized to hold a piece of aluminum bar stock. The aluminum is Like the feet on the saw guide, these are attached to the underside of the base so it slides smoothly along the guide (End View above). A Few Improvements. At this LAMINATE screwed to the base and drilled to accommodate the flange bolts, washers, and knobs used to attach the base to the T-tracks. The last things to add to the base are a few pieces of plastic laminate. point, the panel saw is pretty much complete. And you could put it to use as is. But you'll find that you'll get better results and have greater control if you add the extras shown on the next two pages. Square-up Saw Guide to Plywood To make sure the panel saw cuts square, you need to take extra care when attaching the guide to the car- riage. The two drawings at right show the steps I took to mount it. Pivot Point. With a single screw, attach the guide in the center to act as a pivot point (Figure 1). A couple of playing cards act as shims to give you some room for adjustment. Alignment. Next, place a sheet of plywood with a square edge on the lower rail. Using a square, pivot the guide so the inner edge of the cutout is flush all along the edge of the plywood panel. Once the guide is square, you can drive a few more screws into the carriage to lock the guide in place (Figure 2). www.ShopNotes.com 23 completing the Panel Saw Getting the panel saw ready for action is just a matter of adding a few details. These will make the saw easier to control and more accurate. Supporting the Saw. With the saw in place on the base, it can be a bit heavy during use. To lighten the load so it's easier to use, I made a ''suspension system," as you can see in the photos at right. It's basically a spring and pulley setup that acts like an old-fash- uao/e Hook. The cable is attached to the saw base with a hook made from a piece of aluminum angle. ioned window weight to balance the weight of the saw. This way, the saw will be easier to manage as you make a crosscut. To hold the springs in place, I used a left over piece of T-track. You can make "hooks" for the springs in the T-track with a hack saw and file, as you can see in the lower photo at right and Figure 9a. To connect the ► Counterbalance. A simple system of pulleys and springs carries the weight of the saw making cuts almost effortless. springs to the saw base, I used a system of pulleys, brackets, and a strong, braided cable. Pulleys. But before cutting the cable to length, it's a good idea to CENTER DOVETAIL HOOK TO TOP OF SAW BASE CABLE CLAMP Vte" BRAIDED 1 CABLE AWNING \ PULLEY #B x 5 /4" Fh WOODSCREW #3 xlVfe" Rh - WOODSCREW V 4 " x V HEX BOLT & NUT IV4" / PATIO DOOR ROLLER FIGURE L-BRACKET MADE FROM T’-LONG PIECE OF 1Vfe"-WIDE ALUMINUM STRIP (SEE FIGURE 3a) NOTE: size cable SO SPRINGS ARE STRETCHED BY 12" WHEN SAW IS AT TOP OF GUIDE position the hardware so you can get the saw balanced just right. The first thing I did was locate the anchor point for the cable on the saw guide. Directly above this V 4 " x 2" LAG SCREWS NOTE: ATTACH ROLLERS AND PATIO DOOR BRACKETS BEFORE CUTTING CABLE TO LENGTH ROLLER Va" x IV4" HEX BOLT w/NUTS 9 /i6" x I6V2" EXTENSION -SPRING HOOK MADE FROM iy 2 " x IV 2 ” - W LONG ALUMINUM ANGLE TOP VIEW point, I mounted a pulley that redi- rects the cable after it comes up from the springs. This pulley is a patio door roller that is attached to the saw guide with a lag screw. Another patio door roller is mounted to an aluminum L-bracket ShopNotes No. 88 that's screwed to the top of the car- riage assembly, as in Figure 8a. The anchor point for the other end of the cable is an aluminum bracket located on the saw base. To make sure the cable won't come off the bracket, I shaped the hook to look like a dovetail, as you can see illustrated in Figure 8b. With all the connection points set, the last thing to do is to connect the springs to a pulley. For this, I used a bolt and a few nuts (Figure 8). Size the Cable. Now, you're ready to connect all the parts with a length of cable. The cable needs to be sized so that the springs balance the weight of the saw. Here's how I did this. First, I attached the circular saw to the base and positioned the base about an inch below the top bracket. Then I made a loop in one end of the cable and connected it to the anchor point on the guide. After threading the cable through the pulley on the springs and around the upper rollers, pull the cable to extend the springs about 12". Now, mark the cable where it meets the hook on the saw base. Finally, you can release the tension, cut the cord to length, and then finish it with a loop. Cord Guide. The spring system takes care of the weight of the saw. But I wanted to keep the power cord out of the way as well. This way, it won't get snagged in the middle of a cut. To do this, I used a set of rubber- lined clamps attached to a bracket on the carriage, like you see in Figure 10. This allows the power cord to drape behind the grid, safely out of the way. #£ x ^4" Rh WOODSCREW V4" HEX NUT W x V/z" - 5 Vfe ALUMINUM ANGLE TAPE MEASURE INDICATOR (1 W x W - w ALUMINUM ANGLE) 12' SELF-ADHESIVE MEASURING TAPE CUTAWAY SHOWN RUBBER INSULATED WIRE CLAMP V4*'-20 x V Rh MACHINE SCREW Measuring Tapes. Finally, in the box below, you can see how I added a pair of measuring tapes to set up for accurate cuts. FIRST: LOWER SAW TO BOTTOM OF GUIDE AND BUTT SAW TEETH ON TOP OF A DOWEL BUTT BLADE TO DOWEL Installing the Measuring Tapes Making accurate cuts on the panel saw depends on locating the meas- uring tapes precisely. As you can see in the drawings below, there's a sim- ple way to do this. SECOND: LOCK DOWN SAW BASE AND REFER TO PHOTO A TO LOCATE TAPE MEASURE FIRST: POSITION SAW BLADE AGAINST STOP CUT- AWAY TOP VIEW BUTT BLADE AGAINST STOP NOTE: SAW MOTOR AND BASE REMOVED FOR CLARITY Crosscuts. I placed the tape for making crosscuts on the top rail support (photo at right). To indi- cate the saw's position, I screwed the aluminum indicator to the car- riage assembly. Then, to find the "zero" position, you'll need to slide the saw down and align the edge of the blade against the aluminum stop on the lower rail. You can see this in the Top View of Figure 1. This is the starting point, and you can now press the tape in place. Rip Cuts. The process is almost identical for rip cuts. After putting the saw in the rip position, rest the edge of the blade on the top of a dowel (Figure 2). Here, I placed the tape on the saw guide and used the top of the saw base as the reference line, as in the far right photo. “Zero” mark should start at top of saw base www.ShopNotes.com ^ SECOND: LOCK DOWN SAW BASE, THEN REFER TO PHOTO B FOR TAPE MEASURE PLACEMENT 25 ANDs-ON Technique open floating Tenon Joinery Mortise and tenon made easy. All it takes is one router table setup. When I'm building large frame and panel assemblies or doors, I turn to traditional mortise and tenon joinery for long-lasting strength. But for smaller work, I like to use a modified mortise and tenon joint. Most of the work is done at the router table. And, best of all, this joint provides a lot of strength and is quick to make. In a traditional mortise and tenon joint, you need one setup to make the mortises and a different one for the tenons — which can be time-consuming. To streamline the process, I rout an identical mortise in each mating piece. The parts are then joined with a "floating" tenon. This means you only have one setup for making the mortises. ROUTING MORTISES With an idea of how the joint works, you're ready to get set up and start routing. All you'll need is a regular straight bit. And for 3 / 4 M -thick stock, a VV’-dia. bit is just the right size. Setting Up. Figure 1 gives you a good overview of the router table i ROUND OVER ONE EDGE AND END OF TENON FOR A SNUG FIT setup I use. But there are a few important details to point out. First, the bit needs to be centered on the workpiece. This way, the mating pieces will be flush. The box below shows you how. Next, you can set the bit height. For the largest (and strongest joint), I set the bit to its full cutting length. Spacers. However, making a full-depth cut like this puts a lot of stress on the bit and router motor. So I limit each cut to deep and make multiple passes. The problem here is having to reach under the table to adjust the height of the router. This is time- consuming, and can sometimes lead to a "stepped" mortise where the sides aren't smooth and even. So to get the best results, I rely on a set of V 4 " hardboard spacers to control the depth of cut. You increase the depth of cut simply by removing a spacer (Figure la). Stop Block. The last set-up step is to clamp a stop block to the router table fence. This way, you'll get identical mortises in every part. To get the strongest joint, the stop block should be set to rout a mor- tise that matches the bit height. Start Routing. Now, you can turn on the router and start making mortises. One of the nice things about this joint is that the parts are all routed the same way. So you can do everything assembly-line style. FLOATING TENONS With all the mortises routed, you can move on to making the floating tenons. You can even "show-off" the tenon by using a contrasting wood (photo on the opposite page). Sizing Tenon Stock. To make it easier to work on the tenons, I do most of the shaping on an oversize blank. To make assembly easier, the tenon blank is sized for a slip fit in the mortises. I also cut it extra wide so that I can trim the tenons flush after the frame is glued up. Making the tenons involves a little "two-step" between the router table and table saw. After rounding over one long edge, you'll then round over one end of the tenon blank, as in Figure 2. This way, the tenon will seat tightly in the rounded mortise. The second step is to cut the tenon to length at the table saw. To size tenons identically, I clamped a stop block to the rip fence and cut the tenon to length (Figure 3 ). Panel Groove. At this point the the joinery is complete. If neces- sary, you can cut a groove in all the parts to hold a panel. Assembly. Finally, you're ready to assembly the frame. You can see how I clamp it up in the photo on the opposite page. A pipe clamp pulls the joint together. A second clamp over the joint keeps it aligned. When the clamps come off, you can trim the tenons flush with a chisel and sandpaper. A ShopNotes £ 0 ONLINE EXTRAS View a video on this technique by going to our website at: ShopNotes.com Router Bit Setup: Centering Your goal in making a frame and panel assembly is to have the mating parts fit flush. In order to do that, the router bit needs to be accurately centered on the work- piece. Here's an easy, no-measure way to do this. Start by "eyeballing" the bit as close to the center of a short test piece as possible and a hair toward the out- side edge (Figure 1 ). Now, make a pass, flip the work- piece end for end and make a second pass (Figure 2 ). This creates a groove that's slightly wider than the bit. To center the bit, gently nudge the fence closer to the bit and make a set of passes on a new test piece. You'll know the router bit is dead center when it doesn't remove any additional material on the second pass. NOTE: SHOULD pc A "HAIR" TO OUTSIDE TO PREVENT CKROUTING THIRD: ADJUST FENCE TOWARD SIT ANu ROUT TWO PASSES WITH NEW TEST SECOND: ROUT ONE PASS, WORKPIECE AND ANOTHER PASS www.ShopNotes.com 27 I "v* r Storing hardware in the shop is always a challenge. And finding an easy way to get that hardware right where you need it — along with the hand tools to do the job — is another. Stacking Totes. The solution to both problems is the totes you see above. You can customize them for hardware or tools. And storing a lot of hardware in a small area of your shop is a snap since they stack on top of one another. To do this, the center of each tote is designed with an open pocket. This allows the handle of one tote to slip up inside the pocket, as in the inset photo at right. Designing the Tote. As you can see in the drawing on the opposite 28 page, each tote consists of only a few basic parts. And each one is held together with simple joinery. Still, there are a couple things to keep in mind as you work. For starters, be sure to have the storage bins you plan to use in hand before you begin. I sized the tote to accept four of the small, Akro-Mils bins on each side (Sources, page 51). Other storage bins may vary in size, so a little adjustment may be neces- sary to get the bins to fit. Another thing to keep in mind is that you'll probably want to make a number of these totes. So it's a good idea to make all similar parts at the same time to ensure each tote is sized identically. A Mating Parts. Stacking the totes is just a matter of slipping one tote over the handle of the one below. Ends & Dividers. I started on the tote by cutting the ends to size from V 2 " plywood, as illustrated in the drawing on the opposite page. Once that's complete, the next step is to connect the ends with a pair of center dividers and bottoms. After sizing these parts, you can start to work on the joinery that holds everything together. In the Top View at right, you can see where the dividers slip into a pair of ShopNotes No. 88 spaced dadoes cut in the ends. This creates an opening for the handle and, at the same time, forms the pocket for the handle below that allows you to stack the totes. As you locate the dadoes, it's important to match the spacing to the thickness of the mate- rial used for the handle. (I used plywood to provide a solid grip.) With the dadoes com- plete, you can turn your attention to the grooves and tongues that need to be cut in the ends, dividers, and bot- toms. Everything you need for this is shown in the drawing at right. You're almost ready to assemble the tote, but there's a couple more things to do. First, cutting a small miter on the top outside edges of the ends eases the sharp comers. Second, you'll want to widen the pocket in the bottom of the tote to provide a little "wiggle" room for the handle. This way, the totes won't stick together. To do this, I cut a shallow rabbet on the inside face of each divider. Shop Short Cuts on page 14 shows how to do this. Completing the Assembly. After gluing up the tote, all the hard stuff is out of the way. The next step is to add a pair of stops and the handle shown in the drawing. The Vi” hardboard stops pre- vent the plastic bins from sliding out as you carry the tote around. After cutting the stops to size. Simple Toolbox NOTE: SIPES ARE V 2 " PLYWOOD HANDLE (5V 2 x 17) 3/4" RAD. GLUE LINE END STOP (% X 17) H 1 b*— BOTTOM (5% x 17V 2 ) SHORT CUTS ON PAGE 14) END VIEW (CROSS SECTION) STOP SMALL PLASTIC STORAGE SINS (SEE SOURCES PAGE 51) NOTE: TOTE HANDLE IS 3 /4" PLYWOOD. STOP IS Va" HARD- SOARD. ALL OTHER PARTS ARE V 2 " PLYWOOD they're glued to the front edges of the tote bottoms (drawing above). The last part to complete is the handle. After cutting it to fit the opening in the tote, you'll need to do a little shaping work. Drilling a SIDE #5 x V/a" Fh WOODSCREW couple holes and removing the waste in between forms the handle opening. And a little sanding and a small roundover make for a com- fortable grip. The last thing to do before gluing the handle in place is to miter the top edges. Besides easing the sharp comers, it makes it easier to guide the tote in place as you stack them together. Toting Tools. Although you could build just enough totes for storing and hauling all your hard- ware around, you might want to modify one of them for carrying the tools you'll need for the job as well. And as you can see in the box at left, the changes aren't all that difficult. At this point, all that's left to do is gather up all your hardware, organize each tote just the way you'd like, and then stack them neatly away until you need them. A c S www.ShopNotes.com 29 Old and New. The vintage plane on the left was manufactured with a jeweled finish. We duplicated S the finish on the plane below. --.v -5-r - ▼ Experiment. You can change the look of the jeweling by using different diameters of rods or varying the overlap of the swirls. Not long ago, I came across an interesting old hand plane. It was an infill plane made by Norris , a well-known English plane manu- facturer. But the thing that caught my eye was the sides of this plane. They were engraved with what appeared to be a "fishscale" pat- tern, as in the photo above. The technique used to create this pattern is known as jeweling, engine turning, or spot finishing. It's a process that has been around for decades, and was often used on guns, automobile dash panels, and even on the nose cone of the famed aircraft. The Spirit of St. Louis. Although it looks complicated, the technique is actually fairly straightforward. The pattern is made by "grinding" a series of overlapping swirls on the surface of the metal. And you can do this on a standard drill press. Materials. There are a couple of different ways to create the swirls. One is to mix emery powder or silicon carbide powder with oil to create an abrasive "slurry" that is lightly spread over the surface of the metal. Then a dowel with a piece of leather glued to the end is used in the drill press to grind the pattern into the metal. Another method is to use a rod of rubberized abrasive (commonly known as Cratex). This rubberized abrasive is formed into different diameters of rods. The advantage of this method is that the abrasive is already in the rod, so you don't have to deal with mixing up an abrasive slurry. I used a medium- grit, 3 /8 -dia. rod to complete the jeweling on the plane shown in the photo above. (For sources of Cratex rods, see page 51.) Metal Prep. Before you can start grinding the swirls, you need to remove any scratches from the surface of the metal. If you don't. ▼ Materials. Aside from a drill press, all you need for jeweling is a cratex rod. Or you can use some oil and abrasive powder on a wood dowel with a piece of leather glued to the end. Cratex Rod 150-Grit Silicon Carbide Powder Wood Dowel Leather ShopNotes No. 88 ■ Smooth Start. For the best results, first sand and then buff the metal smooth before jeweling. the drill press running at a medium speed (around 1000 RPM), lower the chuck until the rod contacts the metal and creates a round swirl. You don't have to press down on the metal very hard or for very long. In fact, a light touch makes a better swirl than heavy pressure. Create a Pattern. Now it's just a matter of making rows of overlap- ping swirls. The trick here is to keep the pattern consistent. To do this, I used a fence to keep the rows of swirls straight and even (upper right photo). And I laid out some index marks along the edge of the fence to help keep the spacing con- sistent (lower right photo). I overlapped each swirl by about one third of the diameter. And I staggered each row. But you can experiment with different spacing as well as different rod diameters. Dress the End. Every so often (after 10 or 20 swirls), it's a good idea to dress the end of the rod on a piece of sandpaper to expose Jeweling Kit While searching for information on jeweling, I came across a jew- eling kit designed specifically for gunsmiths. Instead of using a dowel or abrasive rod to create the swirl marks, this kit uses small wire brushes along with an abrasive compound (photo). The main advantage of this kit is that it allows you to jewel objects with hollow or curved surfaces. The wire bristles of the brush can conform to the surface of the object even if it's not flat. The brush is inserted into a spring-loaded holder that mounts in the drill press chuck. Rubber O-rings or heat-shrink tubing can be slipped over the end of the brush to prevent the bristles from flaring out, creating a smaller diameter swirl. For more informa- tion on this kit, see sources on page 51. www.ShopNotes.com these will show through the swirls and ruin the effect of the pattern. So I start by sanding and then buffing the metal until it's smooth (photo above). This will give you better-looking results. Making the Swirls. Once the metal has been buffed out, you can start creating the pattern using the drill press. To do this, simply chuck up a short (2 or 3"-long) piece of the rod in your drill press. Then with ▼ Dress. To expose fresh abrasive, dress the end of the rod on a piece of sandpaper every so often. Small Parts: fresh abrasive particles (photo at left). This helps to keep all the swirls looking identical. It's also important not to go back over an area that you've already covered. But if you should mess up, you can sand the metal smooth and start over again. Once you get the hang of it, the process doesn't take long and the results are pretty impressive. A ▼ Jeweling Kit. This kit uses wire brushes and an abrasive compound to create the swirls. V ■ Make an heirloom tool and learn the secret to creating double dovetails in metal — it’s easier than you think. I've always been fascinated by old, metal hand planes. Especially ones that were made using dovetails to join the sides of the plane with the sole, like the shoulder plane in the photo above. If you look carefully, you'll see that they're really "double" dovetails. Both the sides and the sole have flared "tails." Now this seems like it would be impossible to put together. But these dovetails are cut almost the same way as regular dove- tails. The tails are cut into the brass sides and the pins are cut into the steel sole. But there's a little trick to make the pins look like tails to create the double dove- tails. I'll explain more about this later. When building your own plane, you'll need to decide how to go about locking the iron (or blade) in place. I could have used a simple wedge to do this. But I wanted to be able to easily and accurately fine-tune the depth of cut. The solution is really pretty simple. I used just a few commonly available hardware items. This allows you to adjust this plane to make paper-thin shavings for tight-fitting joints. 32 ShopNotes No. 88 Materials & Hardware Exploded View Details Infill and Wedge (cut from same piece) (1) Vf- 28 x 6" Threaded Brass Rod (5) l Ae'x 1" Brass Rod (2) Vs x 2" - 6" Brass Sheet Stock (1) V\6 x 1" - 8" Low-Carbon Steel Stock (1) 1" Brass Lamp Shade Riser (1) } V\e Shoulder Plane Iron OVERALL DIMENSIONS: tye-W x 2VH x 6"L (plane body only) WEDGE SECURES BLADE TO BED FOR CHATTER-FREE CUTS SLOT IN PLANE IRON ENGAGES COLLAR ON ADJUSTER KNOB WOOD INFILL THICKNESS DETERMINES WIDTH OF FINISHED PLANE ADJUSTER KNOB IS “TURNED" ON THE DRILL PRESS FROM BRASS LAMP SHADE / RISER THREADED BRASS ROD ALLOWS FOR FINE DEPTH-OF-CUT y ADJUSTMENT EASED EDGES MAKE FOR A COMFORTABLE GRIP STEEL NUT IS TAPPED TO ACCEPT THREADED ROD. 20° BED ANGLE IS DESIGNED FOR CUTTING END GRAIN LARGE OPENING ALLOWS SHAVINGS TO ESCAPE WITHOUT CLOGGING STEEL SOLE IS LAPPED FLAT AND AND SQUARE TO SIDES FOR ACCURATE CUTS TIGHT MOUTH HELPS PREVENT TEAROUT BRASS ROD IS USED TO RIVET SIDES TOGETHER BRASS SIDES ARE DOVETAILED TO SOLE ACTUAL SIZE (CROSS SECTION) FRONT INFILL REAR INFILL www.ShopNotes.com 33 building the Plane Body The shoulder plane is made from a pair of brass sides and two steel sole pieces that wrap around the wood infill pieces and wedge. You can see what I'm talking about in Figure 1. The box below shows the step- by-step process to layout and cut the dovetails. But there a few other things I want to mention. Making the Sides. The first thing to do is make the brass sides since all the other pieces are made to fit them. You can turn to page 40 for an overview of the tools and techniques for working with metal. Since the sides are identical, you can file and drill both at the same time, as shown in the box below. Using carpet tape to fasten them together, make sure to align one long edge and one short edge of each blank flush with the other. Now you can begin to make accu- rate layout lines using layout dye that'll leave about VW' of brass to and a sharp scribe. peen over later when you lock the Laying it Out. The first impor- sides to the two sole pieces, tant layout line you'll need is the The next step establishes a ref- one to mark the bottom of the erence line for the bed angle dovetails. I made this line Vi" from (Figure 1). The purpose of the bed the bottom edge as you can see in is to provide support for the plane Figure 1. Since the sole is 3 /i6 M thick, iron when it's wedged in place. Step-bv Step: Filing Dovetails Filing the double dovetails isn't as hard as you might think. It'll take some time and patience to get every- thing to fit right, though. They start out like ordinary dovetails. But later on you'll turn them into double dovetails. Here is what you need to know to get started and get great- looking double dovetail joints. Clean Layout Lines. Just like you do in woodworking, you'll be "working to a line." This means you'll need sharp layout lines for the best results. Layout dye and a sharp scribe make it easy to mark your lines in one pass (Step 1). This will guarantee a thin, precise line you can work to while filing. Use Guide Blocks. When you're filing, the file can skate across the metal, especially as you start the cut. To help guide my file, I clamp some scrap wood blocks along my layout lines (Step 2). And if you do happen to accidentally remove a layout line, just daub a little more layout fluid on and scribe it again. Take Your Time. As you file closer to your layout line, take a little more care. And you might want to switch to a finer file. The more time you take at this point to get nice, straight lines and sharp comers, the better the dovetail joints will look in the end. Pieces to the Puzzle. You’ll work on the two brass sides at the same time, making your layout lines on one side. The two steel sole pieces form the mouth. / Use a protractor and scribe to lay out the tails on the brass sides. I used an angle of 15° for looks and strength. 2 A square file quickly removes most of the waste. Then finish up the dovetails with triangular and needle files (inset). 34 ShopNotes No. 88 You'll use the layout line when you position the sole piece on the brass sides. The bed angle on the sole should line up with this layout line. Tight, Square Mouth. There's one thing to point out when it comes time to cut and assemble the two blanks for the sole. To take a nice, clean shaving from end grain, the mouth opening needs to be pretty narrow. I shoot for about l /\e (or a bit less) for the mouth (Fig. 2). If it's too narrow, you can always open it up as I'll show you later. Infill Blank. Before making the sole, I chose a nice piece of hard- wood for the infill. (I used padauk.) Step 4 below shows you how to use your plane iron to determine the final thickness of the infill. Filing for Tight Joints. With the layout lines in place and the infill blank in hand, you can follow the steps below to complete the sides and make the two sole pieces. I found it helpful to stop filing occa- sionally and test-fit the pieces until I got a nice, tight fit between them. ! FIGURE SIPE VIEW (BRASS SIPE) % T 4 I’Vie Z*ne PIA. SIPE VIEW 15° (STEEL SOLES) ei:..: \ \^^.i \ / ^ i / \ FRONT SOLE BACK SOLE 23/16 H TOP VIEW WIDTH OF INFILL (SEE STEP 5) IjT Me IT Li Use a wood guide, cut to match the U bed angle, to file the 20° bevel on one end of the long sole blank. 3 1 used a 3 U "-dia. hole saw and 7 /i6 H -dia. bit to rough out the mouth opening. Then drill 3 /w"-dia. holes for the rivets. 4 Using the plane iron as a gauge, plane the infill stock down until the plane sides and infill match the width of the iron. 5 After centering the infill blank on the sole piece, you can scribe the baselines for the dovetails. 7 With a spacer block, hold the two sole blanks between the sides. Then scribe the pin profile on the sole blanks. Q Once you rough out the waste to form O the pins (like you did on the tails), finish up with fine needle files for a tight fit. www.ShopNotes.com 35 ▲ Double Dovetails. The simple trick to getting great- looking double dovetails is some careful filing. assembling the Body & Infill At this point, the two sides and sole pieces should fit together nicely. But there's one more small step. To cre- ate the double dovetail look, you need to file a "splay" in each bottom comer of the pins on the sole pieces. This leaves a gap or pocket between the pins and the tails on the sides (detail 'a'). Then, when you peen the brass sides to the sole, the brass fills in these little pockets, creating a locked joint. The box below shows you how to do this, along with the other steps you will need to do to complete the body. Adjuster. Now that you have the "shell" of the plane done, you can move on to the infill and adjuster mechanism. The adjuster is made from three pieces. There's a knob, a FRONT INFILL FIGURE STEEL NUT IS TAPPED FOR BRASS ROD ALIGN BED ANGLE WITH SOLE ANGLE BRASS LAMP PART IS FORMED INTO A KNOB INFILL BRASS ROD * 2 ) STEEL NUT ADJUSTER DETAIL (see fig. 4) short length of threaded brass rod, and a shop-made, steel nut. The knob is made from a lamp part called a lamp shade riser (margin photo on opposite page). One end has a threaded hole that you'll use for the threaded brass rod. The other end has a stud that you can cut off. The top photo on the next page shows how I shaped Step-by Step: Peeninq Peening the brass tails into the steel sole pins is what holds the plane body together. You actually "flow" the brass into the joints. The trick to making the double dovetail, though, is in filing the "splays" in the sole pieces, as shown in Step 1 . All you're doing here is removing a small tri- angular section of material from the bottom comer of the pin. Peening Tips. Once that's done, it's time to peen the pieces together. There are some tricks to getting the best results. One is to have a solid surface to work on. I ended up using the peening buck (next page) on the concrete floor in my shop. Another trick is to make carefully directed hammer blows. It doesn't take a lot of force to move the brass into the joints. It'll look like a mess, but don't worry. You can take care of that when you file it smooth. 7 A triangular file is used to create the 15° "pockets” on the sole pins. This will make them look like tails after peening. 3 Use files to finish forming the mouth to its final shape. But don’t file below the layout line for the bed angle. 2 The object is to force the brass into the gaps in the sole. Work on a solid surface and take your time. 4 Mark and cut the infill pieces and drill the rivet holes. The rear infill should line up with the bed angle on the sole. 36 ShopNotes No. 88 the knob on the drill press. The important thing is for the "collar" on the knob to fit into the adjust- ment slot on the plane iron. For fine adjustments, it should have a close fit without being too loose. The shaft is a short length of Vi"- 28 threaded brass rod. The knob is threaded onto one end and the other end of the rod engages a shop-made steel nut in the infill. The drawing on the previous page shows how it goes together. I made the nut for the adjuster from a piece of leftover steel I used for the sole. It's drilled and tapped with a V4 m -28 thread. Rear Infill. The rear infill is a tri- angular piece that houses the adjuster and forms the bed for the plane iron. You need to drill a hole for the adjustment rod and cut a slot for the nut. I found it was easier to do all this before cutting the infill piece to shape (Figure 4). After that, you can cut the 20° bed angle to match the sole and insert the infill into the body. Just make EPOXY ROD TO KNOB — COLLAR IS Vfe SIZED TO FIT T SLOT IN PLANE IRON NOTE: NUT IS TAPPED CUT OFF STUD A “Turning” the Knob. Chuck the knob into the drill press and use files to shape it. The collar should fit the slot in the plane iron. NOTE: DRILL THE HOLE FOR THE BRASS ROD, THEN CUT THE SLOT FOR THE STEEL NUT INFILL BLANK ( 7 /l6 X P/4 - 35/16) sure it lines up with the bed angle on the sole. Then you can trim the end flush with the brass sides. Front Infill. The front infill is angled to match the shape of the wedge and hold it in place. (You'll make the wedge later). I roughed out the shape of the infill piece but didn't do any final work until I had the mouth of the plane complete, as detailed in the box below. Rivets. The final step is to add the rivets that lock the sides and infill in place. I used a dab of epoxy to hold the infill pieces in place then drilled the rivet holes. After peening the rivets in place, they can be filed flush with the sides. A Shade Riser. A brass lamp part is “ turned ” into the adjuster knob. Peeninq Buck When peening the sides to the sole, I had trouble with the pieces shifting. So I came up with this "peening buck" to help hold the pieces securely. The base and two side pieces are made from lV^-thick hardwood. The center support is planed to the same thickness as the infill and is glued and screwed securely to the base. To hold the plane body in place while you're peening, the two side pieces have oversized holes for a pair of lag screws. A bolt clamps the side pieces of the plane tight. Then you can tighten the lag screws down. Finally, place the assembly on a firm surface and start peening using firm, direct blows. 5 Scrap laminate with holes allows the rivets to “ mushroom " on the bottom. Remove it when peening the other side. NOTE: LAG SCREWS ARE TIGHTENED AFTER THE THROUGHBOLT IS ^ TIGHTENED INFILL BLANK J NOTE: ALSO APPLY TWO CLAMPS TO THESE AREAS (NOT SHOWN FOR CLARITY) A flat file smooths the sides and sole. w Just be careful not to round over the edges of the plane body. X THROUGH-BOLT CLAMPS SIDE PIECES www.ShopNotes.com 37 adding the final Details Now that you've got the body of the plane assembled, you can make the wedge and add a few last details. Wedge. The wedge holds the plane iron securely in the plane. I made mine from the same stock as the infill. But you could use a dif- ferent or contrasting hardwood for a "custom" look. What's important is to shape the wedge so that it forces the plane iron tight against the bed, espe- cially at the mouth. So some careful fitting is in order here. You can use the drawings at right to rough out the shape of the wedge. Then it's just a matter of fine-tuning the fit as you go. The goal here is that the "nose" of the wedge should end up just slightly behind the bevel on the plane iron (see photo below). If the wedge is too tight to move that far forward, you can remove a little material at a time from the bottom edge, checking the fit as you work. Then you can sand the finger notches smooth and ease the edges. IRON IS WEDGED SECURELY TO PREVENT CHATTER WEDGE SLIDES IN FOR A FRICTION FIT. A LIGHT TAP WITH A MALLET SECURES IT IN POSITION OVERVIEW WEDGE SHOULD FORCE PLANE IRON TIGHT AGAINST THE BED FRONT INFILL Tuning. At this point your plane is almost functional. But there are a few details to take care of before giving it a workout (see box below). For starters, you need to fine-tune the width of the plane body so that the iron projects a little from each side. This lets the plane remove shavings all the way into the comer of a joint. Tuning Your Shoulder Plane Now is the time to double check the width of the sole against the plane iron. You can use fine-cutting flat files and sandpaper to lap the sides of the plane to a smooth finish. The goal, besides a great appearance, is to have the edges of the plane iron projecting past the sides of the plane body just a hair. This helps the plane cut right into comers. At the same time, you want to lap the sides and sole so they're square. Put some adhesive-backed sandpaper on your table saw and run the plane along the rip fence to keep the sides square with the sole. Finally, check that the mouth is square to the sides and the bed is flat. The iron should sit tight against the bed without any gaps. 38 ShopNotes No. 88 Chamfer and Polish. Traditional shoulder planes had a small , chamfer on the edges. Besides adding a nice detail, it makes the plane more comfortable to use. A file makes quick work of adding the chamfers (upper right photo). To finish up, I used some abra- sive pads to polish the brass (lower right photo). A little oil gives a nice finish on the infill and wedge. Once you've done this, you're ready to give the plane a try. The box below shows how to use your shoulder plane. After taking some time to get it set up just right, you'll be amazed at the results. & ◄ Stopped Chamfers. Use a flat file to form the chamfers on the edges of the plane. ◄ Final Polish. Use abrasive pads and wet/dry sandpaper to give the plane a polished look. t Using the Plane Shoulder planes get their name from their ability to slice the end grain on a tenon shoulder (Figure 1). They're designed for fine-tuning joinery. Since the plane iron is a hair wider than the plane, it can get "into a cor- ner" for professional results. Tenons. When I want a perfect fit with mortise and tenon joinery, a shoulder plane can't be beat. 1 use it all the time to trim the cheeks of a tenon to get a snug fit in the mor- tise. And a couple of cuts on the tenon shoulders gives me nice, tight-fitting joints. Rabbets and Dadoes. As you can see in Figures 2 and 3, a shoulder plane is also ideal for fine- tuning rabbets and dadoes. You can fine-tune the thickness of a rabbet by sneaking up on the fit. And it works just as well for cleaning up the shoulder. A dado blade is a great way to cut grooves and dadoes. But there's a problem. The bottom of a dado or groove can be rough. But a shoulder plane makes it easy to clean up the bottom of the dado. Since the shoulder plane excels at working into comers, it works great on lap joints, too. 1 . Tenons ▲ Shoulder Work. The shoulder plane excels at slicing the end grain of a tenon shoulder. For best results and to prevent tearout, work from both sides toward the center. 2. Rabbets ▲ Width and Depth. Clean up the face of a rabbet and fine-tune the depth using the shoulder plane as shown. Flip it on its side to dress up the shoulder of the rabbet. A Smooth Cheeks. Remove saw marks and sneak up on a snug fit using the shoulder plane. Shave equal amounts from both cheeks to keep the tenon centered on the workpiece. 3. Dadoes & Gn A Clean Bottoms. A pass or two with a shoulder plane is all it takes to get rid of saw marks and create a smooth bottom in dadoes, grooves, and lap joints. www.ShopN otes.com 39 Put your shop skills to use on brass or steel — you’ll be amazed at j , the results. ^ I In fact, there are a couple of things I prefer about working with metal. First, it's far less sensitive than wood to seasonal temperature or humidity changes. Second, metal usually comes with flat reference edges. That means you can start laying out and working without taking any of the steps you'd need to make wood flat and square. You just need to clean off the protective oil coating. But more than anything, I like the results. The combination of brass, steel, and hardwood gives the plane the professional look and feel of an heirloom-quality tool. ◄ Using Layout Fluid. Coating the surface of the metal makes scribed marks easier to see. As a woodworker. I've always felt a little bit intimidated when it comes to working with metal. But building the shoulder plane on page 32 taught me that many of the tools and skills necessary for working metal are similar to those I already use in the woodshop. Once you've learned a few simple metalworking techniques, you'll be up and running. But before you begin it's important to pick the right materials. Types of Metal. Brass, copper, and aluminum are great choices for woodworking projects. I like these metals not just because they're strong and decorative, but because they're soft enough to be cut and shaped with common, carbide- tipped woodworking tools. That's not the case with low- carbon, or mild steel. It requires a little bit more effort to cut and shape. But it's a good choice when you need a material that will stand up to more abuse, like the sole of the shoulder plane. LAYOUT TOOLS Like woodworking, the first step in a metal project is the layout. But making layout lines on metal is a little different. Pencil marks wipe 40 ShopNotes No. 88 away too easily and permanent markers leave too wide a line. Scribes. The right tool for the job is a metal scribe. Scribes are avail- able in a variety of styles, with either pointed or flat tips. You can buy carbide-tipped scribes, but the steel one in the photo below is less expensive and more than adequate for marking on brass or mild steel. Using a scribe is just like using a pencil. You simply pull it along a straightedge to mark your layout line. A good scribe will lay down a thin line, similar to a wood- worker's marking knife. Layout Fluid. But even a scribed line can be hard to see. The solution is to coat the surface with layout fluid. This way, you'll be able to see your lines easily. The contrasting color of the layout fluid makes this line visible, even for the most exacting meas- urements. Different colors of layout fluid are avail- able in bottles with brushes or felt-tipped applicators, so cov- ering the surface is just a matter of daubing it on and letting it dry. Then, you can mark your layout, as shown in the photo below. I use mineral spirits to remove the dried fluid when I've completed a project. For marking a layout, you're probably already familiar with most of the tools. Machinist's squares, steel rules, and protractors A Machinist’s Square. These metal squares are durable and very accurate. The indent on the handle is used to align a scribe to a layout line. are more accurate and less expen- sive than their rosewood-handled woodworking cousins. Squares. A good investment is to buy a set of different-sized machinist's squares, since they can serve double duty in your wood- working as well. You'll notice in the photos above that these squares have a small indentation where the handle meets the blade. This allows you to put the point of a scribe at the very edge of a piece and make a precise line. Protractors. For laying out angles, such as the dovetails on the shoulder plane, you'll need a metal protractor. Again, this is a handy tool for the woodshop as well. They're inexpensive and very accu- rate. The model shown in the photo at left is easy to read, with etched markings on the protractor and an engraved line on the arm. It also has a knurled knob which locks in the desired angle. Punches. Another marking tool to keep handy is a punch. It's the best way to mark a precise location for a hole. The type I like to use, shown at right, is spring loaded. With it, all you need to do is put the point on your layout line and press down until the spring triggers. The resulting dimple marks the point and also serves as a starter for a drill bit to prevent it from "walking" away from the mark. Using a Protractor. The etched lines on the metal protractor allow precise measurement of angles. Metals in the Woodshop: Options For metal accents or components in your projects, aluminum, copper, brass, and mild steel are all good options. The flat brass stock I used for the shoulder plane is an alloy known as cartridge brass. It's hard enough for most applications, but still works very easily. Mild steel is the next level of hardness, perfect for the plane sole. You'll see it for sale as low-carbon steel. Turn to page 51 for details and ordering information. A Metal Punch. The spring-loaded punch is easy to use and leaves a handy dimple for starting a drill bit. www.ShopNotes.com 41 Negative hook Cutting on Table Saw. A non- ferrous blade can cut flat brass sections easily. (Blade guard removed for clarity.) Cutting with a Hack Saw. Use a good-quality saw with a bimetal blade to cut pieces of mild steel. The key to getting the best results is to use a high-quality hacksaw with a bimetal blade. The nice thing is that neither one is expensive. A good saw will have a stiff spine and frame that won't twist or flex while you're cutting. That means you'll get a smoother cut. The hacksaw should also allow you to angle the blade for through cuts, as you can see in the inset photo above. You just need to position the stock in the side of your vise to make the cut. Working with Files. When it's time to clean up a sawn edge or shape a part, you'll need a few dif- ferent types and cuts of files. You may already have a few of these lying around in your shop, but if not, they aren't very expensive. The files you'll need most often are the large, flat pattern files, like those shown on the opposite page. working with Metal A Thinking Safety. The shavings and sharp installing the right saw blade, you’ll want to edges created as you work make eye and make sure you have the guard in place at all ear protection a must. So always wear your times. And finally, a pair of leather gloves safety glasses and ear muffs. In addition to can provide added protection as you work. After you've completed the layout for your project, the next thing you'll need to do is cut the pieces to size. Here again, you're probably familiar with the tools you'll need, but you'll want to keep a few things in mind before you begin. Safety First. It's a good idea to clean up the sawdust around your table saw and disconnect the dust collector from any tools you'll be using. You may not get many sparks, but brass shavings are very hot. They could smolder in a pile of dry sawdust, resulting in a fire. The most important safety con- cern is eye injury. If you've gotten out of the habit, now is the time to dust off your safety glasses and make sure to wear them. They'll guard against flying metal shards. The noise from cutting brass is more than an irritant — it's also a safety issue. So I always put on a pair of ear muffs before I cut metal with any power tools. CUTTING AND SHAPING METAL The easiest way to cut brass is at the table saw. A "non-ferrous," metal-cutting blade will slice through sheet brass very easily. In addition to triple-chip ground, car- bide teeth, these blades are designed with a negative hook angle to prevent kickback. Unfortunately, you can't cut low-carbon steel with your stan- dard woodworking machines. So, when it comes to mild steel, I prefer the old-fashioned method — a hacksaw (inset photo at right). It's fast enough for small projects and a whole lot quieter too. 42 ShopNotes No. 88 ▲ Flat File. When it comes to dressing edges and shaping metal, flat files work quickly. The coarse, bastard-cut file is the workhorse. You'll use it to smooth rough edges and saw marks or to rough out the shapes of dovetails. Next, you can progress to the second-cut file. It's great for smoothing a cut and refining tighter shapes. Finally, the smooth- cut flat file is for finish work. With it, you can get a crisp edge and smooth surface for metal joints. Shaping Files. You'll also need some smaller files for the more intricate finish work, like making the double-dovetails used to join the sides and bed of the shoulder plane. The most commonly used of these smaller files is the triangular, or "three-square," smooth-cut file. For work in tight spaces, needle files are the answer. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They're especially useful for detail work. Barrette files are shaped like a knife blade with a flat cutting face and smooth beveled face. This is helpful for getting into tight spots where you don't want to mar the opposite face. I used a fine barrette file to clean up the mouth of the shoulder plane. They're also avail- able in different cuts, listed as 00 through 6. The finest cut, 00, is used for extremely fine jewelry work. For most metal working, I find files in the 2-4 range work well. Joining Metal Parts. Unlike working with wood, you won't need glue and clamps to assemble your metal projects. The strength of ▲ Triangle File. For shaping tight corners and angles, different sizes of triangular files work great. these joints is usually mechanical, (although solder can be used to reinforce the joint). That's why careful shaping of interlocking pieces is so important. You don't want any gaps when joining metal. There is, however, a technique for closing gaps to secure a tight fit. Peening, the process of ham- mering the mechanical joints of metal pieces together, expands metal and makes it "flow" into place. The tools required are a solid metal-working vise or anvil and a ball pein hammer, shown in the opening photo on page 40. When you begin, it's helpful to keep in mind that metal is mal- leable. In other words, you can push and stretch the metal pieces together using carefully directed taps from the ball end of the hammer — don't pound the pieces like you would a nail. Patience is the Key Technique. In the case of the shoulder plane, you'll be peening the brass dove- tails into the steel sole. I found it easiest to work the angles back and forth, gradually learning to judge the amount of force necessary to coax the parts together. As similar as metalworking is to woodworking, it will still take you a while to get the hang of it. Once you give it a try though, you'll be surprised at how quickly you can start using these basic techniques to add some variety to your wood- working projects. & Shaping Metal: ▲ Smooth Cut I prefer to use double-cut files (like those shown at right) for brass and mild steel. They have a second set of cutting ridges that runs diagonally to the first. I think of them like progressing through grits of sandpaper in a woodworking project. Start with the coarse bastard cut. It will remove lots of metal in a hurry, so you'll need to be careful with brass. Progress to a second-cut file for smoothing and refining a shape. Finally, the smooth-cut file really excels at dressing edges and flat cutouts. Shaping files allow you to i tight comers, curves, and shapes. I find that the round triangular profiles come handy on just about every project. These profiles are avail- able in different sizes and cuts, all the way down to the very small needle files. I like barrette files for work in tight spaces. They have a knife shape with cutting ridges on only one face to prevent scratching adjoining surfaces. ▲ Bastard A Barrette A Second Cut ◄ Keep your Files Clean. A file card is a necessity when shaping metal. Use it often to avoid loading up with fine metal filings. www.ShopNotes.com 43 LEAVE ROOM ON THE ENDS FOR LONG WORKPIECES WALL PREVENTS TOOLS AND OTHER ITEMS FROM FALLING OFF THE BACK OF THE BENCH STORAGE . AT BACK OF BENCH SINGLE FACE VISE PROVIDES. CLAMPING CAPABILITIES lacing your Workbench HANG A CABINET OR SHELVES FOR HANDY STORAGE ATTACH TO WALL FOR INCREASED STABILITY AGAINST THE WALL WORKBENCH POWER OUTLETS NEARBY PLENTY OF ROOM FOR STORING LARGE BENCHTOP TOOLS OR SHOP VACUUM LOtymuch space will you [eed beyond tm^edge of the bench to accommodate ydqr work? You'll we to factor this work area into you^cfed^ion before you anchor eh to a wall. The biggest disadvantage of a wall-mounted bench is that you only have access to three of the four sides. That not only restricts your movement around the bench, but it makes it much more difficult to work on a large project. Workbenches come in all shapes and sizes — from traditional, maple-topped benches with tail and face vises, to a sheet of MDF on a two-by-four frame. But for your bench to actually become a useful tool in your work- shop, where you place it is as important as how it's built. Here are a few options and some things to keep in mind while you're set- ting up your shop. AGAINST THE WALL In a small garage or basement shop, floor space is always at a pre- mium. Placing a bench against a wall, as shown above, leaves the middle of your shop free for the table saw, jointer, and other large stationary tools. I like this arrange- ment because it adds stability to the bench, especially if you anchor it to the wall. In many cases, you'll also have a power outlet nearby. One big advantage to placing your bench against the wall is how easy it is to add a few shelves above it for handy storage. I like the con- venience of having hand planes, bench chisels, and other frequently used tools within arm's reach. Work Area. One thing to keep in mind, however, is the actual work area your bench requires. That is, how much space on each end you'll need if you're working on a long board. If you have a vise on CENTER OF THE SHOP Locating your bench nearer the center of the shop, like the illustra- tion on the opposite page, allows you to work around all four sides. I like this position because it offers more room to work on larger proj- ects. Another advantage is you'll be able to use the bench for assembly in different ways. For example, it's often useful to be able to clamp pieces directly to the benchtop. And by using cauls, you can apply downward pressure to an assembly. Like clamping a tabletop down onto a frame, for instance. Although this arrangement takes up more space, you can mini- mize the impact by making your 44 ShopNotes No. 88 r - t r ACCESS TO ALL FOUR SIDES ALLOWS WORK ON LARGER \ PROJECTS OVERHEAD POWER . SUPPLY AT THE RIGHT HEIGHT, BENCH CAN DOUBLE AS AN OUTFEED AREA FOR TABLE SAW PLENTY OF ROOM ^ TO USE AN END VISE FOR MORE CLAMPING \ OPTIONS > STRETCHERS PROVIDE AREA FOR SHELVES . AND TOOL STORAGE CENTER OF THE SHOP WORKBENCH SEE SHOPTIP bench height match other work surfaces in your shop. The most common example of this approach is building a bench the same height as your table saw. Then you can also use it as an outfeed table. Power. One concern about having a bench away from the wall is power. You can make up for the lack of a wall outlet by running power down from the ceiling (maybe you have a garage door opener outlet there). Or you can mount an extension cord on hooks to hang down near the bench. For storage, instead of the wall- mounted shelves you can always add a few drawers or cabinets in the base of your bench. Then you'll be able to keep your hand tools where you need them. The Best of Both Worlds. Of course, there are always alterna- tives. Like any other shop tool, you can make your workbench mobile. The box at right will give you a practical idea for this. Small shops force us to think cre- atively to be able to get the most out of the space available. A good decision where to place your work- bench will help you get more out of your time in the shop. & Rolling Workbench Adding wheels to your bench allows you to position it wher- ever you need it for a specific project. But simply adding casters sacrifices stability. Even locking casters can wobble if you're pushing hard on workpiece, such as planing a long board. One solution is to mount the casters so they're off the floor when they're not being used. I fasten them on only one end of the bench, as shown in the illus- trations at right. This way you have all four legs on the floor, providing a stable platform. But when you need to move the bench, you just pick up the oppo- site end and roll it into position. The key is to mount the wheels at the correct height. I've found that a Vs" gap is perfect. At that height, you only need to lift the end of your bench a few inches off the ground to engage the wheels and roll your bench into place. CASTER MOUNTED SO WHEEL IS Ye" FROM FLOOR ■ LIFT OPPOSITE END OF BENCH TO ROLL BENCH IN MOBILE POSITION ◄ The Right Casters. A good quality, non- swivel, 3" caster works great for adding mobility to your bench. www.ShopNotes.com 45 Smooth curves in just minutes. This simple technique is one you’ll want to try. I When you include plywood in a project, it's often because you can count on it staying flat and straight. But hardwood plywood is also a great material for adding smooth curves to a project. The photo above shows an example of this and how it works. The key is a simple table saw technique called kerf bending. How It Works. Kerf bending involves cutting a series of evenly spaced kerfs along the length of a workpiece that run perpendicular to the grain. The kerfs extend most of the way through the thickness leaving only a thin web of wood bridging the kerf. This web of wood is flexible enough to allow the workpiece to bend at the kerf. So you end up creating a series of small bends (and flats) that blend into a smooth, even curve. — CUT SLIGHTLY a . INTO FIRST CORE LAYER v "S ■r FACE VENEER ◄ No Visible Flats. In the upper example, the bend is too tight for the kerf spacing. Not so, below. 46 The distance between the kerfs (and their depth) determines the flexibility of the workpiece and the smoothness of the bend (detail V and left margin photos). The closer the spacing, the tighter the bend you can make. And when glued to a form (or glue blocks) you end up with a smooth, solid curve. Why Plywood? Kerf bending works with solid wood, but hard- wood plywood is always my first choice. Detail 'a' at left illustrates why. When I kerf plywood, the cuts extend just into the "crossgrain" veneer layer below the thin, hard- wood face veneer. The long grain face veneer bends easily but also serves to hold the "kerfed" layers together. The remaining core veneer reinforces the face veneer but likewise, has enough "give" to make the piece flexible. The Basics. One of the big pluses of kerf bending is that it's easy to do the job on the table saw. Basically, you just have three ShopNotes No. 88 - A Rounded Corner : Tight kerf spacing along with a notch on the back side make extreme bends possible. simple things to get right. First, you need to cut the kerfs to the correct depth. This is what makes the workpiece flex easily. Second, you want to space the kerfs so that the workpiece con- forms to the desired curve without showing flats and ridges. This depends on the shape of the curve. Finally, the distance between the kerfs should be consistent. If not, the bend can turn out "lumpy." A Simple Jig. The drawing at right shows the setup I use to get everything right. It starts with a standard combination blade. But at the heart is a kerfing jig clamped to the auxiliary fence on the miter gauge. This simple jig consists of a long, hardwood backer piece with a single, shallow kerf cut into it. A hardwood indexing key is glued into the kerf to allow you to quickly and accurately cut a series of evenly spaced kerfs. Getting Adjusted. Once you've sized the workpiece and decided on the kerf spacing, it only takes a minute to get set up. First, adjust the height of the saw blade — a test cut or two will help with this. Next, you need to position the kerfing jig. (Note: If the kerfs don't Extreme: Kerf Bending As you can see in the photo at right, kerf bending plywood isn't limited to gentle curves. With a slightly dif- ferent technique you can make ply- wood bend around a comer. The example shown has a radius of l 3 /*" and even tighter bends are possible. For these extreme bends, you need to change a couple things. First, the kerfs are very tightly spaced — only Vs" between them. And I cut the kerfs a hair deeper. Some Relief. But even with this tight spacing, as you bend the workpiece, the kerfs will pinch closed and prevent a tight curve. The solution for this is simple. Before cutting the kerfs, you www.ShopNotes.com remove this interference by cre- ating a shallow notch, the width of the bend, as shown in Figure 1. Then kerfs are cut from side to side using the jig (Figure 2). The work- piece will now bend easily and a glue block will maintain the shape. back across the blade before reposi- tioning it. And before making the next cut, be certain the workpiece is firmly positioned over the key and flat on the table. And finally, it's easy to hurry and not complete a cut before pulling the workpiece back and starting the next one. I just try to be patient. Kerf bending plywood may not be a technique you'll use often. But once you give it a try, I bet you'll find yourself thinking about ways to use it on a project. And for a slight twist on this technique, check out the box below A. HARDWOOD BACKER STANDARD COMBINATION BLADE start at the end of the workpiece, you'll need to cut a "starter" kerf before adding the jig.) Start by sliding the miter gauge and the jig up to the blade. Then measure between the blade and key to set the spacing you want. Clamp the jig down and you're ready to go. Cutting the Kerfs. Other than being pretty repetitive, cutting the kerfs is easy. After the first cut, lift the workpiece, move it over and position it over the key for the next cut. You simply repeat the process as many times as necessary. But there are a few things to keep in mind. The quality of the cuts isn't real important. So I save time by carefully pulling the workpiece FIRST: remove ABOUT ONE THIRD OF THICKNESS WITH MULTIPLE PASSES DISTANCE FROM KEY TO BLADE DETERMINES KERF SPACING HARDWOOD KEY GLUED INTO HARDWOOD BACKER l_ SEE DETAIL 'a' ON PAGE 46 SECOND: CUT TIGHTLY SPACED KERFS getting the best Hearing Protection One of the keys to healthy hearing is to reduce tool noise to a safe level. Every woodworker is aware of the danger of a spinning saw blade. But the potential harm from shop noise isn't always quite so obvious. These sounds can damage your hearing bit by bit over time. In fact, you may not even know it until it's too late. Harmful Range. The problem is the loudness of sound, which is measured in decibels (dB). Most experts agree that exposure to noise of more than 85 decibels can be harmful to your hearing. And the longer the exposure, the more damage that's done. As shown in the chart below, most power tools operate at or above this harmful level. That's why it's always important to wear hearing protec- tion when using these tools. TYPES OF PROTECTION You'll find most hearing protectors decrease the amount of sound that reach the ear drum an average of 25 decibels. This brings the noise made by most power tools down to a level that's safe, as the chart at left shows. Ear Plugs. The most generic device is a set of ear plugs like the ones shown at the top of the opposite page. They're inexpensive and easy to use. These small plugs fit in the ear and block the entire ear canal. Since they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, be sure to try out a few types until you find one that's comfortable enough to use all the time. The most basic of these is the dis- posable foam plug. You simply roll the foam between your fingers and then place it in the ear canal and let the foam expand. I find it's often challenging to get them squeezed down small enough to get into my ear. And if they don't fit in the ear canal snugly they may not block the sound adequately or they simply fall out. Plus, you'll find you can only use these a few times before they need to be replaced. A variation of the foam ear plug has a small foam tip attached to a plastic stem. You'll find these easier to insert into your ear. And the small foam tips don't create as much pres- sure in the ear canal. Both plugs are often connected to a plastic cord that hangs around your neck. This makes it easier to take them out of your ears without losing them. Another type uses a soft plastic plug to block the ear canal. It has flanges at the tapered tip that allow them to adjust to fit the size of your ear. I sometimes find it hard to get these in my ear. But once in place, they're a lot more comfortable to wear for long periods of time. ZEM Protector. If you find having something stuffed in your ear to be uncomfortable, there's another 48 ShopNotes No. 88 electronic Noise Reduction At first glance, the hearing pro- tector shown at right looks just like a standard ear muff. But it's what's on the inside that makes a differ- ence in how it works. Like a standard ear muff, the Noisebuster reduces mid and high frequency sounds, but it also fea- tures electronic noise reduction to reduce low frequency noise (typ- ical of engines and motors) that can really be harmful and dangerous. To do this, a microphone inside the ear cup (drawing at right) monitors the noise coming into the ear piece. Then using electronics, a "mirror" image of the low fre- quency noise is created. This "anti-noise" is output into each ear cup and reduces these low fre- quency sounds another 20dB. Plus, it makes it easier to understand speech and warning signals — an added safety benefit in a shop. The model shown at right also has a jack that lets you plug in a portable radio or audio player so you can listen to your favorite music at a safe level. Technology like this isn't cheap. The Noisebuster runs around $150. Other manufacturers make units costing $300 and more. For more information about these and other devices, turn Sources on page 51. Audio player cable and connection On-Off Switch HARMFUL SOUND WAVES ANTI-NOISE" WAVES REDUCE THE SOUND ELECTRONIC SOUND PROCESSOR MICROPHONE TO EAR SPEAKER A Noisebuster. These ear muff protectors use electronics to reduce harmful sounds to a safe level. Storage container keeps plugs from being lost Small tips reduce foam pressure in ear Foam plugs need to be replaced often Tip flanges adjust to the fit the ear canal device called the ZEM you might want to try. It works a little differ- ently. Instead of blocking the ear canal, a filter chamber contains material that directs the sound away from the ear (photo upper right). Ear Muffs. The hearing protector I find most comfortable to wear is a muff-type unit, like those shown in the photo on the previous page. They fit over the entire outer ear to form an air seal that blocks sounds from entering the ear. An adjustable band lets you customize the fit. The only problem with muff- type protectors is if you have long hair, wear eyeglasses, or use safety glasses it may be difficult to get the ear piece to seal properly around your ear. This can cause you to lose some degree of protection. High-tech electronic muffs are also available. You can learn more about them in the box below. Combined Protection. When using really loud tools, like a chain saw, I like to wear both ear muffs and ear plugs. Noise produced by these tools can remain in the harmful range even with a protec- tive device in place. Using both types in combination can reduce the sound an additional 10 to 15 deci- bels. This helps ensure the noise level will remain at or just below the harmful level. & Filter chamber directs sound away from ears < Hearing Protectors. Most shop noise can be reduced to a safe level by using simple protective devices. www.ShopN otes.com 49 take time to Read the Grain When I use my jointer to flatten a board, I often end up with a rough surface that takes a lot of time to sand out What am I doing wrong? Keith Wiley Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin Jointers are a great tool for straight- ening an edge or flattening the face of a workpiece. But it's not unusual to get a cut that's rough in some areas. Instead of a nice smooth sur- face, the wood has patches of lifted grain or areas of chipout or tearout. In some cases, this may be caused by dull knives or working with highly figured woods that are diffi- cult to joint smooth no matter what you do. But most often the problem is the result of the orientation of the grain in the workpiece. FACE JOINTING EDGE JOINTING Determining the proper feed direc- tion of the grain is easier when you're passing the edge through the jointer. Simply examine the face of Jointing the face of a board can be a little more challenging. That's because the grain pattern may appear to be going in one direction on the face and actually run in the opposite direction, like you see in the drawing above. If there's a V-shaped surface grain present, it's tempting to look at the PROBLEM: jointing against GRAIN CAN CAUSE KNIVES TO CHIPOUT OR TEAR EDGE SOLUTION: grain slopes AWAY FROM KNIVES o WORKPIECE „ ▲ Reading the Grain. Looking at the grain direction on both the face and the edge of the workpiece will help determine the correct feed direction for your jointer the board and determine whether the grain slopes up or down. Then feed the piece in the direction that allows the grain to slope away from the knives. This keeps the knives cutting with the grain, as shown in the drawings below, instead of against the grain, which leads to tearout or chipout along the edge. face of the workpiece and then feed the board into the jointer with the V-shaped grain pointing away from the knives. But you'll actually get a better picture of grain direction if you take a look at the edge. In a similar manner to edge jointing, you'll want to check out the edge to see if the grain is rising or falling. But this time you'll want to feed the board into the jointer in the direction that keeps the knives cut- ting with the grain direction visible on the edge of the board. You'll find these same principles apply when you use your planer. Changing Grain Direction. The grain direction may also change within a single workpiece. When you see this, you can sometimes avoid rough cuts by slowing down the feed rate when you get to the point the grain makes a change in direction. This way, the knives take smaller "bites" and you'll be less likely to end up with any chipout. Determining grain direction is the best way to get better results with your jointer. The nice thing is it only takes you a few extra seconds, but it'll save you a lot of sanding time in the long run. A 50 ShopNotes No. 88 Sources SHOULDER PLANE A shoulder plane you build your- self , like the one on page 32, will become an heirloom and a great addition to your shop. To build the plane, you'll need some hardware and metalworking tools. First, you'll need low-carbon steel (9517K16), brass sheet material (8956K44), and a small brass rod (8859K155). You'll also need a scribe, layout dye to mark the lines on the metal, and metal files to work the material. I was able to order all of these items from McMaster-Carr. The #410 Clifton plane iron I used came from Highland Hardware. The brass lamp shade extender I used for the adjustment knob was picked up at a local hardware store. PATTERNMAKER'S VISE A patternmaker's vise like the one featured in the article on page 12 can really add versatility to your workbench. You'll find these vises available from a number of manu- facturers. The vise (168040) we used came from Highland Hardware. HEARING PROTECTION Hearing protection devices, like those on page 48, are a safety requirement in any shop. You'll find many types of ear plugs available at most home centers. The foam ear plugs (25R01.01), Express plugs (22R17.05), and the Airsoft Plugs (22R72.50) all came from Lee Valley. To get the ZEM hearing protec- tion unit (Z01RE0100) you'll need to order it directly from SensGard. You can find contact information in the right margin. I was able to order the Noisebuster electronic, noise-cancelling ear muff (Model PA4000) from Pro Tech Communications. You can use the contact information in the margin to order these hearing protectors. PANEL SAW You'll be able to get almost every- thing needed to build the panel saw on page 16 at your local hardware store or lumberyard. But there are a few pieces of hardware you'll prob- ably need to order to complete the project. The 48 M T-track (21753), the 5 /i6 M cam clamp (58244), the 5 /i6" x 1" T-bolts (33965), and the 5 /\e x 1" knobs (34121) came from Rockier. The toggle clamps (213-U) and the 4’ (331276) and 12’ (331272) self- adhesive tape measures came from the Woodsmith Store. Similar tapes are available from Starrett. METAL JEWELING Using the metal jeweling technique on page 30 adds a customized look to the metal parts of any project. The %" x 6" medium grit cratex rod that was used to make the pattern shown on the plane in the article came from Tool Crib. You can also get an "engine turning kit" (080-558-101) that includes many of the items you need. The kit I used came from Brownells. You'll find ordering infor- mation in the margin at right. SHOP TOTES The wood and hardware you need to build the shop totes on page 28 can be found at your local hardware store or home improvement center. But you'll need bins to go inside the totes to organize and store various items. The bins I used were small storage bins (Model 30210) made by Akro-Mils. These bins are also avail- able from the Woodsmith Store. EUROPEAN HINGES European hinges, like those on page 10, can help solve difficult prob- lems. You'll find many of these hinges readily available from hard- ware and woodworking suppliers. I found the inset and 270° wrap- around hinges at McFeely's. The face frame and zero protrusion hinges came from the Woodsmith Store. The Silent Close hinges came from Wood Technology. Clip-mount options are available for most types. & ShopNotes Binders Keep your issues organized! As you build your ShopNotes library, here's a way to keep your issues organized. Each binder features durable vinyl covers and easy-to-read perforated number tags. Snap rings with a quick- open lever make it easy to insert and remove issues. And there's an extra pocket inside for storing notes. Each binder holds a full year (6 issues) of the new, expanded ShopNotes. Visit iaiww. ShopNotes. com to order these binders, or call 1 - 800 - 444 - 7527 . ShopNotes Binder O 701950-SN88 {Holds 6 issues) $12.95 MAIL ORDER SOURCES Woodsmith Store 800 - 444-7527 woodsmithstore.com Akro-Mils Storage Bins, Hinges, Hearing Protectors, Toggle Clamps, T-track Rockier 800 - 279-4441 rockler.com Cam Clamps, Knobs, T-bolts, T-track Lee Valley 800 - 871-8158 leevalley.com Ear Plugs, Patternmaker's Vise Akro-Mils, Inc. 800 - 253-2467 akro-mils.com Storage Bins McMaster-Carr 630 - 600-3600 mcmaster.com Bmss Rods, Brass Sheet Material, Sheet Steel, Metalworking Tools SensGard 877 - 208-0883 sensgard.com ZEM Hearing Protector Pro Tech Communications 877 - 226-1944 protechcommunication.com Noisebuster ™ Hearing Protector Highland Hardware 800 - 241-6748 highlandhardware.com Patternmaker's Vise, Plane Irons Wood Technology^ 800 - 231-9522 woodtechnology.com Evolve™ Silent Close Hinges Brownells 800 - 741-0015 brownells.com Cratex Rods, Engine Turning Kit Tool Crib 800 - 635-5140 toolcrib.com Cratex Rods McFeely’s 800 - 443-7937 mcfeelys.com European Hinges Starrett 978 - 249-3551 starrett.com Measuring Tapes www.ShopN otes.com 51 Dovetailed „ Shoulder Plane. The double dovetails of the shoulder plane shown in the inset photo highlight :* the brass sides and steel sole. The instructions starting on page 32 show you how build it with the materials you see here. _ ■ to ■ '• . J - z iili