Box joint jigs for the router table

I don't know wether I should be praising the merits of the Grr-ripper today or explaining the build of my new box joint jig.
This picture shows how useful the Grr-ripper can be when working with small stock and needing dead on accuracy.

The part cut is oak and will be the guide bar for my 1/4" box joint template.
I cut it in a matter of seconds in complete safety and it measures 1/4" on both ends of the stick. That's first for me as the saw usually creeps up on the loose end of a piece like this. I would not attempt this without a grr-ripper on a table saw.



With the Grr-ripper I was able to cut 3 keys for the jig in less than 3 minutes including set up time.
I set the saw gap with metal lathe cutting tools that just happen to come in fractions so I have a range of them from 3/16" to 1/2" and use them instead of measuring. (look for them at any tool shop that sells metal lathes.) Thes one came from BusyBee tools in Canada and range around 2-4 bucks each.
The Grr-ripper allows one leg to sit on top of the wood while the other leg can be adjusted to balance the rig when passing over the blade.

I left the keys full length for the glue up so they would rest on the base of the jig and be parallel to the sliding table
I'll cut them off long enough to hold a series of boards for gang cutting the box joints. Incidently, that is why I abandoned my other style of jig. This seems like it will give me more control over the cuts.

The way I positioned the keyway is shown here.
I cut the first a slot in the jig dead center and just slightly higher than 1/4".
I want the ends of the joints to be just proud of the sides for finishing.
The method for getting the keyway position is simple now.
Just put the first keyway in the first slot and and a suitable key spacer next to it. ( in this case the 1/4" measuring bar stock.
Lock the jig at the back and run the slot.


What I have now is a "carriage" with the keyed jigs mounted on the front.
The carriage follows the outside of my router guide bushing allowing me complete freedom to push and or pull the stock past the cutter.
I don't have to line up the router bit anymore as the brass bushing takes care of it as long as the router dosen't move in the table. ***** a caution for those of you that pull your router out for other tasks.*

Here's a shot of the bushing I used. I used a fairly large one - (3/4") in anticipation of also using this jig to cut my pins for dovetails. ( more on that later)

Today I had time to run some 5/16" stock and test the jig for spacing and accuracy.
It took a bit of getting used to so I ended up cutting about 5 joints before I got the hang of it but here's what you should be able to get with this jig:

I will now make notes in my log book for future reference. This generally shortens my setup time next time I use the jig.
p.s.
This is the jig I made first , then realized it used a lot of materials up for each size change.

A picture showing the front of this jig:

A chess set

I built this a while back but never got around to posting it .
The chess board is made from maple and walnut and finished with poly.

From New Album 12/23/08 9:29 AM

From chess set

The chess pieces are made from holly and cocobolo and finished with turners polish.
Each piece is drilled a lead weighted with old lead from tire balancers.
The base were then felted to prevent scratches.

From New Album 12/23/08 9:29 AM

Each piece was turned and then hand finished for detail.

From New Album 12/23/08 9:29 AM

From New Album 12/23/08 9:29 AM

I estimate I put about 40- 45 hours into this project.

Make your own lathe tool rests for less

From turning tools

Here's link to a series of steps I annotated for construction of lathe rests and similar tools.

Making a segmented vessel

Here's a technique I have worked out for building the pieces and assembling them for segmented vessels.
Just click on the red letters above and I will take you there!
With X-mas comming I thought it might help somebody.

rotary sander - home made

I bought an old carcass from an airpalne builder that was previously used to sand ribs to size for cloth covered aircraft.
The design was pretty good but needed some tweaking to bring it up to tolerances for precision woodworking.

From sander pics

I first had to toss a fractional motor on it and balance it out to the sandpaper. I had a 3/4 hp X 1750 RPM here so used that on a 1:1: pulley system.
I can easily over power it but that is my guide _to not burning the blanks_. I seems to work well through several different grits of paper.

From sander pics

The leveling apparatus is simple but relatively accurate. It's composed of a bicycle chain drive and dual sprockets (

From sander pics

I found the bed a bit soft in that it could be pushed down on passes creating bumps on the sanded surface if you aren't careful.
I added a 1/2" sheet of mdf over the original sheet and screwed the two together.
Next, I laminated formica over the MDF to give me a smooth surface to run my stock

I had to add 2" strips on each side as the scrap bin only had 24"wide sheets but that just added to the aesthetics so not a bad thing.

From sander pics

From sander pics

From sander pics

From sander pics

The dust hood was just a piece of 6" galvanised ducting and really didn't do justice to picking up the dust.
I built an MDF cover that allows for brush skirts on front and back to direct dust to the collector rather than around the table.

From sander pics

Next, a link belt would be a nice addition as the rubber on has memory for a couple of minutes. everytime I turn it on

Building a longworth chuck

I have been meaning to make one of these adjustable reverse jawed chucks for some time.
I had been using the metal jaw extensions that fit my Oneway stronghold but find that it ties up the chuck too frequently.
This system is very simplle in design and works well _only if you follow directions to a T_ which I am wont to do sometimes.
As a result I now own a completely useless Longworth chuck body that is not close enough to operate smoothly.

From wood stuff 2010

The second one went much better and apart from a few cosmetic blemishes seems to work just fine.
I made this one with slots for 8 rubber stoppers instead of just 4 and it seems to snug the bowl down better.

From wood stuff 2010

I like to turn my work with a tenon on the base to conseve materail for the bowls so this chuck gives me more surface to remove and finish the tenon area.

From wood stuff 2010

Here I have trimmed off the tenon with a parting tool and smoothed the foot with a bowl gouge.

From wood stuff 2010

A bit of writing to help remember when I did it and the wood used.

From wood stuff 2010

The base is taped off to help prevent over spray from the lacquer used to sel up the base.

From wood stuff 2010

The unit is about 15-1/2" in diameter and will take a 14" rim.
The rubber stoppers are cane tips and should be avalible wherever geriatric supplies are sold.
Inside each cane tip is a wood dowel cut about 1/16" shorter than the tip height to give the tips some compression.
The back is 1" MDF and the front is 1/4" fir plywood.
The pan head bolts are 2-1/2" long and secure with jig handles.

Here's the test bowl removed fromthe chuck after polishing.

From wood stuff 2010

From wood stuff 2010

Cheers

Bob

Compound mitered birdhouse roofs

There are many ways to design polygonal structures but this is the path I have chosen for small bird feeders and bird houses. It relies on simple materials and a repeatable jig that makes cutting the sections very easy. You can apply the same technique to a structure of as many sides as you have patience for.

I want to show you one method to construct a polygonal raised roof for small structure like a birdhouse or bird feeder.
Generally speaking, to keep the costs down, most guys and gals I know purchase 1 x 6 or 1 x 4 cedar or spruce fence material. It's rough cut and generally varies in and around three quarters of an inch thick by 5 1/2 inches wide.
In this case, I wanted a roof with approximately a 35° pitch and a 10 inch diameter to cover a small birdhouse.
By using a small free program from the Internet called Miter calculations I was able to feed in information I didn't know and the program calculated the information I needed to set my saw angle.
http://jansson.us/jcompound.html
I decided that the slope of the roof would work fine at approximately 45°. From this information I was able to determine that I needed a solid level on my miter saw off somewhere around 15° ( 15.53) for the purists
I set the length of the slope or my roof pieces add 8 1/2 inches long and proceeded to cut equal lengths.
Using one of the pieces, I then constructed a jig using a 1/2 inch piece of OSB and some cleats to hold the roof blanks at the exact position required to cut the bevels.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

Doing it this way requires that the saw only be set for the bevel required and does not require setting for the miter. In other words the saw blade remains at 90° and the jig is adjusted to the preferred angle
.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

By making use of the laser guide I was quickly able to determine the exact position for the miter cut and from that also set my bevel cut.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

This particular saw that I am using allows me to adjust the depth of cut so I was able to build my jig on top of the OSB and proceed to cut the blanks without cutting through the supporting OSB panel.
This picture shows one of the panels set in my jig ready to be angled and beveled

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

With the jig flipped 180° I'm able to duplicate the bevel on the other side as shown here.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

Here's a picture of the panel showing both sides removed.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

Now I just repeat the process seven more times for the octagon.
The last picture shows the eight pieces temporarily set up to check for fit and held together with blue painter's tape.

From octagonal roof - birdhouse

. When the final fitting is satisfactory I will flip the triangles over and fill their seams with waterproof glue. I have used Tite bond III for this procedure but I prefer polyurethane glues similar to Gorilla glue or Elmer's etc. because the porous cedar has a tendency to swell up in wet weather and when it freezes here, it will expand and pop the joints. I have pin nailed them on occasion with varying success.