Jigs (wood)

This page regroups information about custom made jigs for various machines of the wood workshop.

Table Saw jigs

Rod maker (table saw lathe)

The purpose of this jig is to create straight, cylindrical rods of wood, between ~20mm and ~90mm diameter, up to 65 cm in length, i.e. longer than what you can do with the wood lathe.

Material preparation

In order to make the operation safer and faster, it is a good idea to remove some material from your stock piece first. Start by cutting your stock quare, with a section ~2mm larger than the final diameter of the rod. Once you have a square section, cut the corners off with the table saw blade tilted 45 degrees, giving you an octogonal section.\ Find the center of your stock on both ends. Drill a 15mm deep pilot hole with a 4mm bit, and then do the same operation with a 7.5mm bit.

Table saw preparation

Warning:

In order to operate the jig, it is necessary to remove the riving knife of the table saw, located behind the saw blade. Do not use the table saw with anything else than the jig while the riving knife is not mounted, there is a high risk of injury otherwise.

This can be done with a 19mm wrench.

Jig setup

Mount your stock piece on the jig, making sure to tighten a nut against each end of the world piece to prevent the rod from pulling the bolts when it starts rotating. Make sure the rod can spin freely and tighten the nuts securing the moving end of the jig. Prepare a drill with a 13mm socket and an extended bit holder. The extended bit holder is a very important safety aspect, as it keeps your fingers away from the blade when it reaches the end of the stock close to you.

Operation

It is important to take only very small passes in order not to sideload the blade. Move the jig slowly while you spin the rod with the drill (and white the table saw is running of course) Be careful that the jig does not tip over. Control the the diameter on both ends regularly and use shims under the moving end if necessary. When measuring, always turn off the saw.

Picture frame jig

This jig aim at providing highly accurate and repeatable litter (45degrees) cuts for building picture frames.

Table saw preparation

The key is to setup the blade to be perfectly 90° to the table. Do not trust the inclination mechanism, use an machinist square to check for squareness.

Operation

Start by placing your stock piece on the left side of the jig. The side of your piece close to you, will have a slightly worse quality due to tear out, so it is a