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 square, 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 octagonal 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

In order to operate the jig, it is necessary to remove the riving knife of the table saw, located behind the saw blade.

Warning: Do not use the table saw for anything else than the jig while the riving knife is not mounted, there is a high risk of injury otherwise.

You can remove the riving knife by loosening the bolts 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 adjustable end if necessary. When measuring, always turn off the saw.

Picture frame jig

This jig aim at providing highly accurate, repeatable and foolproof miter cuts (45degrees) 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.

Material preparation

The exact profile for a picture frame to be used largely depends on your need and personal preferences. However it almost always consists of a L shaped profile. To make it, start from a square stock and using two table cuts, remove some material for the glass, art work, backer panel etc...

Operation

The jig is used in a two-step process, as follows:

1. The first operation consists in cutting the first miter, there is no need to measure anything. Start by placing your stock piece (i.e. frame profile) on the left side of the jig and hold it firmly, making sure your fingers are far from the blade. Using the wood handle, slowly push the jig forward to make the first cut.
2. The second operation consists in cutting the piece to the correct length. Measure and draw a line on your piece to the desired length. Take a scrap piece of wood and clamp it to the guide, in order to create a positive stop, making sure the pencil mark coincides with the edge of the kerf cut in the middle of the jig. It very important that you use the positive stop for all the pieces which are supposed of the same length. Measuring is significantly less repeatable than using a positive stop. Make sure that the side of the piece which was against the guide on the left in the previous step is the same one against the guide on the right in this second step.

A few points :

• Make sure there is no sawdust on the edge of either left of right profile
• The masking tape has been added for fine tuning, please don't remove it
• Operation of the jig will be much smoother if some dry lubricant has been applied to the table beforehand (bottom right of the paint cupboard)

Glue up

Once the pieces have been cut, align them against a straight edge (can be the router table fence for instance) and join the pieces with masking tape on the outside. Spread some glue on the miter faces and fold the frame, using an extra piece of tape to close it. It is advised to use a band clamp (in the cupboard under the lathe in the right compartment) for additional clamping pressure.