| Blog series by Aggie69 | updated 99 days ago | 3 parts | 5064 reads | 11 comments total |
Part 1: Program for Calculating Dimensions and Angles for 3D Stars
Have you ever seen a 3 Dimensional star that you really thought was pretty – perhaps on the side of a barn, in someone’s house, or even a Christmas decoration? As a woodworker you may have thought “I’d like to try making one like that.” When you research 3 dimensional (3D) stars on this forum or on the internet as a whole, you’ll be disappointed in what you find. If you’re lucky, you may find a project or two that talks about a specific sized star ...
Part 2: Compound Angle Cutting Jig with Hold Downs for a Radial Arm Saw
Trying to cut narrow pieces for the stars at steep angles and bevels on my radial arm saw required some assistance. I designed a simple jig that would clamp into the table in the fence joint, anywhere along the fence joint. You can make angle cuts to ~60 degrees left or right while leaving the saw carriage arm to run straight back and forth. You can bevel the saw carriage to ~70 degrees to create compound cuts on small pieces. Best of all, you can clamp down the workpiece and keep your han...
Part 3: Making 3-D Stars
After creating a program to calculate dimensions and cutting angles and designing and building a jig to make the cuts with, I was ready to put things into practice. My first trial was with some old (30+years) cedar fence pickets. I wanted an old “barnwood” 3-D star. I quickly decided that even though the wood was cheap (free), it varied greatly in thickness, even within one piece, and it was extremely brittle and splintered easily when cut. Needless to say, I wasn’t pl...
