self explanatory router jig.

I needed a 1/4 and 9/32 inch shelf pin drilling template but the available commercial jigs didn’t have the specs I require for the shelf building job at hand. So I decided to make my own custom template.

This one is made with the usual favorite 3/8 thick Lexan I always keep on hand and it has 4 rows spaced at 3/8 –1/2 -1 and 1-1/4 inch from edge and 4 additional spacing if I flip it around. Hole spacing is 1 –1/4 on center.

Bushings accommodate 1/4 drill for 1/4 inch shelf pins and when removed I can use 9/32 drill for sleeves.
This jig can be used on jobs that have tight spacing from corner.

Well, if you have a table saw, you have to check the alignment each time you replace the saw blade. (That is if you have OCD when it comes to alignments.)
And if you have contractor saw, you have to check it out even more frequently.
Hence dial indicator caddy. This has absolutely no play in any direction and the magnets keep if flush and provide extra grab and the side adjustment screws insure snug fit in track. All other screws insure no movement when calibrating the dial gauge to zero.
I’ve made few of these in the past but this one is by far most accurate using both analog and digital readers.

Ever since I upgraded the useless Ridgid TS power switch http://lumberjocks.com/projects/26810 few years ago, I’ve been meaning to add a slight improvement to enable even safer operations in an emergency.
There are times when I need to turn off the power switch without letting go of the work piece.
Hence this 20 minutes project. I glued two hard boards together because they provide necessary stiffness without adding much weight.
This s a definite improvement. It seems to me that being able to turn off the switch with a bump of the knee is just more natural in workshop environment.

Few scraps of boards found here and there, was time to make some saw dust since it’s been awhile.
Adjustable Notebook side table. It extends horizontally and vertically and I used dovetail technique for rails. it can slide next to bed or couch.

Having removed most of the dust with my previous under the table jig http://lumberjocks.com/projects/37469
I decided it was time for the more important feature of dust removal. Over the top dust removal.

I wanted to make the whole arm thing out of aluminum since I dislike hard on the eyes jigs and projects no matter how useful. But after checking on aluminum prices, I decided my eyes could bear the brunt of hideousness and also the arm is 105 inches long and aluminum comes in 84 inches mostly.
So’ onward with leftover wood scraps.
The fun part was making the plexi glass dust housing. It’s airtight and EZ on the eyes and that’s what matters. It’s has the 2.5 inch hose connection interface. And It’s 3/8 thick as you can see from the pics. The weld or glue was hard to work with but considering the difficulty level, very little mess.
So, I guess I have to live with the wood version. ;-(

Nothing special here. One of those jigs that I thought I would never need and hence I didn’t buy one even when they were on sale for around 15 or so and sure enough, I needed to cut few tapers to make a ramp and I decided what the heck…
Had few weird hinges around and few scraps of wood and an extra homemade handle and all I needed was friction lid support. I could’ve made that from wood also but was too lazy as is the case usually.

Well, I’ve been meaning to muffle the compressor noise for some time. This thing being so loud that when it’s on, I have to leave the neighborhood.

While I was at it, I decided to make a multi function setup to accommodate the tools and other miscellaneous junk scattered all over the place.

So, the project started with slick in mind but as soon as I ran out of so called good ply sheets, in came the crate junk ply and whatever scrap ply I could get my hands on and join together.

And as usual, I decided to go for a third incarnation of my router table.
First, (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/11097) having become firewood to make room for a huge workbench combo that I needed for a large California king size bed project. (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/23756) and now the workbench that has to go to make room for this, that and the other.

It has 5 swivel double lock Polyurethane casters rated at 220-pounds each (I don’t believe it) but even at half of that, that still gives it over 500 pounds weight capacity. I prefer poly on casters when dealing with heavy projects. They keep their form longer and are easier to move around.

Since I almost had to take out a second mortgage to buy few sheets of Chinese junk ply, I decided to skimp on drawer slides and rough it out with no rails. But, the drawers are made of same pseudo 3/4 and the bottom is 3/8 plus support beam. They should handle some weight.
With the extension wing open, the workbench capacity is 7 feet long. That gives me good assembly coverage.

Compressor compartment doesn’t have any drain hole since it’s light enough for me to take it out once in a while and drain it. And also, I didn’t see a need for air intake. I can always leave the door slightly ajar if I had to during long usage. I use the router switch to turn the compressor on/off when I need to use it.

Any Heaux, The result is not so slick but useful multi functional ……space saver ;-)

So to make cutting crown molding easier or less confusing, I decided to make myself one of those angle jigs using few pieces of scrap ply and hard board.
This one I made it for the 38-degree spring angle.
The 8 required test cuts confirmed the calculations and angles accuracy.

I was thinking the other day, If I see one more of these thin slice jigs, I’m gonna hurt somebody. So my apologies to those of you who like me are tired of seeing these. But, since I didn’t like the way my last jig looked, (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/22881) I wanted to make a slightly more of a unique looking one that was even more accurate and made of real wood. So I opted for sliding dovetail using walnut and even made the spreader bar from scratch.
And as you can see from pictures, it is capable of setting up for super thin slice.
Well, that plastic knob has to be replaced with a brass Knurled Nut ;-)

Well, It can be used on the side of a table saw in a vertical position to support those long heavy boards or as a double roller stand in front.
Or as a single vertical in front or…well you get the picture.

Sure wish I had made this before my last oversized project. It would have save me a lot of grief and aggravation.
But a timely must before my next oversized project.

The stand is a leftover from a damaged roller stand that was not a favorite of mine hence met with a skill saw accident.But, It saved me time making one from scratch.
The roller balls are the usual HF gems spaced 1 ¾ apart and it’s 50 1/2 inches long.

After having a couple of disappointing weekends returning newly purchased sub $200 Slider Miter Saws back to HF and Northern Tool, I decided instead, I would treat myself to a dedicated dual rail miter sled.
Total cost under $20.
The left and right supports are adjustable. This type of miter sled is based on left and right cuts which should sum to 90 degrees. And according to my digital square this is dead on. Test cuts are another story.
Although I’ve seen others use this type of sled successfully, I’m not altogether convinced that this is the way to go. For me, I find the sled too time consuming when it comes to setups, clamping tight against fence and preventing work from slipping and equal length of cuts setups.
So far the few short test cuts have not been in agreement with my digital and engineering squares due to lousy techniques and lack of patience and none slip surface.
Oh well, It will look good as a dust collector in a corner of the shop ;-)

No showstopper or eye candy here. Just few push blocks with modular design. The handle can be used with different blocks as required by different table saw or jointing jobs. And the push notch is adjustable for different depth on wood thickness and replaceable. Two-sided tape secures the replaceable pad.

Well, not much here. Quick and dirty solution to cutting equal length metal dowels/pins.
The two dado cut grooves are equal to the rod size and the clamped on stop section is used to adjust the length of the cut. My router table jigsaw with metal cutting blade did the rest. And the drill press to polish the ends.

All I need is an English carny to do an infomercial…… But wait..

This should have been the first thing I made when I got my TS but I didn’t have an industrial Dust collection up until last weekend (thank you HF) and the shop vac connected to the contractors saws puny output didn’t make much of a difference.
So, after eating dust for about two years here I am.

Part 1 covers the lower main section of dust collection which includes sealing of the back and front. Hence sacrificing tilt. But I rarely do angle cuts and if need be, I can always remove the 2 blocking culprits.

I decided on the Big Horn dust hood. Note that there’s also a big gulp that looks just like this with one major difference, that one does not have lip on all 4 sides and can’t be used in TS. So after I made the correct size frame and hole, and holding brackets, I cut it in half. (the only way to install it unless you want to take the TS apart).
The cutoff for the back was ez and a strip of tape from inside, took care of front. So about 75% of dust has been eliminated. In Part 2 I will be adding over the blade gizmo.That should Eliminate rest of the dust.

THX for looking.

Been real frustrated with the safety cutterhead guard on this jointer since the day that I got it.
That’s been my main beef.
Every time I needed to flatten a stock that was less than 13/16” ~ 3/4” I had to take a risk and remove the stupid idiotic guard in order to complete the job. Finally today I reached my limit hence this upgrade. Now if need be, I can go as low as 1/4 and still be safe.

On occasions, when dealing with long boards in joining operations I prefer to use dowels instead of biscuits especially if the boards thickness or flatness is less than perfect.
This jig is ideal for drilling exact interval holes on as many as boards you will be using.
Just align the edge of the dowel centering jig and drill the first hole in the board. Then, you place the spacer dowel pin into the first hole and edge the doweling jig against the other end and you move the pin from hole to hole for exact hole drilling intervals.
This one is has different holes for 12,9,6,3 inch intervals from center and is for 3/8 thick dowels.

Just a few pressure clamps for small to large jointing operations or veneering. Nothing special or eye candy about these. EZ to make. Had some two by four lumber which I split in half and run on the jointer to get a perfect flat side.
Drilled a few holes at different intervals to accommodate different size board widths, these will do up to thirty inches wide. The turn handles I made using some T-nuts.
Some leftover stain to fight off glue during clamping. I might cut shallow dado’s for glue escape or just use riser blocks.
These are a must in any shop that deals with real wood and jointing projects.

This time I’m using a ¾ ply to make few of these. Not that I need more of these since I use each ZCI on both sides for two different saw blades, But I just wanted to have a little fun trying a different technique while procrastinating on real projects ;-)

Any heaux, I use the already made handy ZC instead of the original throat plate to draw the pattern and for router pattern cut using flush trim bit. Trimmed the extra using poor man’s band saw. Once that was complete, I measured the exact dept for the insert and subtract that from the ply and rabbited the rest using a straight bit to make the rabbet all around the insert. (Look ma, no need for adjustment screws) Rabbeting router bit would have been handy but for some reason, I can’t talk my self into buying one.

The next step is using the 8 inch dado set to make the two underside grooves that are over 1/4 thick. This of course is not necessary if you have a table saw that let’s the 10 inch saw blade go way down below the insert. But unfortunately with Ridgid table saws that’s not an option hence the extra step with dado or couple of 8 inch blades. (Not sure if Ridgid remedied that with the now discontinued granite top). Then out goes the dado stack and in goes the blade/s that I will be suing with this ZCI. Touch of paint or stain or sealant ………I use each ZCI with two saw blades of different size so it saves time making more of these.

So, do I prefer this method better than my original? http://lumberjocks.com/projects/20918
Absolutely not! It takes longer to make ZCI this way but if you don’t have material that is exact thickness or real close and you don’t feel like using adjustable screws than this is the way to go. the point is there is no reason to pay for a ZCI.

Few pieces of aluminum and magnets, few taps and screws, a complete adjustable table saw and jointer alignment jig accurate and EZ on the eyes ;-)
TFL