- Read Time: 6 mins
- Hits: 46876
Most table saws have very short built-in outfeed tables which is why roller stands and flip stands have become so popular, but they have their own problems. The ideal outfeed table is an actual table that is either attached or very close to the outfeed of the table saw so that longer boards will simply slide out onto the outfeed table and make for a safer, and better cutting situation.
How to Build an Innovative Folding Outfeed Table for The Table Saw
The floor in my workshop is quite uneven and I move my table saw around a lot, so having a table with legs attached would not work. I know that if I had a flip out table that attached to my saw that had legs, either the legs will get in the way of my camera dolly, or tripod or ... more likely than anything, I will accidentally kick the leg with my foot on the way by and break, or bend it. The other alternative I have seen is a stabilizing leg that is attached to the underside of the table saw and has some pins that you can insert and the whole thing slides up and down on a sliding dovetail leg. Not a bad idea, but I don't want to have to get on my knees every time I want to set up an outfeed table and I just know, where I live, the sliding dovetails will swell in the winter and bind on me ... neither of these appealed to me.
- Read Time: 5 mins
- Hits: 78447
One of the things I like most about woodworking is being able to experiment and try new things, even if others have done them, I still like to see if I can do them and how they are done. Making balls on a lathe has long been one of those experiments I have wanted to do, so I decided to take some time and experiment with what it takes to do this.
Making Wooden Balls / Spheres On the Lathe With a Drill
I had an idea in my head as to what I thought this jig would look like, but as I moved along, I could see that my original design, although it would still work, could be made much easier by changing a few things and that's what I did. Instead of making a stand-alone jig, I could see that incorporating it into the bed of the lathe would be much easier and would stronger too.
- Read Time: 5 mins
- Hits: 25346
It's nice once in a while to get away from the square designs we so often make in woodworking, with something a bit softer, like circle and ovals, Recently one of my subscribers "Phil" asked if there was an easy way of making ovals. He didn't say what he needed them for, but I thought this would be a good time to show one way of making ovals that I have used in the past ... many, many years ago.
How to Make an Ellipse Template Jig / Oval Template Jig
What's nice about this jig is that you can adjust how you want the ovals to look, do you want them almost round looking or do you want them much taller than they are wide? All these things can be done by making adjustments to the jig or the re-sizing the jig it'self.
- Read Time: 6 mins
- Hits: 114651
Thanks to one of my subscribers Fred, who sent me a picture of what this jig looks like, I thought it was a neat idea so decided to make one for myself. Like many things in woodworking there are often many ways to accomplish the same thing and I have made designs in doors like this in the past and there are pros and cons to each method but this looked like a fun little project ... so here goes ...
Trim Router / Palm Router Design Base Jig
Trim Router / Palm Router Design Base Jig 2
The first thing I decided to do was to make it out of clear plastic. This base needs to be very accurate in order to go around the whole inside of the frame and still end up in the same place for the cuts and that is another reason I preferred plastic. Hardboard would work fine and be easier to work with but plastic is a bit sturdier for a job like this ...