Carol Reed
In Memoriam
- Messages
- 5,533
- Location
- Coolidge, AZ
Had some time to process pictures, so will update this project.
Here is how I handle sheet stock. The sheet is slid into my panel trolley and rolled next to the saw rack on sawhorses. The yellow cylinder on the saw rack is the control for the winch. You can see the clamp from Harbor Freight on the top. I have been picking up full sheets with this one clamp!
Then it is upsa daisy!
Finally flat on the rack for cutting.
This did involved some wrestling to get the sheet ready to lay down and maxed my height limitations, especially for lifting Baltic Birch ply with it's 5x5 dimensions. I now have a custom sling when I can lift from a lower point, and flipping it 90° uses gravity instead of muscles. Even good ideas can be improved upon.
I use a saw track of my own design to break down sheets. I came up with this years before Festool and whomever else. Made a bunch and sold them in SoCal but didn't have the $$ to take it bigger. Vaughn used the guide part when reducing his Michigan chocolate to get it into his car.
I should point out that I am anal about getting things square. Because this is metric plywood, which thicknesses affect the joinery, and because I am using metal drawer guides that are designed for European cabinets, also metric, I have shifted to using all metric measurements. Besides that's all whole numbers! Only use millimeters. Have no use for centimeters or meters. Only confuses the issue.
And I make extensive use of drafting triangles, having now gathered several orange ones in the larger sizes. Every cut gets checked for square before and after cutting. Now is the time to fix things if they are not square. So much easier to make drawers for square cabinets!
One other thing to keep in mind. Each side has to be a mirror image of the other, as do the ends. To check this, stack them and rub your fingers along the edges. They should be flush.
Then is it off to the table saw where the stacked dado blade is installed for the rabbets.
The height gauge is also of my own design. It used a broken drafting triangle, a warped ruler with metric and fractional rules on it, a block of wood, a short piece of aluminum angle to provide some stiffness and thickness to the upright and a shop made sliding stop. I put two rare earth magnets in the bottom side to keep it more stable on the saw. In hind sight, that was overkill.
And lastly, the ends and sides are cut and milled. One end also has the tee nuts installed for the wheels. I put them in before I cut the rabbets and had to remove 4 of them because they were too close for the saw blades but OK in application - barely. It wasn't too smart to install metal before the cutting was done, but it helps to be lucky!!
This is my first real project in about ten years. I spent 4 and a half recovering from the accident and moving to Arizona. The next 5 and half were in seminary and getting settled back home. It has been an adventure to find stuff I know I have but often have to go searching for it. And the new reality of the back and neck have caused me to get rather innovative in working.
Thanks for coming along. Hope you are enjoying the journey.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2 - Update
Part 3a
Part 3b
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Here is how I handle sheet stock. The sheet is slid into my panel trolley and rolled next to the saw rack on sawhorses. The yellow cylinder on the saw rack is the control for the winch. You can see the clamp from Harbor Freight on the top. I have been picking up full sheets with this one clamp!
Then it is upsa daisy!
Finally flat on the rack for cutting.
This did involved some wrestling to get the sheet ready to lay down and maxed my height limitations, especially for lifting Baltic Birch ply with it's 5x5 dimensions. I now have a custom sling when I can lift from a lower point, and flipping it 90° uses gravity instead of muscles. Even good ideas can be improved upon.
I use a saw track of my own design to break down sheets. I came up with this years before Festool and whomever else. Made a bunch and sold them in SoCal but didn't have the $$ to take it bigger. Vaughn used the guide part when reducing his Michigan chocolate to get it into his car.
I should point out that I am anal about getting things square. Because this is metric plywood, which thicknesses affect the joinery, and because I am using metal drawer guides that are designed for European cabinets, also metric, I have shifted to using all metric measurements. Besides that's all whole numbers! Only use millimeters. Have no use for centimeters or meters. Only confuses the issue.
And I make extensive use of drafting triangles, having now gathered several orange ones in the larger sizes. Every cut gets checked for square before and after cutting. Now is the time to fix things if they are not square. So much easier to make drawers for square cabinets!
One other thing to keep in mind. Each side has to be a mirror image of the other, as do the ends. To check this, stack them and rub your fingers along the edges. They should be flush.
Then is it off to the table saw where the stacked dado blade is installed for the rabbets.
The height gauge is also of my own design. It used a broken drafting triangle, a warped ruler with metric and fractional rules on it, a block of wood, a short piece of aluminum angle to provide some stiffness and thickness to the upright and a shop made sliding stop. I put two rare earth magnets in the bottom side to keep it more stable on the saw. In hind sight, that was overkill.
And lastly, the ends and sides are cut and milled. One end also has the tee nuts installed for the wheels. I put them in before I cut the rabbets and had to remove 4 of them because they were too close for the saw blades but OK in application - barely. It wasn't too smart to install metal before the cutting was done, but it helps to be lucky!!
This is my first real project in about ten years. I spent 4 and a half recovering from the accident and moving to Arizona. The next 5 and half were in seminary and getting settled back home. It has been an adventure to find stuff I know I have but often have to go searching for it. And the new reality of the back and neck have caused me to get rather innovative in working.
Thanks for coming along. Hope you are enjoying the journey.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2 - Update
Part 3a
Part 3b
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Last edited by a moderator: