A couple of "Tips"....?

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I was down in the Dungeon the other night, I'm getting ready to build the picture frames for that pic of my cousin Dan and I, out of some nice curly Maple that Peter Rideout brought me, I don't want to screw up any of that lovely wood, so I'm doing some test pieces or practice pieces first.

While building the four way self centering picture frame clamp and some practice pieces, I took some pics of the stuff I do.

I know that to a lot of you guys, this is old hat, but on another site I was asked to show how I do some of this small stuff, so I thought I'd just pass this along there too :)

First the picture frame clamp, lots of versions of this are around, I think you can buy one cheap from Rockler too :huh:

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Basic, works well

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It can do rectangle to, just:rolleyes:
I made the spacing 30cm, should have going with 2.5 cm

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To make the clamping rod in the middle, I cut a piece of threaded rod with bolt cutters...

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This leaves an ugly mess, so when you want to clean up the end of something like this...

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Chuck it up in your drill, and while running the drill, grind the end flat

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You can see that the end is nice and flat, and the threads are nice an clean, not deformed from the bolt cutters.

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Then put the rod on an angle and touch the tip to the grinder, this gives you a bevel on the end. The nut should thread on easily now.

Just a little thing I picked up along the way, like I said, maybe this is something you all know about and do, bit I thought it was worth sharing :wave:
 
I've got an aluminum version of that frame clamp. Bought it on sale from somewhere (Peachtree, maybe?) but still haven't had a need to make any frames. I have a few tools or accessories like that. :eek:

I've done the drill trick for grinding the ends of threaded rod or other bar stock. It works great, huh?
 
I've got an aluminum version of that frame clamp. Bought it on sale from somewhere (Peachtree, maybe?) but still haven't had a need to make any frames. I have a few tools or accessories like that. :eek:
Well, I would buy one but with shipping it would not be cheap, so I made one, did not have to buy anything, had it all in the Dungeon somewhere.

Vaughn McMillan said:
I've done the drill trick for grinding the ends of threaded rod or other bar stock. It works great, huh?

Yep, the kind of thing you see someone do once and go "Wow, that is really simple, and works great" :thumb:

I know I'm not reinventing the wheel here, but I thought I'd pass it along, I'm sure someone will benefit from it, I know I learned it from someone somewhere on line at some time in the past:dunno: :D
 
Well, I would buy one but with shipping it would not be cheap, so I made one, did not have to buy anything, had it all in the Dungeon somewhere.

Yeah, I'd have been better off making one, too. Like you, I probably should have scrounged up the parts in the shop and gotten inventive. ;)

...I know I'm not reinventing the wheel here, but I thought I'd pass it along, I'm sure someone will benefit from it, I know I learned it from someone somewhere on line at some time in the past:dunno: :D

And I agree with your logic for passing it on. :thumb:
 
Tip #2

I have a nice little Hitachi SCMS, I really do like this saw :thumb:

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but, when you cut something with a regular SCMS blade you get a lot of blow out on the backside of the cut, I hear that some of the more expensive blades do a good job, but well, I'm cheap I guess, frugal :rolleyes:

So I just do this, takes only moments and really works :D

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Clamp a piece of wood on the fence, and cut off the end of it, then you have a zero clearance fence of sorts

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Also for those with a SCMS, pull out the saw, then push it down and forward, I find that sometimes if I just push down without first pulling it out, I get blow out on the bottom of the piece.

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There you go, no blow out at all, and with a fairly dull $20 blade....

I'm happy! :D
 
Nice tips there Stu as we have come to expect from you.:):thumb: One i will add is i replaced the plastic insert on the chop saw base where the blade cuts down with a piece of plywood and used the saw blade to cut the slot. Now its nice and tight on the bottom too.

Like the picture frame idea. Will copy that when i get the chance. I was looking at those corner clamps in LV the other day. They had some going cheap. But the issue is nothing brings the mitres together. With the setup you posted its done for you. :thumb::thumb:
 
Thanks for the tip. I already installed this fence on my Ryobi. Funny....When I cut smaller pieces the blow back was always an issue. I always used a temp fence...but now I have one dedicated to the saw. Great idea!
 
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