Jigs at Work

  I nearly always work alone in my shop and so jigs, clamps and props are an important part of my tool kit. This latest project showed how useful my shop aids are.

  

  My lap top computer had been getting slower and the keyboard has always been a pain and so once again my son-in-law came though with second hand tech, that is great for me. On my desk I have returned to a computer with a big box and a really good big screen and it connects to a pretty good sound system too. All I need to do is get used to 'Windows' again.

  Anyway I made the stand on which the screen sits in my shop.  Once again I turned to the scrap bin for the materials. The stand's height is designed for perfect viewing and it is wide enough for the mouse and keyboard to slide underneath to get out the way.  

  The is nothing special about this computer stand but it did show the use of two different shop jigs.

  Here I using my right angle jigs to hold the sides in place while the glue dries. If the wood had been thicker I could have used pocket holes and the KREG right angle clamp. I will using my KREG clamp on my next project. Since the wood was thin I used my jigs with clamps and left it overnight to dry.

  

  I cut four small brackets to support the side and put one long rib under the middle to keep the stand from sagging.

   The other jigs I used were  3/4 inch bench dogs.

To keep the dog from falling though
I cut two slots, and drilled a hole in the center.
Drilling the hole kept the dowel from splitting when I drove
in the #10 screw.

  The heads of the dogs splay out just enough to keep them from falling through, making then handy when combined with the dog holes drilled in the work surface.

  The last thing I wanted to share was from the last blog. When I cut the guide blocks I held them in my Bessey Vise.

  This little vise clamps onto my bench and is very useful for holding small objects.  

  

  I am continuing to discard un-necessary things from my working space and am happily working away on more small things.

  cheers,ianw

  

Labour Day 2018

 Hey, one and all.  It is very warm, very very humid and wonderfully quiet here today.  After the last two weeks of Grandchildren, and family weddings peace has returned.  I am drinking coffee, listening to "Kind of Blue" and already sweating while typing this.

  Once the children headed home yesterday I spend a couple of hours in the coolness of my down stairs shop.  My work area has been an ever evolving thing, and this last project (bean bag game boards) drew my attention to something that  seems obvious, now.

  

a current project on the three raised work jigs

  A few years ago I made the two I-beams to help with assembly and glue ups. Also a few years ago I salvaged half of a work mate top as a mini work bench.  Since I did not have a unified Work Bench Theory in place the mini-bench and the I-beams where not the same height .  One of the things I did yesterday was cut the mini-bench height down. I am moving toward the "Unified Work Bench Theory", I am considering consultation with Dr. Sheldon Cooper as he will shortly out of work.

  I made an anti-racking solution for clamping the mini-bench to my work table.

anti-racking solution hanging close
at hand.

solution installed.

  Having the spacer readily at hand makes clamping more efficient.  

  The combination of mini-bench and I-beams provides many different clamping solutions now that they are the same height.

  The other thing I did yesterday was customise guide blocks for my 12 inch band saw.  Several years I added a second band  saw to my shop.  Now I have a 14 inch King band saw with a 5/8 x 3 tppi ripping blade and a 12 inch Delta with a 1/4 inch turning blade. Since the Delta is older I could not get 'cool blocks' in the right size to replace the nasty metal blade guides.  I decided to buy  over  size guide blocks and cut them down to size.

  

left side the original metal guide block.

  The difference in size is significant.  My first thought was to sand/grind the extra mass off. Sanding presented two problems: it was slow ( I hate waiting), also it was difficult to hold onto the block without risking finger tips.  I tried a variety of pliers and clamps and finally found a rasp removed material fairly quickly, but not quickly enough to suit me.

  

   Finally I settled on cutting the block to size.

    

   Since I had no firm idea of what  'cool blocks'  are made I did not what to risk a good saw blade.  In a drawer I have a fine toothed Japanese saw, which is missing teeth in several places. (it hit a nail biting experience, early in its life) but the remaining teeth are still good.  This saw became my sacrificial lamb if it knocked out more teeth, oh well.  I still don't know of what material 'cool blocks' are made, but it cuts with a fine toothed Japanese saw pretty well. I was able to cut sections off the block and then was able to hand sand the remainder off to get a good fit

  The lower set of blocks look fine for now but I  have parts to replace them when necessary.

  As it is Labour Day I am not planning to labour.

cheers ianw