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Precision

A project log for Shop Reorganization

Putting my house in order

david-tuckerDavid Tucker 04/23/2023 at 01:130 Comments

I have not had much to post recently, but I have had time to get some work done.

I was able to cut out the shell of the drill press storage and get it painted.

I'm pleased with how it turned out in the end, but I had some troubles both with my track saw and my biscuit jointer.  I have been accumulating more and more measuring devices in an effort to improve the accuracy and repeatability of my cuts.  However even trying to be very careful some of my cuts were off by more than a mm and that made the box go together a little crooked.  The biscuit jointer also had issues, somehow it is also off by a mm or so. I have not yet gotten to the bottom of that one.  Is it just sloppy handling, a loose rail, or something else.

For the drawers I was not thinking of using biscuits, but I do need to make an awful lot of repeatable cuts.  I have been casting around for ideas on how to make that happen.  One great idea I came across was from Peter Millard's 10 minute workshop.  He has an introductory track saw series and recommends making these parallel guides.  They clip onto the top of the track and help you realign it for repeat cuts.  My track lacks a groove on the top like Festool tracks have so I can't use the commercial parallel guides, but these were basically free and seem to work just as well.

I also made this cross cut sled that he recommended.  I was able to make both out of a $8 1/4 sheet (2'x4') of 1/4" mdf and some scraps of 3/4" mdf.  I was able to cut a 250 mm wide sheet of 3/4" mdf with less than 0.1mm of error across the cut.  Hopefully together these will allow me to make repeatable cuts as I churn through the 40 or so parts (120+ cuts) needed to make the drawers.

I'm also planning on making some templates to help make the drawers.  Hopefully that and my brad nailer will be more accurate than my biscuit jointer.  And I'm working on a 'waist side spacer' to help make cutting thin strips more accurate as well.  I'm all setup and ready to start cutting, I just need to work up the nerve and do it already.

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