Home for some mid-day chow. Grabbed a couple quickie pics this AM.
I think/hope they'll be helpful to some degree.
My PC's blade runs almost exactly 5" from the sole edge. I made the center fence/guide rail about 3 1/4 wide on this one. So......for a double -sided guide/shoot board.....we add 5 + 5 + 3 1/4 = 13 1/4 total width. But it's gonna take a little more material to make it. For one thing, if you also use more 1/4 luan for the fence/rail......you'll need double thickness there....and you're gonna make all these pieces and parts slightly oversize to start with. Maybe 1/4" wide for each of the two pieces comprising the fence and make the base an inch extra wide or so to start with.
So.... in this instance with my dimensions, you'd rip two pieces 3 1/2" wide. You would then laminate these two together with a good coat of glue in betweeen. Titebond or similar is dandy. Stack 'em so the edges are relatively in alignment with one another. Pretty close is fine. Say within 1/16" to an 1/8th. I fastened those together using my pneumatic staple gun. Pop, pop, pop. Just make sure that you do this on a pretty flat surface. Don't really wanna build bow into the thing. Set aside to dry for awhile. If the staples come thru the backside, grind 'em off.
When it's dried for an hour or so...........take it to the tablesaw and rip just enough material off of one side to get a uniform edge. Then flip it and rip and the other edge..again removing more or less just enough to get a uniform edge. Now you should have two dead straight sides that are parallel with one another. Doesn't matter a hoot if the ends aren't in dead-square with the sides. ...and doesn't matter what the final width actually is. You'll probably end up with somewhere around 3 1/4 or so.
If you want to avoid laminating pieces and have an 8' piece of some 1/2" ply around, use that instead.
Now measure the distance between you saw's sole edge and the inside of blade. Let's say 5". So 2 x 5 + the 3 1/4 for the fence = 13 1/4. Cut the base to around 14 - 14 1/2 wide or so. Give yourself a little material to play with. You definitely want the material on either side of the fence to be greater than the actual distance from sole to blade. Make little center marks on the end of this piece and on both ends of the fence piece for alignment purposes. You're gonna be assembling these two together next. First thing to decide is how you're gonna do it.
I used the staple gun again with some longer staples and then ground off the excess after the fact.
If you don't have such a staple gun capable of this, I think you could use some short drywall screws down from the top or from the bottom. If the tips stick thru, grind 'em off with a body grinder or similar. If you do this, you'll want to predrill slip-shank holes for the screws and also make countersinks for the heads. Mind you these screws need only serve as clamping devices while the glue dries again, but they don't hurt a thing and you might as well leave 'em in there.
On the other hand, if you have a bunch of deep engagement clamps lying around, you could just use those instead of screws or staples.
Apply some glue to the bottom side of the fence and fasten those two pieces together. (Don't forget the alignment marks so you're centered.) When it's dry, clamp the thing down somewhere secure where the blade can freely pass all the way thru (maybe overhanging the edge of a full sheet of ply on sawhorses). Make sure saw is set to dead-square and while manually lifting the guard at first......carefully guide it as you start out...riding the sole edge against the fence........and proceed to cut off all that excess material from one end to the other. Your jig is now dedicated to that saw with that blade (or one of the same thickness). The outer edge of the jig will show you precisely where you're gonna cut. All ya need is a couple squeezie-clamps and you're in business.
Mind you this jig is configured to cut off waste. (Clamped with jig over the material you want to save) If you need to use it to cut off the good stuff instead, you're' gonna have to slide it over the thickness of the blade.
Dedicate the other side of the jig to whatever you like. Might be for the same saw with a heavier or lighter blade in it. Might be the same saw and blade only set to a 5 degree bevel for shooting door bottoms or latch-side door bevels. Might be for a different saw....or even your router...with a particular mortising/dado bit in it. Just remember that if you're going to use the other edge for a different tool, you'll have to adjust/recalculate the total width of your jig base and the location of the fence to accommodate potentially different distances from tool sole to jig edge.........before you start cutting out the material for the jig base.
Notice that the double-wide nature of the jig also provides plenty of room to apply your squeezies without them getting in the way of motor on a circular saw. You can also drill holes thru the jig and use screws to hold in place if/when that's appropriate on some tasks you might use it for.
Drill a hole near-ish each end somewhere in the jig for a couple large finish/casing nails and you can hang it horizontally on your shop wall so it doesn't eat up space.
It's fast to make, it's light, it's strong enough, it's accurate and it's easy to use. By golly.....as Martha Stewart would say.........it's a good thing.
If you'd like bigger pics........holler and I'll post somewhere and link ya.
While I'm babbling.........here's another little tip....just in case you don't already do this.
If you need to cut rips/pieces of ply or mdf or whatever..... from a full sheet that you can't easily negotiate thru the tablesaw... then instead of fighting with the potential blade binding when cutting over sawhorses or such........just give in and buy a full sheet of say 1/2" or even 3/4" OSB for a sacrificial table. Flop it on your horses, lay your target sheet on top, set your blade so it just protrudes thru a bit....and cut away. No binding and the associated dangers because everything is fully supported. The sacrificial sheet should last a long,long time/many, many cuts so long as you keep the protruding blade to an absolute minimum. This same sheet can also serve as glue-up/assembly table, etc.
Well....I certainly feel like the fool for buying that stupid aluminum extrusion thing. Seems like this would work better, not bind, provide more clamp area...yada yada. I will def. set one of these things up and have at it. Maybe I can sell my aluminum thing on Ebay. it does have clamps on the ends so I guess i could keep it for extra wide laminations.
I will need to spend some time getting the sole plate on my Miwaukee parallel to the blade. That is def. one assumption I made...obviously without thinking about it.
Thanks for the pictures. I'll let you know how this trim board thing (around the support post in the pictures) works out.
BTW...have you ever seen a compass/divider device made to work with a Sharpie? I have discovered that part of my troubles with using a compass for scribing surfaces is how hard I need to push on the pencil to get a mark to stay behind. This sort of removes the finess from the operation. If there was a Sharpie in there I think the scribing process would work better...for me.
Don't feel like a fool, Walt. :eek: No need, nor reason for that. It's not like you have decades of woodworking experience under your belt and should have learned/discovered/encountered all the handy little jigs by now. Takes time. Lots of time. Heck, I certainly don't know it all (never will) and still make mistakes when it comes to tool purchases. Shoulda and didn't.... or.... shouldn't have, but did. Live and learn is the name of the game.
I haven't seen your aluminum rig so can't say for certain what other tools & applications it might be suitable for. I probably wouldn't be too hasty about getting rid of it quite yet...unless I was hurtin' for coin. Might not turn out to be a mistake afterall.
Hmmmm. I normally use a #2 lead pencil and don't usually have any problems getting an easily-seen marking on the wood....except perhaps if the wood/surface is pretty dark. The addition of some tape to mark on instead does the deed. Remove after cutting. Or.......I'll mount some yellow lead instead and mark with that directly. Fine point Sharpie sounds like a good idea though and you've already got a lead as where to look. Also.........Got any "old fashioned"office supply stores around there locally yet? There's one here and they still carry drafting equipment and supplies. College bookstore/art supply, maybe.
Not sure just what you'll encounter if you have to align blade and sole on that MW. Can't remember what/how we did it with Dave's. Mighta beat it into submission with a hammer. :D Yours is newer and might have some real nice provision for alignment. Don't know, can't say. Worse case scenario might be filing/sanding the sole edge into alignment. A call to MW tech might prove helpful.
You might try using artists charcoal pencils, they're extremely soft and don't require much pressure to make a mark. Even softer lead pencils (again, an art supply will have softer pencils than the standard #2).
Ya need a couple brewskis (for joint lubrication purposes) before swingin' that axe...to guarantee a really sweet fit the first time.
How's about we all chip in and buy Walt one of these?