5 Tablesaw Jigs from 1/2 Sheet of Plywood - WOOD magazine

[Music] oh hello i made all five of these table saw jigs that will help you with almost every operation on the table saw all from this one half sheet of plywood let me show you how to make them [Music] i'll start out by breaking down a 4x4 sheet of baltic birch plywood to the dimensions listed pay close attention to the cutting diagram and the project plans presto that hurts and now you can see the whole picture five jigs out of one four by four by three quarter piece of baltic birch ply first up is a saddle fence the high side of this jig supports tall pieces when cutting them on edge flip it around to use it as a sacrificial fence for cutting rabbets let me show you how it's made on the riser i'm going to measure in six inches from either side and i'll do the same for the high fence on each end and the height is set at an inch and three quarter and i'll make those marks on each of those lines this is a three drill bit operation and the reason is i need a quarter inch hole for the quarter 20 bolt inside this tnut i need a 5 16 inch bit for the clearance in the back which will be about a half an inch and lastly i need a three-quarter inch forstner bit set about an eighth of an inch deep so that the face of that t-nut sits flush with the wood i have set the fence to establish this distance so that all three bits can work off the same fence setting and lastly to make setup a little bit quicker i've added index marks with tape on the back i've used two pieces of scrap to protect the wooden jaws of my vise to create the knobs i cut two inch and a quarter long sections of threaded rods i've screwed on a chase nut so that at the end of the cut i can use that to clean up the threads added epoxy to one end and threaded it into the knob finally i filled the void in the knob with the remaining epoxy to assemble this saddle sled i'm going to start by putting t-nuts in the four pre-drilled holes [Music] i'm placing the high fence on the right side of my table saw fence and on the left side of the table saw fence i'll place the riser clamping those in place allows me to set the bridge and with that in place i can mark my index line i remove the clamps and using the index line i pre-drilled holes for permanent attachment [Music] i clamped the high fence and the riser back in place and now place glue on the top edge of the riser and the back edge of the bridge now i've drilled four counterbore holes to attach the bridge to the riser with screws now using my pre-drilled holes as a guide i attach the high fence to the bridge and lastly i used a wet rag to remove glue from the top and the inside edges of the saddle fence the saddle fence makes cutting bevels really easy and here's how it's done first place the jig over the table saw fence with the high side facing the blade now insert both forearm knobs and tighten to ensure a tight fit so raise and bevel your blade in this case i've set it to 15 degrees now take your stock place it up against the high side of the fence using the fence as a steady rest and also using a push block make the cut [Music] now look how nicely that edge turned out no burn marks no saw marks perfect the saddle fence also works well as a sacrificial fence and it's easy to use first drop the saddle fence over the table saw fence with the high side facing away from the table saw blade now raise the dado blade to 3 8 of an inch and slide the fence to expose 3 8 of an inch of that dado blade now turn on the saw and using the jig as a guide pass your board over the blade the result is a perfect 3 8 by 3 8 inch rabbet next up is a tenon jig this jig slides along the rip fence to carry the upright work piece past the blade perfect for forming tenons on the ends of pieces let me show you how to build it i'll measure down two inches and six inches on the high fence and also the same two inches and six inches on the backing fence and then finally put cross marks at five eighths of an inch from the left edge i've used glue to attach the two 2 by 12 inch backing pieces and then set them aside to dry now i've added two t-nuts to the high fence i took the high fence and sat it on the opposite side of the table saw fence from the blade secondly i put the riser on the inside edge closer to the blade and clamped those together lastly i set the bridge on top of the riser and marked the high fence within index line so now using the index line as a guide i drilled two pilot holes i added glue to the top of the riser and the back side of the bridge i drove two screws to attach the bridge to the riser and finally two more screws through the back of the high fence into the bridge [Applause] to locate the holes for the backing fence i set it up and clamped it behind the high fence and used a 13 64th bit through the t-nuts to show the marks for drilling then i took the backing fence to the drill press and drilled two nine thirty seconds slightly oversized holes through those previous marks finally to finish the assembly i used two quarter twenty one and a half inch long round head bolts to attach the backing fence to the high fence so this is a tenoning jig all assembled and it does a great job of cutting the cheeks on a tenon i've set up the fence and the table saw to cut a one inch high tenon the stock is clamped to the fence and the jig slides along the fence to create the cut once that cuts made i reverse the piece and do it again [Music] that gives me a perfect tenon every time it's a good idea to make more of these backing fences with some of the scrap left over from your plywood sheet because it's going to get chewed up and that's why we use two bolts to hold it together and not glue the next jig is a cross cut sled use it to steady wide panels or long pieces for perfect 90 degree cross cuts here's how to build it we start by drilling a hole all the way through the edge of the sled's fence on the drill press we'll set a block so the hole is centered and an inch and a half away from one edge using a quarter inch drill bit drill a through hole making sure to relieve some of the sawdust as you drill to keep the bit from binding now the hole has been drilled time to take that piece to the table saw and rip a three-quarter inch long piece down the length of the fence now coming back to the drill press we have to make two more holes to accommodate the t-nut i'm using a bench-mounted table vise to hold that piece while i tap in the t-nut to prevent splitting and finally it's time to glue those pieces back together again as long as the glue is out we can glue up two sets of the two by two inch blocks and one set of the two by four inch blocks these will become sled stops and a blade guard for the sled [Music] i'll make two knobs the same way as earlier one with a two and a half inch long rod the other three and a quarter inch long [Music] i'll take our two by three inch block and drill a quarter inch hole centered seven eighths of an inch from the end then another quarter inch hole all the way through the edge centered a half inch from the end i'll add holes for a t-nut here as well to cut the eighth inch curve from the stop block i used double stick tape and attach that block to a sacrificial board and cut it on the table saw finally i installed a t-nut using the vise jaws to keep it from splitting the fence needs to have a center groove quarter of an inch wide and a quarter of an inch high to hold the rod to do that i've set the table saw fence up to cut right down the middle of that piece and then turn it around to cut it again that center is my first cut now i'm moving the fence closer to the blade and making successive passes on both ends will widen that to a final quarter [Music] i've jointed and planed a board to fit exactly in my miter slot the runner for this sled needs to be 3 8 of an inch thick so i'll take that same board lay it up against the fence and make one cut now moving the fence one half inch to the left make another cut and the off ball piece will be 3 8 of an inch it's now time to glue the fence to the base i've applied glue to each side of the groove press the rod in the center and set that fence up against the base making sure that the edges of the fence and the base are perfectly even and then clamped now take a damp rag and remove excess glue and use the rod sliding in and out of the hole to remove any excess glue in the groove to place the runner i've added two washers to both the front and the back to raise its level even with the face of the table with the use of double stick tape and the fence slid to within three inches of blade i've carefully placed the sled even with the back of the saw and down onto that double face tape pressing firmly to adhere the tape then i lift the entire sled unit off and use three screws to permanently attach the runner to the base [Music] now slide the fence to the right and raise the saw blade to about three quarters of an inch which is just above the thickness of the base turn the saw on and run the sled until that saw blade just touches the back fence then shut off the saw and leave the sled in that position lastly mark its position with a pencil now take the sled stop position it up against the back edge of the sled and with a pencil mark its location on the wing i've drilled a counter bore hole in the center of that wing stop so i set the wing stop up against the pencil line and use a punch to mark the center so i used a smaller bit to start and finished with a 5 16 inch bit for the bolt hole now attach the block to the wing finally glue the sled stop to the sled positioned next to the wing stop now glue the blade guard to the back of the sled now insert the rod and tighten it with the forearm knob lastly attach the stop block with the forearm knob now invert the sled and use two screws to further support the short arm of the sled so to make two exact pieces i will cut my first one to size as soon as that cuts done to assure the second one will be exactly the same i can take the adjustable rod slide it up until it reaches the end of that first cut like so [Music] and then when the second piece goes on it touches that same stop block and allows me to make the second cut perfectly the ripping sled lets you straight line rip rough cut lumber or put a precise taper on a work piece here's how to make it i've installed a quarter inch dado blade to cross cut two grooves on either end of the sled seven inches in and i set my fence at seven and eight inches to account for the thickness of the blade the pre-cut groove provides clearance for the keyhole bit to complete the t-slot i've set the router bit height to 3 8 of an inch out of the table and the fence 7 inches from the center of that bit [Music] [Applause] [Music] lastly i used a quarter 20 hex head bolt to test that fit i've gathered up six of the two by two squares and two of the two by four squares i've glued up two blocks that now form one and a half inches by two by two while the glue is drying i'll lay out the center line and then take that block to the drill press drill a centered quarter inch hole through the face of each square and a corresponding hole through the two four inch plywood blocks installing a stop block allows me to drill all of these in the single position [Music] two more knobs both with three and a half inch threaded rods to use this ripping jig i want to set it up against the fence and i want to slide the fence over until the jig is just clear of the table saw blade like this because i don't want to cut that jig at all now i'll lower the blade take our two quarter 20 hex head bolts and assemble hold downs so these are two inch blocks if i need more space there are extra three quarter inch blocks there's the top of each hold down top these off with a washer and a forearm knob lastly these are the wood hold downs and i'm not just going to do anything other than get them in there i'm not going to firm them down right at the moment now the purpose of this jig is to find one straight edge on this somewhat irregular board so by using the jig and setting this up so that the edge that i want removed rides right up on the underside of the jig that's up against the blade so what i'm going to do is set that i can feel that difference and first set the stop blocks like so and then finally the hold downs now if you're concerned about scratching the wood at all you can just use a couple of scraps like this i'm just going to slide it back and raise the table saw blade and keeping the jig up against the fence move this forward the raised blade will cut a perfect beautiful straight edge down this and eliminate this tear out and now we have a beautifully jointed edge and to make the board parallel this now goes up against the fence and we make a second cut to give you the decided width now this sled can also be used as a taper jig and here's how that works first thing you'll notice is the piece that i want to taper doesn't fit underneath those hold downs so all i want to do is take this knob off and i'm going to insert the three quarter inch block and put the knob back on and i'll do the same thing in the back that will give me the initial height that i need now what i want to do is i want to cut a quarter inch taper from this edge down to zero at this edge so i just put a pencil mark at quarter inch and to do this and again because the jig slides right up against the table saw blade i'm just going to extend my piece until it matches that line and again slide your stop blocks in and this edge will be at zero and lastly and remember again i can use these little pieces of scrap in there if i'm concerned about marking this up and again we'll raise the blade keep the jig up against the fence the table saw blade will trim this taper off of there down to just zero at the end and there is my taper a quarter inch off from that edge down to zero at this one if i would not do the opposite side i could do the same thing and remember if i decide i want to stand this up to make a four-sided one i'll have to take the amount i cut off and put it back on the bottom to keep it level it's a great way to make tapers this jig does it beautifully finally the dado and cut off jig is a simple little gauge that lets you cut precise repeatable dados without a dado blade it can also be used for safe repeatable shortcuts here's how i made it to construct the dado cutoff jig i've started with the last two pieces of two inch by three inch stock i pre-cut a one inch by one inch section out of one of those two by three blocks and that cut can be made on a table saw band saw or scroll saw i then measured for a hole to be centered on the width and length of that small cutout now i'm drilling a three thirty seconds hole centered on that mark now i'm applying glue to one edge of the uncut block and joining them together to form a jig and finally to complete the jig i've inserted an eight by inch and a quarter long screw so this is our completed dado and cut off jig and you can actually make a dado without using a dado blade here's how you use it to cut a dado in the section of oak i first mark the outside shoulder of the dado with a pencil mark and i want to put the dado on the x side of that pencil mark and now using a standard eighth inch blade and selecting the tooth that's leaning to the right i'll make sure that that tooth is lined up perfectly with a line on my board now holding that board up against the face of the miter gauge i'll slide the fence over until the jig's finger just touches the end of that board now clamp the jig in place turn on the table saw and make your first pass with the screw head set 3 8 of an inch beyond the finger i can now slide that board back until the edge of the board touches the screw head that 3 8 offset combined with the thickness of the blade will create a half inch dado and lastly use the blade to remove the waste between the two cuts [Music] the result is a perfect half inch dado without using a dado blade this jig can also make identical same length cut off pieces here's how you do that i've marked my stock for three inch cuts and i've clamped the jig to the fence now sliding the board up and making individual cuts provides identical lengths [Music] this is one of the few times when you can use a miter gauge and a fence in the same operation the jig works perfectly all those little blocks are cut nicely and none of them will contact the fence a great way to make small identical length cutoffs so there you go five jigs with one half sheet of plywood now it's time to get back in your shop and make something

Channel: WOOD magazine

Views: 514,712

Keywords: WOOD magazine, woodworking, how-to, project, plan, carpentry, tool, technique, review, table, saw, band, miter, cabinetry, cabinet, making, make, build, saddle, fence, jig, tenon, crosscut, sled, ripping, dado, cutoff, gauge, cut, off, tennon, multiply, plywood, baltic, birch

Id: qIuJ3JJjcc4

Length: 20min 27sec (1227 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 24 2021