What Are You Building Today

[Fitz]

3 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

decided the triangle would be too claustrophobic, so going to make a trapezoid

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Kinky.

[n_maher]

11 hours ago, Grahame said:

The cut doesn't look all that clean  ..

I think laser table technology has advanced considerably in the last 50+ years. 

 

[VPI]

Evidently the sole support guy for Incra is named Barry, and he also never answers the phone and takes forever to return calls.  Sort of a Texas Jessem.

[Dusty Chalk]

16 hours ago, Fitz said:

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Kinky.

That wasn't the double-entendre I expected, but it's the one I lollered.

[naamanf]

Needed some lower profile hold downs. First time cutting plastic, worked great, except the plastic is to flexible to work well for hold downs. Time to see what Amazon has. 

[dsavitsk]

Have you tried double sided tape?

[naamanf]

7 minutes ago, dsavitsk said:

Have you tried double sided tape?

Okay for small parts, but really not feasible for doing larger panels or sheets. 

[dsavitsk]

How about phenolic sheets?

[naamanf]

3 minutes ago, dsavitsk said:

How about phenolic sheets?

I was going to order that or delrin. 

[morphsci]

A “What’s Playin Now” unit

[swt61]

1 hour ago, dsavitsk said:

How about phenolic sheets?

Good idea!

[dsavitsk]

1 hour ago, naamanf said:

I was going to order that or delrin. 

Delrin is quite soft and bendy

[Kerry]

I use HDPE for that stuff. I’ve always had problems working with delrin. It melts as you cut it. 

[dsavitsk]

Delrin definitely lasers better. Danger is that it burns with an invisible flame, so if it catches you don't know until it's gone.

Blank pcb material is another option

[swt61]

1 hour ago, Kerry said:

I use HDPE for that stuff. I’ve always had problems working with delrin. It melts as you cut it. 

Not to mention the sustainability of this product. I could only imagine what kind of cool, carved outdoor furniture Naaman could make on his Ping Pong table.

[VPI]

Working on a cross cut sled. I am going with 24” wide as I think that is about as big as I can manage on the TS. 

How thick are you guys making your fences on the crosscut sleds?  I glued up two 3/4” BB plywood pieces and plan to add a block where the blade lines up.  Is 1.5” thick enough for the squared fence?

[swt61]

For a sled of that size, it's thick enough.

[VPI]

Another stupid question. As I do not want to set off the saw stop safety features. How long do I need to wait after glue up to start cutting down the two pieces of plywood?  Been drying for 4-5 hours. 

[naamanf]

46 minutes ago, VPI said:

Another stupid question. As I do not want to set off the saw stop safety features. How long do I need to wait after glue up to start cutting down the two pieces of plywood?  Been drying for 4-5 hours. 

I would wait 24 hours to safe, or turn the safety feature off temporarily. 

[dsavitsk]

4 or 5 hours should be fine. For glue to trip the saw, it needs to create a path to ground. Merely encountering even wet glue in a joint won't cause a trigger. Similarly, hitting a nail won't cause it to trip unless the nail is also touching something else (the table top, you, a metal fence, etc.) It's why wet wood can cause a trigger as the wetness connects the blade to the table top.

There is a test feature so you can see if something will cause it to trip before turning it on.

Edited February 14, 2021 by dsavitsk

[VPI]

Set up the Murder Machine with its tiniest bit for an almost imperceptible to the eye round over for the sled tops. 
 

 

[VPI]

Is anyone using these Zeroplay mitre bars?  Seem like a nice way to get them set right, but they seem kind of short for the larger sled. 
 

https://www.microjig.com/collections/zeroplay

[swt61]

Wasn't aware of them. Thanks.

I'd imagine you could double them up if necessary.  Maybe even cut the second one down a bit?

[VPI]

I kind of like the idea of shop made rails as you just lay the sled down on them with some glue and everything is perfectly aligned. With these I guess I have to measure the distance between rails and add 3/8 for the mounting position. With a crappy plastic top, not sure the mitre slots will be uniform. 

[dsavitsk]

You'd still probably align them the same way. Put them in the slots, put some double sided tape on them, set the sled on top, flip it over and drill pilot holes through the threaded inserts, or just trace around the rail to find its position.

If they are sufficiently slop free, they shouldn't need to be very long.

I've used the incra version. They are fine, but I usually just end up using wood rails instead. That said, I have never built a forever sled. I build sleds as needed for particular projects, so I don't care if the rails swell in 6 months as it will be in the trash by then. This is probably not a best practice, though.

FWIW, I do like Microjig. This is one of my favorite things: https://www.microjig.com/collections/grr-rip-block