Finger joints on large panels and Jig.

Hello everyone welcome back!!
Here is one of my interesting finds!

Say we have two pieces of ply/wood where a finger joint is to be made.  What it seems to be from the picture above is, offset one piece, say piece 2, by width of the blade towards left and make few cuts.  Next offset the piece 2, by width of the blade towards right and make few cuts.  Now, if the waste is removed, as shown in the picture, exact fitting finger joints is what is left.  But then, a jig is needed to make flawless cuts.

Here is jig that will work with Dremel Saw Max.

Here is a video of making the finger joints.

This is my 5 attempt; first 2 three attempts I tried to mark offset by taking thickness of blade and next two missed making alternate cuts.  One 'missed alternate cuts' can be seen this video.

Thanks for watching!!

Aid to cut full sized panels

I have to use a longer fence/guide so that I get enough leverage at the start!

Failed experiments, Learnings II: Circular saw guide

This is my second attempt, well.. third, making guide for my circular saw.  This is smaller one, but to cut 8ft long ply, I think there must be a way to make it easier.

Update 11Oct14:
Here is how to minimize chip-out.

Failed experiments, learnings I: Rebate aiding jig

Hello and welcome back.

The tool, for making rebates is router.  Then again, a local made compression router bit (for plywood) costs around 2000 which is about a third of router price. I was thinking if it is doable with a circular saw.

May be doable but definitely not easy.  Consider this, a 10mm rebate for 8ft ply will required at the least 5 passes, assuming a kerf is 2mm.  In addition to this, adjusting the guide every time is cumbersome.  So, here is what I came up with.  (Download sketchup file, to play with)

I made this which is around 2ft long and 20cm wide.  It is good for rebates shorter than 2ft.

.It failed miserably, for,

1. I made it with a 12mm ply and forgot to mind its weight.  It is very difficult to set up with just two hands.
2. It requires three steps to cut a 8ft ply, which is almost 10min.
3. 3 clamps for a job of less than one minute.  It takes so much time just to set the jig.

The major learnings are

1. Jigs should attach to the tool itself.
2. It is better to have different sizes of the fences than to have one with slot.  I found there is always a slight movement even if fastened tight. (In the video, I used a clamp)

Here is what I came up with finally.  I was using 3 quarter ply for making a cabinet and need to cut a rebate 10mm wide and 8mm deep.  I made this jig exactly for this dimensions.

The next version of this has to be made for my circular saw.

Dremel's Saw Max blades: Cleaning

Hello and welcome back.

Saw Max cuts by grinding, not by cutting.

Yes, that is correct.  The blades have fine carbide grit on them.  This carbide grit is what grinds the wood.  While grinding it creates a lot of very fine dust.  This also make the blade very hot.  Though it is marketed to cut a 3/4 depth, in my experience it good for less than that thickness.  Most important once the blades get hot, they don't cut good enough and the burnt wood sticks to the blades, making them useless.  It is good to have a couple of blades so that work doesn't has to be stopped.

It burnt wood on the blades reminded me of the burnt oil on pans in kitchen.  Anyways, the blades were no good and I can't worsen them.  So, I thought of using the kitchen detergent to clean blades.  Soaked them for about 2 hours, yeah a very long, and then cleaned them with a kitchen brush.

Surprisingly, it worked!

Record planes

Ooops.. didn't realize the orientation of the camera was so wrong!! <SORRY>

The last set of planes (minus 1) have arrived.  I think I now have all the sufficient tools for starting.  I'm missing a shoulder plane which I feel will be compensated with rebate plane to an extent.  Last in the list is dove tail guide, that can wait for now.

Update:27Feb
Missed to add the comparison pictures.  My earlier monster, 4" plane, is very much dwarfed by the 5"1/2 plane. :)

Record 2506s

Ever wondered how to clean Dados? It needs a side Rebate plane.  Record used to make two types of the these; one with a depth fence and one without.  This one is with fence.

Record 071

There should be a small bolt and nut to hold the fence to plane, which is missing.  I guess, any other would also work.

Record 735..

Looked like it was never used.  Even the grease had dried up!

All it needed was bit of care from WD-40 and Teflon based lube

Quick review of Soba 3-in-1 plane

This is 3-in-1 plane from Shobha.  It is a Shoulder, Bull-nose and a Chisel plane.  The shoulder/bull-nose plane are used to clean the tenon's shoulder.  So, the plane's bottom needs to perfect 90 degrees to its sides.  Chisel plane is used where shaving have to be taken to the very edge, for instance, raised panels.  It just needs the blade to be protruding out of he plane.

I'm taking a very quick look at the basic design features of this plane.

While editing the video I could see the video was not doing justice to it, so, I took few macro mode shots.  The side are perfect parallel, but it is the bottom of the plane that is not at 90 to sides.  This would take very careful effort to get 90 to sides.  I guess, I'm better of with a new one with saving time and patience.

From photos above, side are parallel but bottom is not at 90 to sides.

 The bottom of the bull nose needs a good shave!

"Unusable out of the box" is what I can in short.

Record 405 multiplane

If using nails/screws are not the option, dados are the way to make shelves/cabinets.  Dados are nothing but just groves in the wood that hold wood planes.  The present day power tools like table saw with dado stack or routers can be used to cut groves in wood.  The pre-modern day tool to make dados were 'dado planes'.  Record company of England was one of the tool makers that made variety of hand tools.  They used to make dado planes as well as all-in-one kind of plane with dado plane part of it, Record 405 multiplane.

For a hobbyist, I found investing in a multiplane sensible.  If the intent is to go to commercial, electric is the way!  For a hobbyist hand tools are way to go.

There are two companies that still make this kind of multiplane, I could find, Ananth of India and Clifton of England.  The Clifton multi plane is prohibitively expensive!  The multiplane of India has mixed critics about the its quality.  I did'nt dare to try Ananth as I have just started.  The record multi planes can occasionally be found on Ebay of UK.  I was lucky enough to find one and the seller was willing to ship to India.  What more can I ask for?

 Here are another couple of photos in close-up.

Bending blade replaced with HOCK blade

When I started working with the plane, I noticed few tear outs now and then  On further inspection I found out that it happens whenever the chips were caught in between the chip breaker and blade.  Yes! On taking a closer look I found the blade was bending and creating a gap when the screw was completely tightened.

This also changed the contact angle of the blade with the planing surface.  I'm not skilled enough to see how much difference would it make in the finished product but it was causing problem with the chips getting struck in the gap and the wood tearing out.

I don't know if this is causing the blade not to hold its edge for long but I think so!

 

 

When NOT completely tight.

 After it is completely tightened.

I think this can be corrected by smoothing the chip breaker (I'm waiting for the diamond files).  I was bit impatient seeing it not working.  Instead of correcting it, I went ahead and bought Hock blade and chip breaker!

The chip breaker and blade are almost the same size as the earlier one.  So, I didn't have to alter my plane. :)

  I didn't have to work on the blade as it was perfectly straight and square.

Last, the bandage on my hand.. I've to be mindful of Hock's caution hereafter. :)

Square from Shobha tools

This square is part of the Soba Professional Starter kit.  If you have ever used a square that was not perfect, you can understand "deviate an inch and lose thousand miles".  It doesn't have a scale on it which would have saved lot of my effort!! Sad!

I realized very late that it could not capture the lines well!  So, I took couple of pictures in macro mode.

Enlarge the photos, you can see two perfect parallel lines.

Reviewing Jack Plane from Shobha

This plane costs 4 times the plane I use.  Shobha is considered to be a premier tools maker here, but I had a quite a bit of surprises with it.  Hope you find review useful!