The Angle On Angles.

[Worth1]

Many of you may know what this simple device is and some of you may not.
It is a centering fixture or jig.
They are very easy to make and not expensive at all.
Lots of luck finding one at the Bog Box Store.
Once it is made you will find all kinds of use for it.
You can make them as large or as small as you want.
The only important thing is all three holes have to be exactly in line with each other and exactly the same distance apart.
The beauty of making this is you dont have to measuer anything as crazy as that may sound.
All you need is one block of a given length of anything.
A fence for the drill press a C clamp and a stop to clamp on the fence.
A straight pin to go in the drill press chuck.

What you will need is two pins for outside holes and what they call a transfer punch for the middle hole.
How it works.
Place anything that will fit between the two pins and rotate the fixture or jug until the pins touch the sides.
The center hole will always be in the middle.
Put the punch in and make your mark.
Here is the pictuer I drew up of one.
Top view and side.
Worth

Centering Jig..jpg

[Worth1]

Next is a product I have put up here before and no I dont own stock in it.
But I cant say enough good about the miter gauge I bought.
It is unbelievably accurate and repeatable.
Mine is the HD 1000 that allows me to cut any angle into the fractions of a degree.
This is how I cut my angle gauge blocks to set up the tilt on the saw also.
The last time I did this was to cut 12 degree angles to make a wood container with 15 sides.
They are made by a company called INCRA here in Texas.
http://www.incra.com/miter_gauges.html

[dmforcier]

First I need to get a saw.

No, first I need to get some place to put a saw. Then I need to get a saw.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

First I need to get a saw.

No, first I need to get some place to put a saw. Then I need to get a saw.

Go backwards I did.
I bought stuff for years before I got my lathe because I knew one day I would have a place and a place to put the lathe.
I am glad I did, by the time I got the lathe the stuff I bought had doubled or even tripled in price.
If you get a saw get one that runs off a belt not direct motor drive.
They are quieter and can be ran without electricity.
Worth

[Worth1]

Use Your Eyes.
Many times your eyes are better than many measuring devices or the lack of one.
Here is an example.
Without getting into too much detail I have to set my compound slide on the lathe at angles.
No problem but the people that designed the protractor on the machine didn't put degree marks where they need to be for the angle I want.
Not in the pictuer but the first thing I did when I bought it was to test the sides of the cross slide and the compound slide to see if they are parallel to the dove tail ways they travel on and they are dead on.

Now that it is confirmed I can use the protractor head on my square to set the angle by eyesight by aligning it with the sides of the cross slide.
I tested it with a dial indicator and I was off by less than 0.0005 in about 6 inches of travel.
Now not everyone has a lathe but this method I have used all my life doing all kinds of stuff.
All you have to do to see if something is plumb, level, straight, or square is line it up with something that is by eyesight.
Many times you dont want it to be any of the above but need something to be inline or match something that is already there.
Worth
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20160924_105947.jpg

[Fusion_power]

Lets say you wanted to cut a tree down and wanted to make sure you didn't drop in on the house.

While I agree with you on many things, I learned long ago to put a rope on a tree if I absolutely must have it fall a certain direction. Why? Because an errant wind gust nearly put a tree on a building even though the natural tilt would have dropped it in a safe direction. Too many people today jump into things without considering all the possible wrong outcomes.

The simplest jig of all to make for a tablesaw is an angle jig using a couple of pieces of scrap wood and some wing nuts. A rip fence is good for cutting straight down the grain of wood. A miter is good for cutting across grain with any angle up to about 60 degrees depending on quality of the miter. An angle jig allows you to cut any angle from 60 to 90 degrees and if properly made can also allow compound cuts. I've used angle jigs attached to the rip fence and jigs made as slides riding in the miter grooves.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

While I agree with you on many things, I learned long ago to put a rope on a tree if I absolutely must have it fall a certain direction. Why? Because an errant wind gust nearly put a tree on a building even though the natural tilt would have dropped it in a safe direction. Too many people today jump into things without considering all the possible wrong outcomes.

The simplest jig of all to make for a tablesaw is an angle jig using a couple of pieces of scrap wood and some wing nuts. A rip fence is good for cutting straight down the grain of wood. A miter is good for cutting across grain with any angle up to about 60 degrees depending on quality of the miter. An angle jig allows you to cut any angle from 60 to 90 degrees and if properly made can also allow compound cuts. I've used angle jigs attached to the rip fence and jigs made as slides riding in the miter grooves.

That's why I stopped my neighbor from cutting down a tree.
Even with ropes he was going to kill my house.
By using my truck ropes and a long chain and pivot points on other trees as it went down it landed exactly were I wanted it.
In his driveway.

Worth