Ok, some progress now, moving on from the mundane measuring stuff.
A shot or two of the first coupler.
Ha! tip number one for you. Obviously it is best to prepare the sheet first, in my case I used plywood. I mixed a stain that would suit the joinery in the room, and gave a coat of varnish. If you want to use MDF or whatever, it is easiest if you paint a sheet when it is whole rather than in strips.
If you use stain and varnish as I did, then don't make this mistake. To do a quick stain on the cut edge, I clamped them together as a pack and did all the edges at once. The stain dribbled between each sheet and stripped back the varnish. Those are the blotches you can see in places.
The simplest way to stain the cut edge is to use the
side of the brush, not too wet. Takes thirty seconds an edge, do them individually.
As a result, I threw it all away and started again (because the main reason I am doing it is for looks, hopefully it works better too), but nonetheless you should still see the method of construction, and hopefully get how easy it is to do.
So those of you who previously thought 'my woodworking skills are not up to it'...or your apprentices!!...forget it, it's as easy as pie.
I used an el-cheapo saw, been laying around unused for years so cannot remember how much it cost...hundred bucks or so?? anyway, each country is different so go to your local bog cheap retailer, these things are a dime a dozen.
There are many different cut thicknesses with saw blades, all you need to do is find a blade that has a cut pretty close to the thickness of the material you are using. (I can make another post later if needed if someone says 'my material is 12 mm thick, what blade do I use? Well you can't obviously, but there are many ways to skin a cat)
Make up a carriage to hold your workpiece. The thing I want you to notice is how I did it, scraps of wood laying around and a bit of glue. It truly is not rocket science.
All you want is a slider that you can move backwards and forwards without rocking or looseness. start with one edge, glue the strip and then glue another strip on the other side. Make it fit snugly on the top, and for ease later just use a square to make sure is right angles to the edge of the saw. (don't know how easy to make the explanation, but going into a little bit of detail as some have mentioned 'no woodworking skills'...so excuse me if it is too trivial for you, it's for the other blokes ok?)
Here is the carriage on the table, you should easily envisage it sliding back and forth with little rock.
Another look at the carriage, and look closely.
It is the next BIG tip, and the secret of it all. It is how
anyone will be able to turn out repeatable accurate work.
See the little bit of ply to the right of the blade? that is the trick.
It is the ONLY time you need to be halfway accurate. It is a locating lug. It will be very clear in the following pics how it works. And even if you are not accurate in placing it (you wanted 77.5mm but instead got 75.8, does not matter as every cut will be the same from here on out).
There are two options for the first cut, either it is exactly a well width wide, or as in this case, less than. That little bit of pine was a test jig, (as I am fitting it inside an existing frame) so I cut the series of notches you see, and then positioned it within the frame evenly so I had equal space each side of the well. I can then use that (as you see here) to get the
first cut right.
Also note that I clamped the entire pack together, another way of making everything 'the same'.
Sorry for the wordiness earlier, but now it is all clear.
We make the first cut (if smaller than a well width then as above, if exactly a well width then butt it up against the locating lug and make the cut) and then we lift the whole pack and place the cut on the lug, ready for the next cut (by sliding the carriage back and forth).
Each time you make a cut, move the lot over and do the next. As they are all in a bundle together, we cannot BUT have each piece exactly the same as the next. (something I have not mentioned yet, the saw needs to be adjusted so the the cut is at, or just over, halfway thru the piece)
I know you have worked this out, here is how they (quite literally!) slot together.
There you have it, easy as. I think it is pretty self explanatory, but hey fire away if I was unclear somewhere.
Gee dunno, that took me maybe an hour?? (including photo shots!). Pack them all together (note I had two different pack sizes, more in the direction than the other) and truly, it takes maybe two/three minutes to do ten/fifteen slides of the carriage?
It is all in the care taken to do the preparation of the slide, lug etc, everything else just naturally follows.
hmmm, one last tip??
Can YOU pick the difference in the carriage in these two shots?
No?? I will give you a hint.
It has something to do with the
perfect three mm groove in the end of the middle finger on my left hand.
Don't leave the blade exposed on the other side yeah? It is now (strangely enough) hidden within the extra pieces I glued on.
A surgeon could not have done it better, thru all the skin, down to the pink meat...no blood as it was not deep enough. lucky I have quick reflexes, it could have been just that tad bit more serious.
Please don't forget little things like that eh? (hah, the things I do for YOU, hope you appreciate it)
The most important tip I saved for last.