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Lonely Raven · 12th January 2010

And now I enter the space age!!

OK, I'm back on track with the prime 29! A new jig has been built, and I cut my first 17 fins. So that's about 80 fins of trash, and 17 fins of space age accuracy! No joke, with this new jig, all 17 fins are within 1/16th, maybe less, from the first slot to the last slot. Now the slot cuts are so bang on, that the pieces actually fit a little loose due to not pulling on each other (e.g. slots being off caused tension from fin to fin that is now gone!).

I made a box sled using my new Kreg pocket hole tool. (awesome tool by the way!) And I used a 1/8" aluminum bar I picked up at the hardware store as my "key". 1/8" MDF is a little thinner then 1/8", so I sanded the aluminum down a hair. With this jig setup, I can setup slots for 1", 2", and 3" spacing between slots simply by cutting a new slot and moving the aluminum bar!

Supa-accurate!

First 17 pieces fit together like they were CNC machined!

Just for grins, I tried cutting 18 fins all at once, and it was no problem. Even with that many pieces, there was no deflection in the aluminum bar...though it was a huge pain in the arse to pull them all up off the bar, move them all over one slot, cut and repeat. So I've settled on cutting six pieces at a time.

So, now that this is done, and bang on accurate, I'm going to have to revise my tile cutting jig as well. I have to try and come up with something that will be accurate to 1/32 of an inch, and be adjustable so I can set it up for 1" tiles, 2 1/8", whatever. I'll work on that later. For now, I need to cut out over 100 more fins, which means I need a few more full panels of 1/8" MDF.

I'm very excited about this again! If I can get the tile jig to work out as accurately as the fin jig, then I can start considering 1/8" plywood with nice hardwood faces, though that's 3X the cost of MDF of the same thickness.

12th January 2010	#41
Lonely Raven Gear maniac Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bolingbrook, IL Posts: 230 Thread Starter	And now I enter the space age!! OK, I'm back on track with the prime 29! A new jig has been built, and I cut my first 17 fins. So that's about 80 fins of trash, and 17 fins of space age accuracy! No joke, with this new jig, all 17 fins are within 1/16th, maybe less, from the first slot to the last slot. Now the slot cuts are so bang on, that the pieces actually fit a little loose due to not pulling on each other (e.g. slots being off caused tension from fin to fin that is now gone!). I made a box sled using my new Kreg pocket hole tool. (awesome tool by the way!) And I used a 1/8" aluminum bar I picked up at the hardware store as my "key". 1/8" MDF is a little thinner then 1/8", so I sanded the aluminum down a hair. With this jig setup, I can setup slots for 1", 2", and 3" spacing between slots simply by cutting a new slot and moving the aluminum bar! Supa-accurate! First 17 pieces fit together like they were CNC machined! Just for grins, I tried cutting 18 fins all at once, and it was no problem. Even with that many pieces, there was no deflection in the aluminum bar...though it was a huge pain in the arse to pull them all up off the bar, move them all over one slot, cut and repeat. So I've settled on cutting six pieces at a time. So, now that this is done, and bang on accurate, I'm going to have to revise my tile cutting jig as well. I have to try and come up with something that will be accurate to 1/32 of an inch, and be adjustable so I can set it up for 1" tiles, 2 1/8", whatever. I'll work on that later. For now, I need to cut out over 100 more fins, which means I need a few more full panels of 1/8" MDF. I'm very excited about this again! If I can get the tile jig to work out as accurately as the fin jig, then I can start considering 1/8" plywood with nice hardwood faces, though that's 3X the cost of MDF of the same thickness.