Smitty
NOV/DEC
2002
Volume 45/Issue 6
IN
THIS ISSUE
Project
Articles
•
The Pembroke Table
• The Cheval Mirror
• The Child's Sled & Climbing Bear
DEPARTMENTS
•
Ask Smitty
• Owner’s Gallery
• Letters from Owners
Academy Notes
Scrap
Wood Secrets
Service Pointers
RUST
- The degeneration of tools & how to deal with it
Safety Tips
Horizontal
Boring Machine Set-Up & Safety
What's
New
Dial
Indicator Gauge and Adjustable Stop Collar
EDUCATION
• Find
A Shopsmith Woodworking Academy Near You
• National
Woodworking Academy in Dayton, OH
ONLINE
CATALOGS
• Online Accessory Catalog
• Request
Printed Accessory Catalog
• Online
Replacement Parts Catalog
MARK
V INFORMATION
• Find
A Shopsmith
MARK V Demo Near You
• Request
MARK V Information Package
LINKS
•
Links Worth Visiting
•
Free Woodworking
Tips
FEEDBACK
Contacting
Shopsmith
Copyright
2002.
Shopsmith, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ASK SMITTY!
Don't worry, SMITTY can help. Just use the special e-mail link to send your questions to SMITTY. He’ll do his best to get back to you soon, with the answers to those questions.
Here are the questions . . . and SMITTY’S answers for this issue!
If you're having a problem
setting-up, aligning or maintaining your Shopsmith equipment, you should
contact Shopsmith's Technical Support Staff (NOT Smitty).
Call TOLL-FREE, 1-800-762-7555 during normal business hours to
speak directly with a Shopsmith Technical Support Representative.
Printer friendly PDF copy of article
Cutting
plastics
From A. Boliver, via e-mail:
I
need to cut some clear plastic for a spice rack that I'm building. What's
the best way to handle this? The plastic is about 1/8" thick and I need
to cut some 2" x 26" strips.
Use your bandsaw or scroll saw.
DON'T REMOVE THE STICK-ON PAPER FROM THE PLASTIC BEFORE CUTTING.
Use a fine-tooth blade on the bandsaw. However, you'll have to be careful not to use too fine a blade if you're going to work with your scroll saw.
It's best to make a few test cuts with different blades, machine speeds and feed rates to find the combination that's best for the job you have to do.
Slow everything down as slow as possible. Feed the plastic into the cut slowly. Once you've finished, hand-sand the edges as smoothly as possible, using 220 to 320 grit sandpaper.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO LET YOUR ABRASIVES WRAP AROUND THE EDGE & SCRATCH THE TOP/BOTTOM SURFACES OF YOUR PLASTIC.
When you've finished, you might even use some 400 to 600-grit wet-dry silicon carbide paper with some water to get it really smooth.
Once you've finished this process, you can try “polishing” your edges by passing the flame from a propane torch back and forth over the edges. Again, this requires some practice to get the technique just right. If you get the flame too close or dwell in a single spot for too long, you'll melt the plastic thoroughly.
Make some test “polishes” on some scrap pieces that you've sanded in EXACTLY the same way as your actual shelves, above....before trying this on one of your shelves.
Using
a stacking dado set
From Frank Kuhn, via e-mail:
I recently purchased a stacking dado set and am not really sure
how to put the pieces together. I realize that there are two outside blades(left
and right) and chippers in between.
1) Are the chippers placed in any sort of alignment? 45 deg. to each other? 90 deg?
2) What about the shims? Is there any special place in the sandwiched blades for them? I notice that they are different thicknesses. Do they have a certain order in the stack or can they be placed anywhere?
Sorry to have all of these questions but I thought it would be better to check first rather than kill myself by doing it "my way".
No particular alignment is required...except that their cutting edges should be evenly “staggered” around the cutting circle, when assembled. Insofar as shim placement, the same holds true...if you're using the two outer blades plus two chippers and you need to use two shims, try to even out their placement...putting one shim between each outer blade and its adjoining chipper.
