# JIG COMPETITION - Now Closed



## Newbie_Neil (14 Jun 2004)

Hi all

This competition is open to any UKW member who is resident in the UK or Ireland.

The prize will be a year's subscription to the UK woodworking magazine of your choice. (Cost not to exceed 30GBP for a UK member, allowance will be made for postage to Ireland)

If you live outside the UK and Ireland you have to agree to pay the additional postage, but you are very welcome to enter.

You may enter up to three jigs.

Any other rules that I haven't ...blah...blah...blah.

The closing date will be 2nd July at 17.00

Winner to be announced at 17:00 on the 4th

What do you have to do?

I am looking for the most ingenious/user friendly/best designed/simplest/most useful/cheapest/well constructed/durable/adaptable jig that you have built in your workshop. _*It must not be a commercial jig.*_

It can be a copy of another jig as long as you have built it in your workshop.

Details must be published in this thread or with a url for the gallery.

Good luck
Neil


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## Noel (14 Jun 2004)

Here's my entry. About 40 mins to knock up over lunch. Few bits of angle iron and a lick of paint. Seems to work ok.






Rgds

Noel


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## Chris Knight (14 Jun 2004)

Huh? Call that a jig? *THIS* is a jig - took a whole Saturday afternoon.


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## Noel (14 Jun 2004)

Ok, OK, I'm now in 2nd place, momentarily.....

Rgds

Noel


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## Alf (14 Jun 2004)

Guys,

Good efforts, but you must have missed


> It must not be a commercial jig nor a copy of another jig


which I reckon rules out pretty much anything I can think of, as well as Mr Myford's and Mr Delta's lovely entries... :wink: 

Cheers, Alf


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## Aragorn (14 Jun 2004)

Well, since it's in the gallery already I may as well enter my hinge mortice jig for starters. A copy of a commercial jig? Nope, I made this years ago as an original design without reference to any other commercial jigs - so I reckon it counts!
Details of the jig are included in the gallery description.


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## Chris Knight (14 Jun 2004)

Aragorn,
That is a nice one - very posh. I whack my hinge routing jigs together with a nail gun and throw them away after use. Seeing yours, I might just make one like it next time I need one. The only trouble is space, I cleared out a load of jigs I had made in the past and not used since that were clogging up the workshop, when I got my new tablesaw and had to make room for it.

Anyway, due to the tedious rule that Alf reminds us of, I think your jig wins so far!


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## Steve Maskery (14 Jun 2004)

HI Aragorn
That is excellent. I, too, have a box of various hinge jigs banged together in a few minutes, but that looks very nice. If I make one, I will add a thin layer of play to the bottom of jig, then rout through it with the bush and bit. That way the very bottom, where it is in contact with the door, will be exactly the same size as the aperture which will actually be cut, so you can set the position of the fence and stop directly from the hinge, and not have to worry about that bit/bush offset.
I'll have a root around my workshop for my own contribution (mind you, finding something _totally_ original may prove a challenge.....)
Cheers
Steve


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## Aragorn (14 Jun 2004)

Steve
Great! An excellent addition to the jig. The ply will give you a setting line on the left side only, as the right side gives you the variable width, but this is all you need to set up the jig. Thanks for the tip - I may well add it to my jig!


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## Steve Maskery (14 Jun 2004)

Aragorm
There is nothing to stop you having the same thing on the moving piece as well, is there? As you say, it's not vital, but it would make it even easier to set. If the problem is the block sliding over the existing ply, it could be made so the locking bolt was horizontal through the jig, not vertical, alighnment could be ensured by having the slider made with a tongue on the back edge running in a matching groove, and the locking bolt having a Bristol lever on the end, so it was always out of the way.
Oooh, I can feel a jig-making session coming on!
Cheers
Steve


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## Aragorn (14 Jun 2004)

Yes - very nice variations!
Mind you now - if you make this new and improved jig, will you be entering it into the competition as an original


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

My dado (Trench?) jig











Tony


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## Gary H (14 Jun 2004)

Wahey!! 500 posts Tony!  

Well done and a worthwhile post too! :wink: 

No jig idea for me yet.  

Ta muchly

Gary


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## Chris Knight (14 Jun 2004)

Strictly speaking and to be boringly pedantic for the moment, only Noel's and my jigs come close at the moment, because they hold the workpiece where it's wanted and are thus jigs. The otherwise excellent entries are not jigs but fixtures (fixed to the workpiece you see?) that guide the tool.

Unless Neil revises the rules to include other stuff, nobody is on a winner yet!

OK I will go and stand in the corner now..


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

Whilst I don't expect to win, here is my tenoning jig made last weekend. Works very nicely thank you :wink: 






Cheers

Tony

Edited to say that this is a jig Chris as it holds the wood and protects my pinkies


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

Gary H":2oqn9d09 said:


> Wahey!! 500 posts Tony!
> 
> Well done and a worthwhile post too! :wink:
> 
> ...



Ta Gary - I hadn't noticed :shock:


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

This could be a jig.

I'll let the judges decide.

Addition of an X-Y vice to the morticer included modifying the base. Also had to get two extensions made for the rear legs to fit the vice in! The machine is tranformed and actually acccurate and useful now and so I made the previous jig for the tenons :wink: 






Cheers

Tony


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## Gary H (14 Jun 2004)

Nice tenoning jig, Tony. Simple and effective.

As an aside, what is the P/Pro router table like? Any good? Oh and how much?

Ta muchly

Gary


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## Chris Knight (14 Jun 2004)

Tony,
Yup, a definite jig - and a useful one too by the look of it.


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

My circle jig for the PC router. Works quite well really, also shows the base I made for routing edges of table tops etc.







Cheers

Tony


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2004)

Gary H":3u8vqwwv said:


> Nice tenoning jig, Tony. Simple and effective.
> 
> As an aside, what is the P/Pro router table like? Any good? Oh and how much?
> 
> ...



Thanks Gary. I am quite chuffed with the jig - Works really well. Only change I would make is to replace the toggle clamps with cut down cramps. You know, the type where you slide the clamping head along a rectangular section with teeth on the back as I feel that this would be more secure.

(like the largest ones in this picture) http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.as ... 2133&g=116

Router table is not too bad BUT I didn't like the plastic insert plate that the router mounts onto as it was not completely flat and so had an aluminium plate made. There are loads of adjuster screws though and it may have simply been my table rather tha nall of 'em.
Fence is very good indeed. I am considering putting plastic doors on the chamber under the table to provide better dust extraction as quite a lot flies out here. Top extraction works well.

Cost about £80 on offer - I think normal price is about £150 but they are often reduced in our B&Q and I think they are currently £119.

Cheers

Tony


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## DaveL (14 Jun 2004)

Here a couple of very simple jigs I made for the production of my folding chairs









Which are all finished and a picture is in the gallery  

Alf as UKIP now has 12 seats, do I need to make some more? :wink:


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## Alf (15 Jun 2004)

DaveL":239oe6yb said:


> Alf as UKIP now has 12 seats, do I need to make some more? :wink:


Heh heh, forgotten that.  You'd better stain them orange to go with Kilroy's tan while you're at it. :lol: 

Cheers, Alf


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## kityuser (15 Jun 2004)

I also have the PPP router table and would echo what tony has said, I`m considering having an aluminium insert plate made for mine as the deflection is just TOO much.

well worth it for the price!


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## Anonymous (15 Jun 2004)

hi tony and kity user i wonder what router you use in the pro table because i also have one also when buying a new router how do you get the base of the router central so the bit is bang on centre

cheers
Rich


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## Gary H (15 Jun 2004)

Rich/kityuser.
When I mounted my cheapo router in a home-made table, the base had a black plastic plate on the bottom. ( I thinkiit's to lessen the friction, or something :? ). This was handy as it unscrewed and i used this as a template to drill the holes in the table surface. Longer screws then bolt through the table and into the existind router base holes (4 of them).
Not sure if all routers are the same though as I haven't had the pleasure of using the more expensive 'devils'.
Not sure if this helps at all.

Ta muchly

Gary


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## Anonymous (20 Jun 2004)

er.. maybe it's not exactly a jig (what about a retro-fit ?) and I'm possibly out of contest because of nationality problems, yet I'm proposing a micrometric vertical adjustement for a (cheap) Bosch router as I have. Please forgive possible approximate/obscure would-be English terms: I hope you will grasp anyway how it works.

Well. Step1: screw a 6mm screwed bar of at least 10cm (or 4 inches) into the righ-hand piston. Don't worry, you should find a hole already there, God knows what for.






Step2. Take an aluminium tube of 9cm fitting the above piston. Say, external 15mm/internal 13mm and fix a 6mm bolt at one end






Step3. Screw the tube into the bar.






Step4. You are now ready to mi-cro-met-ri-cally adjust your router !







Voilà ! Cheap, simple and effective !
Cheers
Alberto


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## DaveL (20 Jun 2004)

mantrakalas":3qntks4r said:


> you should find a hole already there, God knows what for.



Alberto,

The tapped hole on my Bosch router has a screw with an over size washer to stop the router lifting off the pillars if you pick it up with the clamp undone.


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## Newbie_Neil (21 Jun 2004)

RULE CHANGE

TO allow more people to enter _*the rule about original jigs has been removed*_.

The end date has now been extended to the 2nd July.

Cheers
Neil


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## devonwoody (21 Jun 2004)

to Tony ,
where did you purchase the toggles from ?


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

Newbie_Neil":33zss7oh said:


> RULE CHANGE
> 
> TO allow more people to enter _*the rule about original jigs has been removed*_.
> 
> ...



Ahh.. I see you were getting worried that I'd win  

Cheers

Tony


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

devonwoody":1cgysslt said:


> to Tony ,
> where did you purchase the toggles from ?



Hi Devon

I got my toggle clamps from Farnell

Just do a search for toggle clamps from the home page

www.farnell.co.uk

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/search ... ggle+clamp

Cheers

Tony


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

Isn't the rule about being a UK resident a bit parochial? I am a UK citizen, but live in one of Her Majesty's Dominions. 

I think my precision router mortising jig, which also does tenons, should be allowed to be entered. 

You can see it here

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dldund ... m=1dc5.jpg

Rockerau


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

rockerau":f3jioox7 said:


> Isn't the rule about being a UK resident a bit parochial?



rockerau, would you be ready to take the lead of a non-UK participants upheaval  ?


Great jig, yours, by the way... !
Greetings 
Alberto


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

Anonymous":2nf7gk8v said:


> rockerau":2nf7gk8v said:
> 
> 
> > Isn't the rule about being a UK resident a bit parochial?
> ...



ooops, sorry: the previous guest was me  !


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## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

Alberto,

As a resident of the European Union, of which Britain still claims to be a member (despite Mr Kilroy-Silk's efforts), you have just as much right to feel aggrieved at being excluded as I do. Actually, I cannot see why the competition should not be open to all forum members, regardless of where they live. Some members of this forum are members of the Australian woodworking forum, and I am sure that they would not be similarly discriminated against by our forum, which prides itself in having a number of overseas members. I suppose a foreign subscription to a British magazine would be more expensive, but I would be happy to pay the difference, if I won. I am not sure how this competition is funded, but perhaps competitions should be self-funded by requiring an entry-fee from competitors. Anyway, I would be interested to hear the reasons that the organisers have for excluding non-residents of Britain.

Rockerau


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## Noel (21 Jun 2004)

Rock, Alberto,

Didn't you see the competition rules? There is an overseas category although I'm not sure what the prize is for the winner.......

Seriously, I'm sure Neil would have little objection to agreeing to the suggestion of the winner funding any additional postage costs. Neil?

Rgds

Noel


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## Newbie_Neil (21 Jun 2004)

Hi Rockerau/Alberto

I have no objection to you paying the additional postage if you win.

I am funding this competition myself and I was trying to limit the amount being paid to a reasonable figure.

The idea was for it to be a way of people displaying their jigs and for others, such as myself, to learn.

Cheers
Neil


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## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

Neil,

It is very generous of you to sponsor the competition out of your own pocket. I had assumed there was a commercial sponsor, or that the money had been raised by some other forum activity. Anyway, thank you for allowing us foreigners to compete. Perhaps the rules should state that the winner is obligated to fund the next competition. 

Rockerau


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## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

Newbie_Neil":2hy8ijth said:


> The idea was for it to be a way of people displaying their jigs and for others, such as myself, to learn.



Neil, I was just joking :lol: :lol: :lol: (the possibilities for me to win against such a bunch of ... professional amateurs (uh !) are hopeless anyway !).

Yours is a great initiative and an invaluable mine of good ideas !

Cheers
Alberto


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## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

aaahhh !  Sorry: the previous guest was me again !
Alberto

P.S. Wouldn't it be best not to allow "guest" posts ?


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## Philly (22 Jun 2004)

hi Guys,
Here is my, er, entry.
http://groups.msn.com/ukwoodworking/inc ... otoID=1478

No, not the Incra, silly :lol: -the piece of ply at the back which is connected to the router table, allowing easy fitting/removal of the other jig.

It is an original design, so it must count!
regards,
Philly


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## Noel (22 Jun 2004)

Well, here's my humble entry:





A sacrificial fence made out of ply contiboard with an adjustable featherboard and another featherboard with computer hard drive magnets that adhere to the table. The fence is a box that fits snugly over the tablesaw fence.

Rgds

Noel
PS Is that 3 jigs? 3 entries?....


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## Philly (22 Jun 2004)

Noely,
Sorry Mate-you are disqualified due to the use of a Dado head :lol: :twisted: 

cheers,
Philly  
p.s. just heard a song on the radio-"I'm just a jig-olo.."


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## Alf (22 Jun 2004)

Philly":2zzvydqo said:


> Sorry Mate-you are disqualified due to the use of a Dado head :lol: :twisted:


You beat me to it, Philly. :lol: 

Cheers, Alf

P.S. Noely, congrats on the 500 posts.


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## Chris Knight (22 Jun 2004)

Furthermore, the HSE will be along shortly to check up on what other obviously dangerous, socially irresponsible, climate changing tools you may have!


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## Noel (22 Jun 2004)

Guarding was removed for photographic purposes....
As some of you may want to recall I employ an overhead guard system.
And me saw was designed to used a stacked dado. So there! 

Rgds

Noel, HSE compliant.


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## gidon (22 Jun 2004)

Some very nice efforts. 

This is a jig I built recently when I was doing our flooring and wasn't keen to splash out on a large capacity (crosscut mitre saw):






It's a crosscut mitre jig for my circular saw. The left hand oak rail is screwed so can be adjusted for different sized circular saws or for routers. Trenching cuts could be made with a router or a circular saw although I haven't tried it.

It need to be quite large to allow for mitre cuts over 200mm. There is actually a toggle clamp missing which attaches to the fence for smaller cuts. The rails are waxed for smooth running. It works well and didn't take long to make. Based on a commercial jig I've seen and a popular mechanics article. Could be an awful lot better with some more thought! But has proved very useful.

Cheers

Gidon


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## Chris Knight (22 Jun 2004)

Noely":3g8lu5tw said:


> Guarding was removed for photographic purposes.....



Mine usually is too..


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## Chris Knight (22 Jun 2004)

Gidon,

It looks like a very useful jig - especially for the long planks involved in flooring. A good 'un.


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## gidon (23 Jun 2004)

Thanks Chris - just wish I had some place to put it! Keeps getting kicked into various parts of the workshop.
Cheers
Gidon


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## devonwoody (30 Jun 2004)

The siplest jigs are always the best, my entry is a piece of half inch silver steel which has been machined to a point on one end of the rod.

This tool is then entered into my half inch router and when required is placed on the centre line of a mortice. The jig is then extracted and replaced with the mortice cutter. Any sliding jig board to cut mortices on can then be used. 
Please post magazine to:-




xxxxxxx


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## Newbie_Neil (2 Jul 2004)

Thank you everyone for posting your jigs. It has been really useful.

Judging is now taking place with four of us from the UK and one from the US.

Each Judge will vote independently. They will nominate a 1st, 2nd and 3rd earning 5, 3 and 1 point respectively. All five judge's points will be added up to give the overall winner.

Results will follow on Sunday 4th July at 17:00.

Thanks again
Neil


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## Newbie_Neil (4 Jul 2004)

Good morning all

Firstly, let me say thank you to everybody who entered a jig and also to my fellow judges for taking the time to review all of the entries. The votes are all in and counting has commenced.

Judges have voted for jigs from as far away as Australia, Italy and Ireland. Only one jig received votes from all five judges. In the end only one point separated the first three.

We felt that the very first entries by Chris and Noel deserved a special mention. So here it is, a special mention for Chris and Noel.

The judges, in no particular order, were Adam, Alf, Charley and Wood1000. OK, so it is in _*alf*_abetical order. :wink: 

As with all good Euro competitions the winners will be announced in reverse order. :wink: 

_*Third place *_goes to _*Aragorn*_ (with a little help from _*Steve Maskerey*_) for his hinge jig. Congratulations to you both.

_*Second place will be announced at 1pm.*_

Neil


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## Newbie_Neil (4 Jul 2004)

Good afternoon all

There is no second place as we had a tie for number one, numero uno.

Cheers
Neil

PS Sorry Alberto, I got carried away. :wink:


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## Newbie_Neil (4 Jul 2004)

Good afternoon 

This is the big one. The one you've all been waiting for. Who are the winners? 

Well, in no particular order, the joint winners are: -

Gidon and Tony (for his dado jig)

Congratulations and well done both of you.

You will be contacted about your prize in the next few days.

Thank you to everyone who entered.

Cheers
Neil


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## Aragorn (4 Jul 2004)

Flattered!
Many thanks Neil & Co for running the competition and stumping up the prize!


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## Anonymous (5 Jul 2004)

Bravissimi ! 

Best congratulations to all winners and a special mention to the organising committee !

Greetings
Alberto


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## Dewy (6 Jul 2004)

*gidon*, that's the same as the MAC mitre board that became the biggest selling accessory in Canada & USA a couple of years ago.
That one has a fixed rail and the second rail can be adjusted to any circular saw or router.
A similar jig I made proved a bit too big for a small workshop. I kept tripping over it. 
http://www.macboard.qc.ca/indexe.html


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## gidon (6 Jul 2004)

Dewy - that's the one. And a similiar design featured in pop mechanics. I guess there aren't really many variations on the idea. 

I keep tripping over mine too .

Cheers

Gidon


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## Dewy (6 Jul 2004)

Right gidon, The plastic board covers up to 18" cross cut & less than half that for a mitre. 
Mine was up to 24" crosscut & trenching. 
Needs some additions like stops to keep trenches correct distance apart.

See PM for ideas on stops. 
I'm terrible at using MSPaint though but you should get the idea.


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## Newbie_Neil (9 Jul 2004)

Hi all

As you are aware there was a tie for first place in the competition and as there was only one prize I had a bit of a dilemna.

Anyway, thanks to Good Woodworking, there are now two prizes of a _*year's subscription to GWW*_. 

Tony and Gidon have agreed to the changes.

Once again, many thanks to Good Woodworking for their generosity.

Cheers
Neil


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## Dewy (10 Jul 2004)

Here is the jig I made for accurately drilling contiboard.
I just took these pics with a cheap poor quality digital cam.
The drill holes are exactly centred in the channel which is 15mm wide for melamine chipboard.
The drilling bush holes start exactly 1½" (38.1mm) from the square end and are the same distance apart to work with standard melamine chipboard sizes which go up in 3" widths.
The jig is 18" long so it can be laid on the board from both ends to take up to 36" wide boards

Top view showing bush holes and 3 drill bushes (8mm)






Under view showing channel





Underview showing one channel side removed for corner drilling





I've been using this jig since 1988 for making anything out of contiboard.
It uses 2 size bushes 3/16" for No8 screw clearance & 8mm for plastic chipboard plug (no longer made) or dowels.
The bushes can be moved in seconds to accomodate different board widths.

A new jig will be made the same design but with the channel width for use on 25mm par timber (approx 22mm)
It will need more care making by hand as the original was made on a vertical milling machine at work which I no longer have access to.


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## gidon (8 Nov 2004)

Big thanks to Neil - the first copies of a subsciption to New Woodworking arrived through my door this morning! I'm in the strange position of having more woodworking mags than I can read at the minute!

Anyhow, they have sent me both November and December issues. I already have a copy of the November issue ... so first person to reply to this other threadcan have it.

Thanks again Neil.

Cheers

Gidon


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