Cutting Dados on a TS WITHOUT a Dado Head ?

[wizer]

Something new from Bridge City...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ6_S6lZ ... r_embedded

 

[BigShot]

I think you might just have cost a few people even more money.
I think I might be one of them.
Bugger!

 

[big soft moose]

do bridge city have a uk distro ?

 

[Philly]

I think Classichandtools sell their stuff.
Cheers
Philly

 

[RogerS]

I think Classichandtools sell their stuff.
Cheers
Philly

Can't see it on their website. Lovely bit of kit.

 

[Niki]

And, for the more creative among you....

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... ometrylink

Nice idea...I might try it one day...

Regards
niki

 

[wizer]

yep there is a guy on LumberJocks selling a copy. Infact when John E got wind of it he offered the drawings for a $10 donation to charity. What a very kind and unusual man.

 

[OPJ]

I think Classichandtools sell their stuff.
Cheers
Philly

Can't see it on their website. Lovely bit of kit.

Even if it's not on their website, I've discovered it's worth asking them whether they can stock it. I asked them yesterday about some Veritas 'bench hold-downs and they appeared online within a couple of hours! 8)

 

[wizer]

The Kerfmaker is not available anywhere yet. It's on pre-order from Bridge City Tools. $59

 

[big soft moose]

it looks like a fairly simple idea - i wonder if we could copy it in hardwoods and brass - strictly for personal use natch.

 

[wizer]

Like I said above, a few people have done it in the states. Drawings are available.

 

[FogggyTown]

The Kerfmaker is not available anywhere yet. It's on pre-order from Bridge City Tools. $59

And if it follows the usual pattern (like the recent Joint Genie) it will cost about £60 when sold here. :shock:

 

[FatFreddysCat]

Wizer

It seems to me that you and a few others are willing to pay £60 for a device which is a variation on the technique used by pattern makers to copy cut timber to length. I often use this sort of technique to cut housings for door frames using a sliding compound mitre saw.

The technique for a table saw is simple:

1. Cut a piece of the material you wish to hog out the housing for. Let's call that the thickness gauge
2. Fix the thickness gauge onto the face of the crosscut stop using a piece of double sided tape
3. Pull the crosscut stop out to the width of your material plus a bit more (say 100mm)
4. Set the work piece up against the stop and hold a piece of PAR scrap, say 125mm long against the right hand side of the work piece and hard against the fence. You are going to trim this to length
5. With the saw blade fully raised make a cross cut. This will cut the 125mm long offcut down to 100mm (or so, the actual length isn't critical). Let's call this the spacer
6. Move the work piece to across to the right and place the spacer so that it sits between the cross cut stop with the thickness gauge and the work piece. Drop the blade down to the height you need for the housing groove
7. Make your first cut in the work piece
8. Remove the thickness gauge from the cross cut stop but leave the spacer in place between it and the work piece. Push the work piece and spacer left against the crosscut stop
9. Make the next cut. This will give you the right and left side cuts for your housing

After that it's up to you if you want to make more cuts or simply chop out with a mallet. The plus point is that you use up scrap (for spacers) - and you save yourself £60 into the bargain

 

[plug]

Here is another one.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~kerfmaster/

 

[SketchUp Guru]

The Bridge City jig is nice because you can adjust it for various kerf widths but if you only plan to use it with a single blade, you could make it without that adjustment.

John Economaki was indeed very gracious to offer the plans in exchange for a $10 donation to a charity.

 

[plug]

And these,
bottom left has some drawings halfway down page.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/tag/kerfmaker

 

[Steve Maskery]

What an excellent application of the spacers principle. I use spacers a lot for accuracy whether it's cutting double biscuit slots on thick stock, tenons on the bandsaw or setting back a row of dominoes to get a reveal. It's very easy and very reliable.

Bridge City have grown a reputation for producing first-rate kit. What a pity that people appear to be ripping off the idea even before it's gone into general production. It's another case of someone with a good idea not getting his due reward.

On a technical note, why do most of those home-made versions seem to have the two halves held together just by friction (using the big washer to hold over the join), as opposed to compression clamping? Never has Ruskin's aphorism been truer.

Cheers
Steve

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Steve, I agree with you.

I expect the reason for the friction clamping was to avoid cutting a slot for the screw.

 

[wizer]

I do also agree with you Steve. But 2 points. Firstly, People have been making home-made jigs for years. You even made a DVD on it. David Thune, creator of the KerfMaster clone, claims he 'redesigned it' from ground up. Bridge City have a patent pending on their design. But as you say, the concept is very very basic. You can't expect woodworkers to just ignore that fact. Secondly, the cloned versions all seem to offer more capacity than the BC version. I think that the publicity around this has probably done BC a favour. Those who have built their own probably would never have bought BC's one. Those of use who are too butt stupid (yes me), would never make one. Even tho David Thune is undercutting BC, it's not by much and I hope only a few people will buy it. The thing about Bridge City Tools is that as well as innovative, they're pretty and people like pretty tools (even tho Mike G doesn't like to admit it).

 

[Steve Maskery]

True, Tom, but there is a difference between a woody at home making a copy of a good traditional idea for his own use, or making jigs from published designs, where the author published them with the hope and intent that others would make them, and copying an innovative design for commercial purposes without any thought to the rights of the design originator.

At least, I think there is a difference. I certainly hope so, otherwise I'm as guilty as hell.

Cheers
Steve