shopnotes issue 66

Improve your 6Sl

Issue 66

I-F ---we

e 66 November 2002

PususnEn Donald B. Peschke EDITOR Terry J. Strohman

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Bryan Nelson Vincent Ancona

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Phil Huber ART DIRECTOR Cary Christensen

SR. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Knrt Sehultz SENIOR ILLUSTRATORS Roger Reiland

I Mark Higdon

I CREATIVE RESOURCES

Cutoffs / L ast issue we featured a full-size

workbench. At the time I mentioned that we would be featuring a storage system to go with it.

Of course, I wanted aplace to store lots of woodworking tools. And I wanted to keep them organized and close at hand. My first thought was to simply custom fit a large cabinet under our workbench.

make a stand for a portable table saw that would provide storage and outfeed support for ripping long pieces.

Here again, we started with the concept of one large cabinet, hut realized it would be more versatile if we split the project into two parts. Not to mention the fad that a large cabinet might defeat the main reason for having a smaller saw in the fvst -

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Bnl the morv I thought bunt it, I placc: - floor space,. s r n , ~ ' m . . S ~ - > ~ J O ~ , . , . - S . I ' , . L I . J U P , ~ ~ ~ . ' P s . . k ,g~ .~ l .~ rcnli7td that tllis mlution woul~l~it be Kow ~ J I I c;ul >tart by building a

sua~enw s k o 6 fi~m sandy ~ s v ~ . NBW BUSZUSZS D ~ X : Wayde J. KLmgbwl . Cimrdaha M w h e t i w AnMsts. Kris Sehlemmer, Paula M. DeMatteis . R s n m l Manager: P*ge Rogus . Sr Graphic Des-8: Mark Hayes, Robin f iend . Billi7,q & couac2imzs Mgr: Rebecca CunNngham. Muitimadia h o ~ M ~ : R i & J ~ - P m m o t i o n A ~ ~ l y ~ t : P ~ t r i ~ W ~

CORPOWlTE SERVICES VP.afFka'MsryR.Seheee. CanhollvrRobinK.Eutemon .S%~L~l~J.Tnmrus.APdBPayaOieMsly*Sehulte.Acds. R d k Ma& Petlvs . Pmd fir: Gwrge Chmielarz Elechrmie fib. fir: Douglas M. Lidster-System Admin.: Cds Schwanebecli - P C M&t k h : Robert D. Cook -&-&8s Imam Specialisfa Tmy Clmk, Mhniette Johnson NBU~ Mode M r . : GordanC.Gaippe .Mdfi&A?iDi%:EugenePedelsen. WabSmadmin.:CamlSeh~ehpp1er- WebCmMg7s:Davld Bdggs,SueM.Moe- W~b&sW"K"~Illessing.Pmf Dev. Diz: MiM Sigel - B. R. A s s t : Kimhn Koele. O& Myr: Natalie Lonalaie. Focilihes Myr: Kurt Johnson .Receptirm(st Jeanne Johnson. MatZRwm C k k : LO" W~bbbb

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very versatile. After all, you may small base cabinet This cabinet puts already have a workbench that's a dif- the saw at a good working height, ferent size than ours. And what about takes up little floor space, and pre the woodworkers who prefer not to vides plenty of storage. store tools under their bench at all? Then if you want more capability

The solution to this big storage (and have the room), you can add problem was to think smaller. another cabinet It provides a l l the Instead of one large cabinet, we outfeed support you could ask for. designed two smaller ones. This And to make better use of the space way, you can set the cabimets side it takes up, we incorporated a router by-side under your bench, or you table and a handy place to store a can stack them up for convenient shop vacuum for colleding dust. roll-around storage. Either way, I I guess it just goes to show you think it's a versatile storage system that "bigget" isn't necessarily better. that "stands" on its own. Sometimes the best solutions come

Saw Station - We used a similar about when you think "small." approach to another project in this issue - the Table Saw Workstation A' on page 20. The initial idea was to

ShopNotes No. 66

a Y F =- . -

A Contents Features

Thin-Stock Hold-Down 6 Need to cut thin veneer or laminate on the table saw? You'll get chip-free results safely with our shop-made hold-down, whether you're cutting narrow strips or wide ones.

Convertible Shop Storage Cabinets - 10 It's easy to see how much storage you can pack into these handy cabinets What you can't see is how versatile they are You can stack them, like you see in the photo at right, or set them side-by-side under a bench.

Tongue & Groove Joinery 18 Solid, dependable, and easy to make -tongue and groove joinery gets high marks for all three. We show you how to cut this basic joint on the table saw provid~ng tips and techniques for getting great results every time.

Table Sa w Workstation 20 * Any shop can benefrt by combin~ng tools in a central location Our two-cabinet workstabon features a portable table saw, table-mountedrouter and fence, anda shop vacuum -along with a pa~r of drawers for stor~ng all your accessones

6-step Router Plate Installation 30 Fitting a router plate into the top of a table doesn? have to be a hassle We'llshowyoustepbystep how to do this successfully using a hand-held router and a set of shop-made guides

Departments Readers' Tips 4

Shop-tested tips to solve common woodworking problems.

Too1 Chest 32 Sometimes the smallest tool packs the biggest punch. This issue's tool slips easily in the pocket of your apron so it's always close at hand when you need it.

Shop Talk 34 See how something as simple as the grain of a workpiece can dramatically affect the look of a project.

~e 5ources 35 Mail-order sources and supplies to help you complete the projects featured in this issue.

d

Yold-Down page 6

I 1 Table Saw Workstation page 20

No. 66

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T I P S & T E C H N I Q U E S I

Readers' Tips e PVC Outfeed Support

W Whenever I'm w o r h g with long pieces, I often have a hard time supporting the end of the

I workpiece. So I came up with this adjustableheight work support stand. The nice thing about this stand is that it can be built in about an hour for around $20 in materials. and cut it in half. You'll need to sand

The stand is primarily made out of standard W C pipe and fittings, Two different diameters of pipe are used for the column of the stand. A W C compression fitting joins the two sections of the column and allows you to adjust the height of the stand, as shown above.

To make the lower half of the column, glue a reducer fitting onto the end of a section of 2" W C pipe. Then take a ll/a" compression fitting

down the circumference of the compression fitting until it fits into the end of the 2" pipe. Then, glue the pieces together.

The riser section of the column is made out of ll/dt wc pipe. To create a mounting surface for the top of the stand, the top is sliced off a T-fitting and the fitting is glued onto the end of the pipe, detail 'a'. Now just slip the nut and rubber washer from the compression fitting over the end of

the riser and then slip the riser into the column. (You'll have to cut a section out of the washer to allow it to fit around the riser, detail 'b'.)

Fially, I made a base and top for the stand out of a piece of

"'I wood and some "two-by" scraps. Charles E. Phelps

Pzttsford, New York

No. 66

A Dana Craig of Norwood, MA uses A DuaneBarnes ofMenomonie, Wlslips A Charles Nielsen of Forest Lake, MN plastic soap hoiders to support small a length of panty hose over the filter of his makes a drying rack for moiding and trim projects during finishing. This prevents shop vacuum. The hose keeps sawdust by hammering some nails into a pair of them from sticking to the top ofhis bench. from lodging in the pieats of the filter: 2x4s and leaning them against the wall.

Spring Clamp Support Whenever I use my jig saw to cut

thin stock, I have trouble with the waste piece drooping down and pinchii the saw blade. To help keep the waste side of the stock sup ported, I use a strong spring clamp.

*After starting the cuf I just position thespnng clamp over the kerf on the end of the workpiece. -ND? FINISH

REMAINING CUT WHILE

Quick Connect When I was installing a dust col- clamps that are used for clothes

lection system in my shop, I was a bit dryer vents. The clamps were inex- surprised by the high cost of the pensive and as you can see in the hose clamps. Fortunately, I found a photo at left, they fit the hoses on my cheaper solution. While browsing dust collection system perfectly. As through a home improvement store, I came across some wire hose "1

an added bonus, you don't need any tools to conned them - just squeeze the ends with your fingers.

P. A. Jones G-ig Harbor, Washington

Send in Val# Shw Tip If you have a unique shop tip, we'd like to consider featuring it in one or more of our print or electronic publications.

We'll pay up to $200 for a tip we pub lish. Just write down the tip and mail it to ShopNotes, Attn.: Readers' Tips, 2200 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50312. Or FAX it to 515282-6741, or send us an e-mail at [email protected]. Please include votlr name, address ant ime p number in case we

C utikg thin stock like veneer jig is basically an auxiliary fence that and plasticlaminate has always clamps to your existing rip fence.

given me some trouble. The stock The bottom edge of the fence is tends to ''surf' over the blade, beveled so that it makes fnll contact tearing and chipping as it goes. It with the table of the msaw. This pre- also has a tendency to wedge itself vents tSlin wterial from working its under the fence, where it gets stuck. way underneath the fence. This jig solves both of those prob- Connectedto thefence by apairof lems. Here's how it does it. steel adjusting rods are a pair of

How it Works - You can see holddown blocks that act like from the photos on this page that the another set of "hands" while cutikg.

One ofthe hold-down blocks is positioned in front of the blade, so the workpiece is held on the tabIe as you feed it into the blade. The rear block &addles -$he blade and prevents the stock from be-kg Wed up.

The Md-down blocks can be adjusted in. or out for different widths of material. So you can cut very thin strips (for inlays or for edging a countertop) or wider piees.

At h t glance, the holddown blocks look a lot like

A Wide or Narrow. The adjustable hold-down featherboards. But there's a blocks are mounted to rods that slide out, allowng a r e n c e . Featherboards you to cut lammate or veneer as w~de as 8%". are usually fixed rigidly in

place. The holddown blocks on this fence dangle and pivot freely from the ends of a pair of steel rods. The weight of the blocks offers just enougb pressure to keep the stock flat an the table without making it difficult to push the workpiece through the saw blade.

AWNLURTFMleE If you take a look at the e ~ l o d e d view to the right, yon11 see that there are two main assemblies to this jig - a simple auxiliary fence that clamps to your rip fence and a pair of hold- downs that ride in aT-slot on the top of the fence. I began by making the auxiliary fence.

Two-Piece Construdion - As you can see in Figure 1, there are two pieces that make up the L shaped anxiliary fmce (4' A groove cut in each piece will form the T-slot The first step is to cut the fence face piece to width. The height of the fence will depend on the height of your table saw's ri fence. I made my fence 1') wid* ".ri)) (taller) than the overall height of my rip fence. Tnis will allow the bottom

6 ShopNotes No. 66

EXPIOOW VIEW

I).

FROM %-THICK STOCK

HOLD-DOWN BLOCK

Q

NOTE: HOLD-DOWNS MADE FROM

TWO LAXER4 OF %'-THICK STOCK

fa. FRONT VIEW )

THIS HOLD-DOWN THIS HOLD- - COVERSBACK OF BLADE

0 "LUST!

HOLD-DOWN FENCE (3W x 24")

BLOCK

edge of the auxiliary fence to rest @completely on the table of the saw.

I also added a slight bevel to the bottom of the fence face, like Figure la shows. This is to prevent your workpieces from getting wedged in between the fence and the saw table when using the jig.

The second part of the fence is just a narrow strip of 3/4'1 stock cut to the same length as the face of the fence. It will get glued to the face

piece of the fence, but not just yet First, you'll need to make the T-slot

CuUing the Slot - Tbe T-slot on the top of the fence will allow you to adjust the bold-down blocks that are added later. Toilet bolts will slide in the T-slots and be used to lock the sliding support blocks and holddown blocks in place.

M a h g theT-slot is actually atwo- step process. First, a '/a1'-wide saw kerf is cut in both pieces of thefence,

NOTE: FENCE (A1 IS HEIGHTOF FENCE PLUS 1

as you see Figure lb. When the two parts of the fence are glued together, these kerfs will form the bottom of the T-slot that will hold the heads of the toilet bolts. Itwill be opened after the pieces are glued together.

Once you've cut the kerfs, you can glue the two pieces together. The trick here is in keeping the saw kerfs for the T-slot aligned while clamping up the workpieces.

The solution is to use a 'key." I just cut a narrow strip of '/s" hardboard to fit in the kerfs. The key will keep the kerfs aligned while the glue dries. To avoid accidentally gluing the key in place, just give it a coat of wax so it can be removed once the glue dries, see the margin detail to the right.

With the fence glued up as one piece, you're ready to complete the T-slot. This is just a matter of cutting a slot along the top of the fence for

FTER GLUING the shank of the toilet bolts.

IECES TOGETHER I did this by removing the waxed key and setting the fence upside down on the table saw. Then I cut the slot opening in a couple of passes, as

A Waxed Key. A waxed hardboard key helps to keep the kerfs aligned during glue up.

I " U , I shown in F i e l c

No. 66 ShopNotes

J 1 6 S & A C C E S S O R I E S I Wold-Down Ass With the fence completed, you're now ready to make the two adjustable holddown assemblies for the jig, as in F i e 2.

There are two parts to each assembly The first part is a sliding support block that rides in the fence T-slot. It positions the holddown block along the auxiliary fence. Ifs held in place by a toilet bolt and knob, as you can see in Figure 2a

The second part is the hold-down block. The weight and the shape of these blocks holds the workpiece on the table. The 'Yingers" of the blocks are designed to straddle the blade. They are connected to the s l i d i support bloclts by a pair of steel rods, as shown in Figure 2h.

Support Blocks - I began by fence to the drill press, as in F i e 4. Then with the kerfs cut, you can cut making the sliding suppmt blocks Then, you can drill the toilet bolt the blocks to kal length. (B).To rnalcethe pieces saferto work hole in the center of the block, as Hold-Down Blocks - The last with, I did all the cutting and drilling Figure 4a shows. parts of the jig to be made are the on a single, extra-long blank before Next, center the bit on the thick- holddown block (C,. Just as their cuttingthe blockstofinalsize. ness of the block and drill the hole name implies, these blocks keep the

Start by ripping a 3/411-thick blank for the steel rod, like in F i e 4b. material firmly on the saw table. a to width. Next, youll make a cen- The last step before c u h g the They are made kom two layers of tered tongue sized to fit the slot on support blocks to lengtb is to cut a 3/4"-thick stock, giving them just the fence by cutting two wide, kerf in the block. This allows the enough weight to hold the work- shallow rabbets, like you see in knob to pinch the adjnsting rod and piece down. I found it easiest to glue F i e s 3 and 3a secure the sliding suppart block to up an extra-long blankbefore cutting

With the tongue made, the next the fence, see Figures 5 and 5a. them to their final size. step is to drill holes for the toiletbolt Once the glue has dried, you can and steel adjusting rod. To support cut out the holddown blocks on the the workpiece, clamp an a d i table saw. Since all cuts are 454 I laid

ShopNotes No. 66

out the shape on the workpiece, then cut it to size. And to support the ... blank as the blocks are cut, I attached an auxiliary fence to the miter gauge, as in Figure 6. Fmgers - Now that the blocks

are cut to their final shape, the next step is to cut the "fingers.." As you can see in Figures 7a and 7b, the dn- gers in each block are different. The rear block has an extra finger that forms a second slot that is used when cutting very narrow pieces.

Cutting the slots is the trickiest part of making the blocks. But I built a simple carriage to cut the slots safely. It's a piece of hardboard glued - and screwed to a 2x4 backing piece that's been mitered at 459

The blocks are simply clamped into the jig, as F i e 7 shows. I cut the slots in several passes with a reg- ular blade in the table saw, making sure the jig and block were held finnly against the fence.

Once the tingers are cut, I soft- ened the sharp edges and sanded a

@slight radius on the bottom of the blocks to provide a smooth contact point regardless of the thickness of the workpiece, as in F i e 2c.

The jig is almost ready to put together. But first you'll need to add a counterbored recess to the blocks for a stop collar and a through hole for a steel rod ( F i e 6a). Finally, cut two steel adjusting rods to con-

ned the holddown blocks to the sliding support blocks and fie off any sharp edges.

Setup and Use - At this point, you're ready to assemble the parts and start cutting. The jig goes together pretty quickly. Begin by securing the toilet bolts and support blocks to the fence with washers and knobs. Next I attached the holddown blocks to the steel rods with stop collars and slipped them through the sliding support blocks.

Now that it's assembled, the jig is pretty easy to use. After clamping it to the fence, set the hold-down blocks to width. Next, position the rear block over the hack half of the blade and the front block just in front of it and tighten the knobs.

One more thing. It's agood idea to install a zeroclearance insert to provide support and prevent chipout. Then to safely clear narrow sbips simply turn off the saw before pulling them out from the back. &

No. 66 ShopNotes

A Stop Collars. A pair of stop collars position the holddown blocks but still allow them to pivot

I ded Control. Using this jig with a zero-

clearance insert on your table saw will give you greater control and accuracy when cutting thin lam~nates and veneers. .~ . ~l

. . ~ ~

9

TOP OVERHANGS SIDES OFCABINET

BRASS HINGES ARE PAINTED BLACK TO MATCH KNOB5

c FRAME AND PANEL DOOR

ASSEMBLED WITH TONGUE AND

GROOVE JOINERY (SEE ARTICLE ON

PAGE 10)

CABINET ROLLS ON 4" LOCKING SWIVEL

CASTERS

i DRAWER6 RIDE ON FULL-EXTENSION

DRAWER SLIDES

SEE PAGE 13 FOR PLYWOOD CUTTING DIAGRAM AND HARDWARE LIST

DESIGN OPTION: MODULAR DESIGN ALLOWS

YOU TO STACK UNITS VERTICALLY OR PLACE THEM SIDE-BY-SIDE

UNDERNEATH A WORKBENCH (SEE PAGE 17)

THE APPEARANCE OFTHE STORAGE CABINET IS

ENHANCED BY THE USE OF RIFTSAWN 5TOCK. SEE PAGE 34

FOR MORE INFORMAnON

No. 66 ShopNotes

Case As I mentioned earlier, this storage cabinet is made up of two separate units. Although we built one unit with drawers and the other with doors, you can build them any way you choose (both with drawers or both with doors). The real beauty of this design is the fact that the cases of both units are identical no matter how you configure them. Essentially, each case is nothing more than an open plywood box

Cut Case Pieces to Size - You can start by cutting out the plywood pieces for the case tops and bottom (A), and the case sides (B). As you can see in Figure 1, these pieces are joined together with tongue and dado construction. Tongues cut on the ends of the top and bottom fit into dadoes cut into the sides. Fgwe l a shows a detail of this joint.

Once you've hished cutting all the tongue and groove joints, you can set the top and bottom asid< until you're ready for assembly But there is still just a little more work to do on the case sides.

First, you'll need to cut a rabbet along the back edge of each side piece. You can see this rabbet in F i r e l b above. This rabbet will hold a back panel that is added later. m e top and bottom of the case will sinrpy butt up against the back, so they don't need to be rabbeted.)

EDGING p-/eS' x sir"-mlcn

HARDWOOD)

NOTE: CASE TOP. BOTTOM, AND 51DE5 ARE

PLYWOOD. CASE BACK I 5 %' PLWOOD

- To conceal the plywood Assembly - Before you assemble C

edges- o f the case, I added some hardwood edgiw (C) to the kont edge of each side piece. Then I triwned the edging flush on the router table. If you look at F i r e 2 below, you'll see that I did this using a flush trim bit and a tall auxiliary fence to support the workpiece and act as a bearing sur(---

the case, take a look at the front of the grooves in the case sides. If there is any dried glue in the grooves just behind the edging, clean it outwith a narrow chisel. If you don't, the tongues on the top and bottom panels won't seat tightly against the back of the edging when you assemble the case.

No. 66

After you've assembled the case,

a you can add the edging to the front edges of the case top and bottom. Like the edging on the sides of the case, this edging also starts off a I, little wide. However, it is cut to exact r W r r : m - ~ o ~ c ~ ~

length to fit in between the edging SWKXT m W 16 MA@€ fRO*I W O

I on the sides F i e 3). 91"-THIat BLANKS (w woe c sa wwe)

Once the glue is dry, you can trim the edging flush. But this time, you'll need to use a hand-held router. But because it can be hard to balance the router on the narrow front edge of the case, I clamped a support strip to the case, as shown in F i e 4. This support strip is actnaJly glued up from two strips of wood - a wide one and a narrow one - to create a clearance gap for the router bit @gure 4c).

With this support strip clamped in place, you can trim the edging on both the outside and inside of the case F i r e s 4b and 4c). Just make sure to pay attention to the direction you are routing in order to avoid backrouting the workpiece.

3) The router bit won't be able to reach into the inside corners of the case. Here, you'll have to use achisel to pare away the remaining waste, as

you see being done in Figure 4a Back - The last step to complete

the cases is to add the backs. Each back (Dl is cut from 1/41' plywood. If you take a look at Figure 5, you can see that the back is cut to fit in the rabbets in the sides of the case and is flush with the top (and bottom). Then its simply screwed in place.

I 1 Hardware

V4.I - 4B"x bu ns T5AWN RED OAK PLYWOOD ~ ~ z ~ ~ ~ ~ E " - ~ F T s P I w N ~ ~ ~ A K ~ ~ L ~ o ~ ~ ~ '- . ( ' - 1 r . . k

No. 66 ShopNotes 13

r U I J ~ I I arld Shut Case. A pair of

hinged doors open to reveal a large storage

compartment.

A Color- Coordinated. To match the black

finish on the knobs, the hinges and

screws are primed and then sprayed

with black paint.

Doors *

Once you have both cases complete, you can turn your attention to making the doors and drawers that go inside them. It doesn't really matter which you choose to make first, but I started with the doors.

The doors are built with frame and panel construction. A hardwood frame surrounds a plywood panel. To build the doors, I started by cutting the door rails (E) and stiles (fl to size v i e 6).

The door frames are assembled with tongue and groove joinery. (For a complete article on tongue and groove joinery, turn to page 18.)

The first step in making this joint is to cut a centered groove along the inside edge of each door piece. The width of this groove sbould be sized to match the thickness of the plywood you will be using for the door panels, F i e 7a. (I used lhl' plywood for the panels, which was actually just over 3/1611 thick.)

1Ys" KNOB

FIT DOOR PANEL

TONGUES TO FIT GROOVE

HINGE 15 MORTISED INTO DOOR ONLY

NOTE: DOOR RAIL; A N D STILES ARE

CUT FROM 3C'-'WICK HARDWOOD; DOOR

PANELS ARE k" PLYWOOD

STRIKE PLAE-

After cutting the grooves on the Panels - The door panels (G) pieces, you can cut the tongues on are cut to size from l/4" oak plywood. the ends of the door rails. These Once this is done, you can glue up tongues are 3/8" long and are sized to each door frame around its panel. fit in the grooves cut in the stiles. Hardware -The last step to com-

plete the doors is to mount them to the case and then add the rest of the hardware. Using the table saw, I cnt a couple of mortises on the edge of each door for the h i e s , as shown in Figures 8 and 8a The hinges are mortised into the door only - they're surface mounted to the case.

There's one other thing to mention about the h i e s . I wanted the hinges to match the blackknobs that I planned to use. But all I could 6nd were brass hinges. So I just spray- painted the hinges black before attaching them to the doors (see ,. photo in margin at left).

Once the doors are in place, you can add a knob to each door and then install the magnetic catches, as

C shown in Figures 6 and 6c.

ShopNotes No. 66 I

Dra wt . J -

LARGE DRAWER FALSE FRONT

N- ALL FALSE FRONTS ARE 27i~"-LON5 V+"-THICK

H A R D W ~ O D STOCK

I r) Making the drawers for the storage cabiiet is not d icu l t - but they are a little more time-consuming to b 3 d than the doors.

As you can see in FIgure 9 above, there are three different sizes of drawers in the d i e t Other than the height of each drawer, the construction is the same. All the drawers have false ii-outs and travel on fullextension, metal drawer slides.

To make the drawers, you can I start by cutting thefronts and backs

I (H, I, J) and the szdes (K L, M) to

I . size from %''-thick hardwood stock, as in Figure 10. (Iused poplar for the

I interior drawer parts.)

I Next, you can cut the joinery on

the drawei- pieces. A narrow dado is I cut near the ends of each drawer

I side. Then a tongue is cut on each end of the drawex fronts and backs to match the dadoes in the sides. AsshowninPlgureslOand10a,the

inside face of each drawer piece is grooved to hold a plywood bottom. me width of this groove is sized to match the thickness of your ply-

wood.) Once thisis done, youcan cut three bottoms (N) to sizefrom'/4"plywood and glue up the drawers.

Drawer Slides - Each drawer is mounted on fulleztension drawer slides. Each slide comes in two halves. One half mounts to the inside of the case, and the other mounts to the side of the drawer. Take a look at F i e 9a for the positioning of the drawer slides.

False Fmts - Once you have all three drawers mounted in the case, you can make the false fronts. Each false front (0, P, Q) is cut to size from 3/411-thick hardwood. I sized the false fronts to leave a %s" gap on all four sides of each drawer.

The false fronts are simply screwed to the drawers (Figure 9b). Then you can add a couple of knobs to the front of each drawer.

DRAWER BACK (25%'' LONG)

1 xyAccess. Full-extensfon metal drawer sl~des allow you to open each drawerall the way to reach @ems at the back

m: BEFORE ASSEMBLY DRILL A SETOF COUNlEe5UNK SCREW - HOLES FOR FALSE FRONT

Top & Dividers - If you are making the storage cab inet to fit underneath a workbench, you can stop atthis point Allthatyou have to do is slide the units under your bench and fasten them in place. (See the opposite page.)

However, if you are building the "upright" storage cabinet, you will need to add a base and a top, plus a divider that fits in between the two cases, as shown in Figure 11.

I started by making the base and divider. m e s e two pieces are identical.) Each one is sirnpiy a plywood panel with hardwood edging on three sides F i e 12). After cutting the baseldzvzdar panels (R) to size, you can miter the e w n g (C) and glue it to the front and sides. Then trim the edging flush and round over the edges, as shown in F i e 12b.

Once you're finished with these pieces, they can be attached to the lower case. The base is screwed to the bottom of the case. And the divider is screwed to the top of the lower case, as shown in Figure Ilb.

Top -The top of the cabinet is a just a little more involved. Like the base and divider, it starts out as a plywood top panel (S). Then strips of hardwood edgzng (C) are added to the front and back edges only.

Instead of thin strips of edging, the ends of the top are covered with 3"-wide pieces of hardwood. These ends overhang the sides of the cabinet, creating a ledge that makes it a little easier to eet a miv on the cab-

TOP END (3"x Z'Z5/8" - %"-WICK

HARDWOOD1

inet when pulling it around the shop.

Each top end (Ti is \

Y' LOCKING

- PANHEAD WOODSCREW

I i c . just a piece of hard- 1

wood with a centered groove cut along one edge F i e 12a). A tongue is cut along each end of the top panel to match these grooves. Then the ends are cut to

NOTE: SEE SOURCE5 ON PAGE 35

length and glued to the top panel. \ i To complete the top, the edges are rounded over, just as you see in to the upper case F i e lla). F i r e 12a. Then the tov is screwed Castem - To make the storage -

cahiiet mobile. I added casters to the bottom of the base. These are

shown in Figures 11 and llc. I used 4" locking swivel casters all around. These

allow you to move the cabinet i anv direciion and then lock the w wheels down once you have it

where vou want it. I

A@ Once the casters are attached, the last thing to do is

place the upper case on top of the BASUDIVIOER lowercase, center it from side to side PANELS AND TOP PANEL ARE and screw the two together, just as PLYWOOD EDGING you see in F i e Ilb. &

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Tongue & Groove

Joinery henever I'm building frame w and panel assemblies that

use a plywood or hardboard panel, I almost always use a tongue and groove joint There are a few good reasons for this. Besides being quick and easy to make, the assembly is incredibly strong. That's because a hardboard or plywood panel can be glued into the frame.

In most cases, the groove is centered on the edge of the frame piece. Start by adjusting the rip fence on your table saw so the blade cuts close to the center, as shown in Figures 1 - -

GROOVES and la. But don't worry about being the groove Oe centered perfectly on the fvst try. drawing below:

The first step in creating a tongue Flip Workpiece - The reason is To solve thi: and groove joint is to cut the simple. After making the 6rst pass, it's important tu

grooves in the rails and stiles that just flip the workpiece end-for-end keep the work- make up the frame. and make a second pass F i e lb). piece pressed

This way, even if your blade isn't per- down against the fectly centered, the groove will be. saw table. So I

To fine-tune the width of the make sure to groove, nudge the rip fence over a check the groove after each cut and, little and make another cut Keep in if necessary, make another pass. 1)) mind that you're removing material Groove Width - There is one from both sides of the workpiece. So thing to mention about the width of it's best to make small adjustments the groove. If I'm using '/a1' plywood and sneak up on the M width. or hardboard, I cut the groove to

Troubleshooting- Gettingaper- match the thickness - which is fectly centered groove involves more often slightly less than '/4" thick. than just flipping a workpiece. It's But if I'm working with lh" ply- important that it stays tight against wood, like on the workstation, I cut a the rip fence. So I like to use a feath- '/4"-wide groove and then cut tongues erboard to hold it tight @gure 1). on the panels to match (see inset).

Another problem is not cutting Blades - One last thing. If youll the groove deep enough. This can see the bottomof thegrooves (like on happen when the workpiece "rides a frame and panel door), you might up" during the cut, causing a step in want to consider using a rip blade to

1 I A DownwardPressure. To prevent stepped

CROSSCUT BLADE

I I

A Blade Choices. A crosscut biade produces grooves with ridges. cuts in the bottom of the groove, hold the A better choice for cutting grooves is a rip blade. The flat-topped workpiece firmly against the saw tabie. teeth produce a groove with a perfectly fiat bottom.

.8 ShopNotes No. 66

make fhe nd. R leaves aperfec* flat bottom (see b o w of page l8).

Once tbe grooves are complete, the next-step is to cutthe tongue9 on the ends ofthe&. Iprdertouseadado beadeto cua&e.hgue. This way, yoln mu eut the tongue in tmo passes u&@a&le~etup.

Todcrthis, atartbyburslngthe itado blade in an a m d k y &ce @umW.'Lheaadiwtthefenceto6et h k @ h o ~ k m g u e @&me&).

Bl&&@ht-nilenextstepis to settheheight 6fthebhaeto ebb lishtfre thichese of the tongue. As before, the heidea ,ts to make two wm, f&ipW tbe wmf@ece over beixesneacbpam ~ Z b ) . T n i s d ~ t e r t h e ~ o n t h e m i L

But flu llired a ~ ~ p o i n f . A gcmd M e is: fhe gbove k E %I& J,&B fhe blade until if8 fit about a n wifh the goope @i?? 2a). Here a& &your cub on a tesbpiemand heck the t t k h of

'th;e tongue. R &odd ht the groove aslightly mag&

After cutting all the tongum on botkwdsofallthe&,youmtura your at&ntion to the tongues on the. l / a " p ~ o d panels.Wr fNs you can leave the up &nee 8et and simply adju& the heightoffhe bladeto cuta rabbet along! the edge of the panel. &a.i&itis be~tto sneak up gn the at

At this puiut, you'rejust about ready to &e up Ute membk But it's a l w a good idea to dry ammble Th?ag$t-o&&for my problems.

Saad - Thenyoucaneandthe &I% ofthem@ as we11 &s the inside edmofthestileand&.lhese a r w are W d t t o sand later.

G h - Like most glue-ups, the Wck is ushg enough glue to make a strong joint, bat not 80 mu& tbat it runs all over the plaoe I #at by g 1 W tbe ai ls to themel, apply& glue to thegroove and i& face of the tongue onthe~anel m e 31.

f l t b h i m t h e ~ i s ~ o m a t t e r of tepeafhg the esrrme prams. But here I apply glue to bath sides of the tonguesonthemils @lgm?3b).

ARer c l the pieces together F I e 4), e h k to see that the fmne is kt md square. Ifit iaYtlat, try loosening the clamps a bit. And if it b a t square, try reposb fioning the clamps slightly. d

AMP AFROW M LEn)15W&%%S

PROM BOWIN5 --- L r: OWE pbn' P ONTO PANEL

pN$JE;Es AND PANELS

ARENT TIGHT

IS TOO I InNG

1 rh F ~ Q Be T~ngue. LLlhtly sand the tonaue &eeks k TWue TrUubfm. When the tdnguels too long (left) #r toa wide

(cmejl assemb&is dfimlr. A tongue fhatb too fh~n (rrghtj reslLrt9 end chamfer theinds ta get a good fif in% grwve. ina poorp\m@ni end rnako6 it hard to ahgn the face8 But slay clear of the shoulder to keep it sharp.

ON LINE EXTRAS

No. 66 ShopNotes 21

I i 5a w Cabinet -4 51DE RAlL (ZM" x 17W')

'%"-THICK HARDWOOD. FRAME PANELS

r SWIVEL ARE M" PLYWOOD. #lZ x 3/4"' 6UBTOP AND BOTTOM ARE

PLOWER RAlL CASTER METAL (ZM" x 27")

PLYWOOD SCREW w

I 3%"

A aaw ~aoiner. AS As I mentioned earlier, this work-

a stand-alone unit, station is made up of two separate the saw cabinet

provides solid cabinets - a low cabinet

support for a basic support for the table photo above), and adding on a taller

portable saw with plenty of storage

cabinet provides outfeed support comfortable height or level with that holds the h e together. n e e when you're working with long stock. the oueeed table (more on thislater). dimensions are shown in F i e s l a

for accessories. Besidesprovidingsolidsupportfor Frames & Panels - There's and lb. Note: For a few tips on cut-

the table saw at just the rightworking nothing tricky about building the ting perfect-fitting tongue and height, there's the added storage cab& It's just a large box made up groove joints the &st time, check thafs a great bonus. Plus, you can of three frame and panel assemblies out the article on page 18. quickly and easily remove the saw. along with a plywood suhtop and After cutting the tongues and Size - Speaking of height, the bottom, like you see in Figure 1. grooves, you can turn your attention

cabinet shown in Figure 1 will accept Each assembly consists of a pair to the panels that fit inside each of portable saws up to 13" tall. With the of rails and stiles that wrap around a the frames. Each side panel (C, F) is casters added, the table of the saw is plywood panel. I started on the just a piece of '/zl' plywood. about 35" high - a comfortable frames by cutting the side and back Why l/zn plywood??he reason has working height. rails (A, D) and side and back stiles to do with mounting the drawer slides

If your saw is less than 13" high, (B, E) to final size. later. After cutting a rabbet around don't worry. You can add spacers Once that's complete, you can the edges to form a tongue (F~gure to raise the saw table so it's at a work on the tongue and groove joint la), the panel will fit in the grooves

so the inside face of the panel is flush with the frame. This makes it easy to mount the drawer slides.

Cabinet Assembly - Once the rabbets are complete, you can glue up each fiame assembly and begin work on assembling the cabinet.

To join the back assembly to the side assemblies, there's a wide rabbet along the back edge of each side assembly, as in F i e lb.

Next, to accept the subtop and bottom, I cut narrow grooves ('/4'?

near the top and bottom edges of all the frames (Figure la). These grooves accept tongues cut along three edges of the subtop and bottom (GI, which you can also see in Figure la. Once the tongues are cut, you can glue up the cabinet.

Finally, to provide some rigidity to the front of the cabinet and to cover the plywood edge at the bottom, I added a lower rail (H) made from 3/nt1-thick hardwood (Figure 1).

Top - Although the cabinet already has a "top," I wanted to make sure the table saw would have solid support. To accomplish this, I added a laminated top. The top (I) is nothing more than a piece of 3/4"

plywood wrapped with 3/41'-thi~k hardwood edging (I), as in Figure 2.

Then to provide a smooth, durable surface, I glued on an oversized layer of plastic laminate and khmed it flush with the edging. After screwing the top in place so it was flush at the back and centered side to side, I eased the sharp edge by routing a

@small chamfer (Figure 2a).

m m With the basic cabinet complete, you're ready to add the two drawers that you see in F i e 3.

Sue Drawers - WhaKs important to keep in mind as you size the drawer parts is to allow for '/2" of space on each side for installing the drawer slides F i e 3c).

After planing your stock down to '/2" thick, you can cut the drawer ffonts/backs (K) and sides (L) to the dimensions shown in Figure 3.

Tongue & Dado Joinery - The joinery for the drawers is cut entirely on the table saw. A single kerf at the ends of each side accept tongues cut on the ends of the fronts and backs, like you see in Figure 3a.

Before assembling the drawers, you11 need to cut a '/&vide groove near the bottom edge of all the drawer pieces to hold the bottom

e (Figure 3c). It's also a good idea to drill a set of wuntersnnk screw holes in each drawer front for attaching the false fronts later F w e 3a).

After cutting the drawer bottom (MI to size from '/4" plywood, you can glue up each drawer.

Drawer Slides - The drawers travel on fullextension metal slides. This makes it easy to reach items in the back of the drawer. Installing the slides is just a matter of screwing one half to the cabinet and the other half to the drawer. m e slides are positioned flush with the bottom edge of each drawer, as in Figure 34.

False Fronts - After mounting the drawer slides, you can add the falseffonts (N). These are pieces of 3/4" plywood trimmed with 3/4"-thick hardwood edging (0). The false fronts are sized so they're flush with the sides of the cabinet and create a '/8" gap above and below each drawer (Figure 3b).

Finally, I centered adrawer pull on the front of each drawer and screwed them in place Figure 3).

Casters - If you only plan on building the saw cabinet, you can

add all four locking swivel casters at this point The casters are set in '/8"

from each comer of the cabinet, l i e you see in Figure lc. (For more on the casters, refer to page 35.)

Materials 65 Hardware 811, A Side Rails (4) %x2%-17% B Side Stiles (4) % x 2% - 16'/8 C Side enels (2) 17% x lz3/~ - % ply. D Back Rails (2) 9/4 x 2% - 2% E Back Stile6 (2) =/4 x 2% - 16'/8 F Back Panel (1) 21518 IZS/~ - llz ply. G Subtop/Bottom (2) 21% x 2 6 - 5/4 Ply. H Lower Rail (1) s/4x2%-27 1 Top PI 213/4 x 26% - q/4 Ply. J Edging =/4 x =/4 - 9 Ln. Ft. K Drawer Frte./Bcks (4) 3/4 x 5% -24 L Drawer Sides (4) % x 5'12 -20 M Drawer Bottoms (2) 19% x 24 - I/+ Ply. N Drawer False FrCa (2) 5% x 25% - =/+ Ply. 0 Drawer Edging =I4 x 3/4 - I1 Ln. Ft. . (6) #Bx 1"Fh Woodsorem

(4) #6 x 1%" Fh Wood6crews (4) 5'"Dia. Locking SwiveiCS6tem (16) #12 x 3/4" Ph Sheet Metal 5cews

23

F E A T U R E P R O J E C T

Out feed Cabinet

With the saw cabinet complete, you Opening the hinged

can start building the second cabinet door at the back that makes up the base of the work-

of the outfeed station - the outfeed cabinet,

cabinet provides shown in the photo above.

easy access to the shop vacuum

The outfeed cabinet attaches to

stored inside. the back of the saw cabinet And as you can see in Figures 4 and 6, its construction is similar to the saw cabmet. But there are a couple important differences.

For starters, youU notice that there are only two frame and panel assemblies on this cabinet. These assemblies make up the sides of the outfeed cabinet. And instead of a frame and panel back and drawers, the cabinet is open. This allows you to modiiy the subtop and bottom to accept a shop vacuum whiie pro- viding easy access for hooking the vacuum up to the table saw.

Finally, since there isn't a front or back frame assembly to give the cab inet some rigidity, I added some applied ''framing'' once the main part of the cabinet was assembled.

Frame Assemblies - Here-, both side assemblies consist of side

rails (PI and stiles (Q) that surround a '/z" plywood side panel (R). And the joinery is identical to the frames for the saw cabinet - tongues and grooves (Figure 4c).

Once you've cut all the joinery, go ahead and assemble the frames. Then after the glue dries, you can work on the rest of the joinery used to assemble the cabinet

F i t there's a uair of mooves

tongue thats cut on each edge of 0 both panels Vlgure 4c). These tongues fit the grooves cut earlier in the side assemblies.

Cabinet Access - Although the joinery is complete, there's still a little more work to do on each of the panels. On the subtop youll need to create an opening to allow you to reach the shop vacuum and make hooldnn uo the dusthose easier. And -

youll need to cut along the top and bottom edges of the side assemblies, like you see in Figure 4c. These grooves will accept tongues youU cut on the subtop and bottom shortly.

Besides the grooves, youll also need to cut a rabbet along the front and back edges of each side assembly ( F l e s 4 and 4b). These rabbets accept the framing pieces that are added later.

Subtop & Bottom - With the joinery complete on the side assemblies, you're ready to make the subtop and bottom that connect them. The subtop and bottom (Sl start out as identical panels made from 3/411 plywood @gure 4).

Once the panels are sized, the only joinery to complete is the

- . on the bottom, there's a U-shaped opening that allows you to roll your shop vacuum inside.

I started on the subtop by laying out the location of a 15"-square opening, like you see in Figure 4. After drilling ll/z"-dia, holes in each corner, removing the waste is just a matter of connecting them with a j i i saw (Figure 4a). You'll also want to drill a set of oversized holes that will aUow you to attach the top later (Figure 4).

The last thii to do before assembling the outfeed cabinet is to # cut a U-shaped opening in the bottom. Here again, after laying out the location of the opening, I drilled a pair of starter holes and then removed the waste with a jig saw.

$:L (2%" x 22%')

E: RAILS AND STILES ICK HARDWOOD. SIDE %"PLYWOOD. SUBTOP

AND BOTTOM ARE %PLYWOOD

TOP VIEW b. I

( FRONT VIEW

1 Materials k

Note: I sized my opening to accept a shop vacuum up to 21" wide.

Assembly - With both the subtop and bottom complete, you can assemble the outfeed cabinet. There's nothing tricky here, just be sure to keep the &met square as the glue dries since there isn't afront

()or back h e to hold the shape. Frame Pieces - To provide

some rigidity to the cabimet and give it a "framed look, I added 3/4"-thick hardwood strips to the front and back of the cab'met. These strips cover the edges of the plywood and fit into the rabbets cut in the side assemblies, as shown in Figure 5.

After cutting the fiont and back stiles (T) to h d size, the only joinery to complete is to cut a dado at each end to fit the tongues on the subtap and bottom. Then you can glue the stiles in place.

Installing the fiont and back rails (Uj is even easier. Once you cut them to fit between the stiles, a l l that's left to do is to cut agroove near one edge that fits the tongue along the edge of the subtop and bottom. Then the rails can be glued in place. Note: To keep the back of the cab

1 inet open for the shopvacnum, you'll only need a single rail at the top.

e Add Door - To close off the back of the cab'iet, there's a door CC3 made from a piece of 3/4" plywood wrapped with 3/4"-thick e&ng 0,

T Fmnt/Back Stiles (4) a/4 x 2'& - 96 U Front/Back Rails (31 S/4 x f& - 211/@

as seen in Figure 6. Attaching the door to the cabinet is just a matter of mewing a piano hinge in place and then adding a catch to keep it closed ( F ' i e a 6 and fh). And to prevent the door from swinging inside the cab inet, there's a door stop (XI made from 3/d1'-thick hardwood mgure 64.

Join Cabinets - Once you've glued and screwed the door stop in place, you can attach the outieed cabinet to the saw cabinet They're just screwed together F i e 6b). Finally, you can add the casters to the outside corners of the workstation (refer to Figure l a on page 22).

DOOR

HARDWOOD)

I

No. 66 ShopNotes

Outfeed TOD

' With the outked cabinet complete, Just 'pop out the panel from the top you're ready to add the outfeed top.

The top shown in Figure 7 incorpc- Of the Outfeed rates a number of handy features.

cab'net to ~ m t , you can see that the top easy access Fo the

shop vacuum extends past the end of the cabinet This ensures that you'll have solid

'nS'de support when ripping long workpieces or sheet goods.

Then to provide additional caps biity, the top doubles as a router table. To do this, there's an opening at one end of the top that allows you to "drop in" a router mounted to an insert plate. And depending on your needs, you can rota& the top to the side for more convenient access, like the photo shown on page 20.

ACCESS PLATE-

Rnally, youll see a second opening that provides access to the ilzsl.de of the outfeed cabinet. All you need to do is remove the access plate and reach inside to hook the vacnum hose to the table saw (see margin) or the router table fence.

Top - Building the outfeed top 07 isn't all that difiicult Its just a

OVERSIZED PLASTIC LAMINATE ATTACHED

TO TOP AND BOTTOM OF OUIFEED TOP AND M E N ,

TRIMMED FLUSH (DETAIL a)

single layer of 3/4" plywood with 3/411-

thick edging (a, applied around the edges, as illustrated in F i e 8. UnWie the top for the saw cabinet, youll notice that I covered both sides of the top with plastic laminate.

Why both sides? Since the top isn't attached permanen@ and one end extends past the edge of the cab'met, laminating both sides helps stiffen the plywood to prevent sagging.

Note: To bim the laminate flush and ease the sharp edges, I routed a small f/16'1) chamfer along both the top and bottom edges Figure 8a).

Openings - As1 mentioned, there are two openings in the top - one for the router plate and the other for an access plate. The secret to getting a perfedfit between the openings and the plates is to use the plates as tern plates when you cutthe openings. To do this, you'll need to have the plate in hand before you start. ".

Plates - To mount the router, I bought a wmrnercial insert plate

B F E A T U R E P R O J E C T

(for sources, see page 35). But you

e could make your own. For the access plate (MI, I used a small piece of 3/4" plywood (Figure 9). Although there isn't any need for edging, both sides are laminated so it matches the thickness of the top.

After rounding the edges, I cut a U-shaped opening centered on one edge F i r e 9). This provides an opening for the hose from the shop vacuum to pass through when it's attached to the router table fence.

Plate Openings - With hoth plates in hand, the next step is to create the openings they fit into. The location of these openings is shown in Rgure 9. The nice thing is, you can use the same procedure to cut hoth openings. For more information on this procedure, refer to the article on page 30.

Besides cutting a perfect-fitting opening, the procedure also creates a lip in the top for the router plate to rest on so it's oerfectlv flush with

- the top of the outfeed table.

ARTICLE ON

OPENINGS FOR ROUTER PLATE AND ACCESS PLATE

But forthe access plate, you won't need to create alip. The opening you cut earlier in the suhtop of the cabinet is smaller and forms its own 'lip" for the access panel to rest on.

Attach Top - Once the openings are cut, the top is ready to be attached. To do this, I used a set of studded knobs that fit into threaded inserts in the bottom face of the top,

like you see in Figures 7a and 7b. To locate the inserts, clamp the

top in position so it overhangs the front and sides of the cabinet evenly ('/zl') Then use the holes in the cah- inet as a guide.

After drilling holes, you can install the inserts. This can he aliffle tricky. To make it easier, I used the installation tool shown in the box below.

Y OuCfeed Top (1) 2@/2 x 38'12 -%Ply. Z Edgins Vax % - 12 Ln. Ft. I AA Aocees Plate (1) 16 x 16 - 3/4 P(y. I Hardware 9 (4)5/re" Threaded

Insert6 (4) 5/rs"-18 5tudded Knobs (1'/4' Long) (4)%s" Washers

Threaded inserts, like the ones shown below, are a quick way to connect two pieces, yet still make it easy to take them apart. The trick is keeping the insert straight as you're screwing it in place - which isn't always easy. To solve this problem, I made the insert tool shown at right

Insert Tool - The insert --tool is made from a block of

11/2"-thick hardwood with a . . 3/4"-deep notch cut in one

;corner, as illustrated in the drawing at far right. Finally, between the hushing and the nut and ~.

A counterbored hole is drilled throwh the washer that are tightened against the insert, I . ~.i,notch to hold a 5/1ij'-18 bolt and nylon bushing. added a spring. It provides just enough down-

The through hole is sized to hold the bolt and ward pressure to help the threads on the out- the '/2"-dia. counterbore is drilled side of the insert to begin cutting into the wood.

ll/n" deep to accept the 5/1fi1' Note: Before screwing the insert in place, it's ID. hushing. The bushing a good idea to add a slight chamfer to the holds the hex bolt straight starter hole. This prevents the insert from chip while you tighten it down. ping out the edges as iis screwed in place.

..- No. 66 ShopNote

punting the Table Saw -

16 I ' Miter S'ots. At this point, the basic construction Routing slots in the of the workstation is complete. AU

top Of the Outfeed that's left to do is mount the table table provides saw and add some slots to the top of

clearance for the the outfeed table to accept the bar of bar of the miter the miter gauge (see photo).

gauge when - _,.:_ -. .. .. Mount Saw - To mount the saw

The slots don't need to be very long. In my case, the slots ran from the front edge of the outfeed top to the opening for the access plate, as in F i e 11.

Guide - An easy way to cut the slots in just the right spot is to use a router and straight bit along with a shopmade guide. The guide is nothing more than a piece of 3/4"plywood with a runner set in a groove cut in the bottom v i e 11).

Since some table saws use a miter bar with washers that fit a T-slot, I used a 1"-dia straight bit to slots. Since the miter bar

cut the groove from the front edge of the out- doesn't feed table to the access plate opening.

iildKilly LlUbbLULs securely, yet still allow it to be have to fit the slot tight this provides After routing one groove, s.mply removed easily, I once again turned to a set of threaded inserts. This makes it easy to use studded knobs and washers to secure the saw.

To accurately locate the inserts on the top of the saw cabinet, I used the mounting holes in the saw itself to lay out the insert holes 10). Just position the saw so it's centered side to side with clearance in the back for the rip fence rail and the blade guard. After marking the location of each insert, you can drill the holes and install the inserts just like you did before.

-

a little "wiggle" room for the bar. After mounting the router to the

guide so the bit is aligned with the runner, adjust the bit to make a cut just a hair deeper than the thickness of the miter bar. (In my case, I setthe bit to make a 3/a'1-deep cut.)

At this point, cutting the slots is easy. Start by removing the access plate. Then set the guide (and router) on the saw so the runner slips into the miter slot and the bit is just past the end of the saw (Figure 11).

Now turn the router on and slide the guide along the slot to rout a

move the guide to the other miter slot and repeatthe process. It's also a good idea to rout miter slots with the top positioned to the back. This way, you can use the miter gauge in either@ position @gure 11).

Shop Vacuum Switch - With the shop vacuum inside the outfeed cabinet, turning it on and off can get to be quite a hassle.

To avoid this, I added a switched receptacle so I could control it from the outside of the cabinet. You can see how I did this by c h e c k out the box on the opposite page.

Riser Pads - The next step is to bring the top of the saw table up so it's flush with the outfeed table. In my case, all I needed was a set of "spacers" about thick. So after planing some material down, I cut out a set of pads (BB) to fit the corners of the saw. Then after m g a hole through each pad, I secured the saw to the stand with knobs and washers (Figure 10a).

Miter Slots - Once the saw is mounted, you11 need to add slots to the top of the outfeed table to allow the miter gauge to slide completely past the blade when making a crosscut.

@ECDND: ROUTSLOT IN TOP OF OUVEED TABLE

- .

&:last thing to add to the work* tion is afence for the router table, like the one you see in the photo at right.

As you can see in F i e 12, the fence has five parts: a base and face piece form the working part of the fence, and a pair of braces and a cover allow you to hook up the hose from the shop vacuum.

Base & Fence - I started on the fence by making the base (CC) from a long ship of l/z" plywood and the face (DD) from a piece of 3/41' pl wood, as you see in F i e 12.

You'll notice that the face has narrow notch in it to provide clearance for the router bit And the base has a wider notch that helps form an

opening for collecting dust and chips. A Fence. Adding

A couple of narrow slots allow you to a fence to the

adjust the fence once it's attached to router table adds

the top of the outfeed table. versat;I;ty and

Once the notches are cut, joining allows you to hook

these pieces is just a matter of cut- up the hose from

ting a groove in the fence face to the shop vacuum.

accept a tongue cut on the edge of the base @gure 12a).

After the glue dried, I installed a pair of braces (EE) and a cover (FF) made from ' /z" plywood. A hole cut in the cover is sized to fit the end of the hose from the shop vacuum.

Inserts - All thafs left to do to complete the installation of the fence is to install two sets of threaded inserts F i e 12). The inserts allow you to attach the fence with a pair of studded knobs and washers. &

Timing the shop vacuum on and off by reachhg through the access plate opening is a hassle (or impossible with the router table fence in place). And going through the back of ihe outfeed cabnet isn't any better. To solve this problem, I added a switch (see photo).

Frame-Mounted Switch - Addm the switch isn't difficult Just run a -a 2 - e

short length of electrical cord (with a plug wired on one end) between a wall outlet and a switch/receptacle, as shown in the drawing below.

Once thafs complete, just plug the power cord from the shopvacuum into the receptacle and you're all set Note: You'll need to leave the switch on the shopvacuum in the "on" position.

I Electrical I D (1) 15 Amp., 120 Volt Swtdr/Receptacle ( I ) 5wrtch Box ( 6 ) No 5 Spade lermmals (16/14ga.) (2) Gmundrng Plgtalls

( I ) 3h'' Cable Connector

* I l l Wtre Nut tAnnector r / e ~ o w ) (2) #6 2%" Wnhsad Shest Metal Srsw.9 (1) Duplex Box Cover (1) 15 Amp., 126 Volt Plug (Gmunded) 16-35J Electric Cord (14 k t )

No. 66 ShopNotes 29

No measuring. No marking.

And still get a perfect fit

between your insert and

router table.

A Fo cutting through

laminate, apply a spray lubricant to

the hole saw before drilling the hole.

T he biggest challenge to W g any router table top is cutting

an opening for the insert plate so that it fits perfectly. To answer that challenee when it came to the outfeed top for the Table Saw Workstation (page 20), I used a fool- proof method that doesn't require

I any tedious measuring or layout Just a few common shop tools.

The nice thing about this methodis you can use itto create an opening for any size or type of plate. Note: I used a C

Router plate I nstallatiln-

mounting plate from Woodhaven. For more information on this mounting plate, refer to page 35.

Template & Guide Strips -?his method works because you use the actual plate as a template for positioning a set of strips that guide a - pattern bit when you're cutting the opening. (Most pattern bits will require 1"-thick strips.) Cut Opening - Once you have the guide strips

Locate Guide Strips - After making theguide strips, located, you're ready to cut the opening by following Steps you're ready to locate the opening. To do this, use carpet 2 through 5. With the opening complete, all that's left to do tape to position one of the guide strips so it's parallel with to complete the installation is mount the router to the one edge of where you'd like the plate located. Then use insert plate. If you take a look at Step 6, you11 see how to the insert plate to locate the other strips, as in Step 1. do this by using the existing base of your router.& a Step 1 To locate the guide strips, use the insert plate as a template. Start by fastening one strip in place with carpet tape so it's parallel with one edge of where the plate is to be located. After positioning the plate along this strip so it's in its final location, you can "wrap" the plate with the remaining guide strips.

Step 2 To provide a starting point for the bit and create relief holes for dust, drill a 1 'K-dia. hole in each corner A hole saw works great for this, but you'il need to wrap the body with masking tape to compensate for the set of the teeth, as you can see in detail 'a.' Once the teeth cut through the laminate, remove the tape and complete the hole.

ShopNotes

.Step 3 Before routing the lip, set the bit depth to match the exact thickness of the insert plate. To do this, mount the pattern bit in the router Then place the insert plate on top of a guide strip. Set the router on the plate and lower the bit until it barely touches the top (see detail). If you rout too deep, see the margin for a quick fix. (For access plate, set bit for %"-deep cut)

At this point, set the bit into the opening in one of the corners so the router is resting on the guide strips. Then use the strips to guide the bearing on the bit (see detail) as you rout around the inside of the strips in a clockwise direction. Note: To maintain the radius in the corners, rout only to the edge of starter holes. (For access date. make multiole . .

passes through plate.)

Once the lip has been routed, you% ready to remove the waste. A jig saw makes quick work of this. Ail you need to do is follow the inside edge of the groove formed when you routed the lip (see detail). A little sanding will clean up the rough edges.

All that's left is to attach the router to the mounting plate. This requires drilling holes for the machine screws that hold it in place. An easy way to locate the holes for the screws is to use the existing base on your router (I used carpet tape to keep the base from shifting,

yke you see in the detail)

A Pattern Bit The guide bearing at the top of a Dattern bit makes iteasy to cut a lip or opening in the center of a workpiece.

WOODSCREW

INSERT PLAE

A Levelers. If the lip is routed too deep, rnstallrng a set of flathead screws allows you to raise the insert plate so it's flush with the top of the router table

No. 66

hen it comes to wood- w working tools, I'll admit to being something of a power tool junkie. But there's one hand tool

This two-in- that's been in my shop for about as one tool is the long as I can remember. And I

perfect choice wouldn't want to be without i t That's my bullnose shoulder plane.

forfine-tuning Shoulder planes are specialized cabinetjoinery. planes designed for h e cahiiet-

work. The sides of the plane are milled square with the bottom. And

Bullnose

Plane

the edges of the blade are flush with - the sides. This makes the olane ideal for cleaning up rabbets or trimming shoulder plane is called a the shoulder of a workpiece. "bullnose" plane, and if you

There are several types and sizes take a look at the photo of shoulder planes. But the one I above, you'll see why. The have is a rather small version made front of the plane is short by Stanley. It's a model number "90." and round, allowing the (Stanley uses numbers to designate "nose" to work its way into

all their planes.) It tight areas that other was handed down to planes just can't touch. But an me by my father, and the only reason I like this tool. inside corner, which really comes in it's older than I am. If you look at the inset photo handy when cleaning up a rabbeted But this same plane is above, you11 see another neat fea- frame, for example. I ts also great for still being made by lure of this plane. By removing the removing dried glue from the inside

front section of the plane, you can corners of a carcase or paring down Bullnose - This convert it from a bullnose plane into the protruding ends of a box joint or

particular type of a chisel plane. This allows you to dovetail joint, just like you see in the margin photo shown at left

Anatomy - There aren't many parts to a shoulder plane, as you can see in the drawing at left. The body of the plane consists of two sections - a bottom and a top. A large cap screw holds the sections together. The blade, or cutter, rests on a flal,

Chisel Plai ground seat in the bottom section With the top and is held in place with a lever cap.

removed, this plane ADJUSTMENT A small adjustment block engages a is quickly converted series of slots in the underside of the

into a chisel plane. cutter. Turning a screw behind the The low-angle blade adjustment block moves the cutter

cuts right through forward or back and allows you to the end grain on h e t u n e the depth of cut.

SHOULDER PLANE One of the things that makes the ANATOMY Stanley No. 90 suitable for h e work

ShopNotes No. 66

. ~

. .

CHISEL PLANE

is that it has an adjustable throat. By At just a little over four osemg the large cap screw on the inches long, it fits neatly in

op of the plane, you can slide the top the palm of my hand. But Q" section forward or back to open or don't let the compact size close the throat, depending on how fool you. plane has thick of a shaving you are taking. enough heft behind it to Being able to adjust the throat give it some authority, opening is helpful to prevent the making it perfect for one- plane from tearing out the wood and handed planing. And it's getting clogged with shavings. even got a couple of oval-

Inside the top section, there is a shaped depressions milled very small set screw. As you can see into the sides for a good, in F m e 1, this screw contacts the comfortable grip. REMOVE TOP TO

LOOSEN ORnGHTEN cap screw and serves as a stop for Where this plane really SET SCREW TO

ADJUST MINIMUM setting the throat opening. This way, excels (and what I use it for THROAT OPENING

you don't have to readjust the throat most often) is cleaning up a opening when switching hack and joint that I've cut on a table forth from a chisel plane to a saw or router table. Alot of shoulder plane. You can adjust the times when I cut a tenon or stop with a small screwdriver, as a rabbet on the table saw shown in Figure 2. with a dado blade, the blade

Blade Angle -Another thing that will leave behind small makes this plane stand out from ridges. This plane is great for hody is nickel-plated, making it both other bench planes is the angle of removing these ridges, especially in attractive and resistant to rust And the hlade. If you take a look at Figure the corner of a shoulder 3). even though my plane has received 1, you can see that the hlade is And since the sides of the plane are so much use over the years that the bedded at a fairly low angle (12'). ground square with the bottom, you nickel plating is worn through in

*is low-angle allows the cutter to can use the plane on its side as well some spots, it still works just as well shce through end grain with relative as on its sole, like you seein Figure 4. as when it was new. ease. The hlade is also held down Appearance - There's another Sources - You probably won't firmly by the lever cap, which helps thi i that makes this plane one of k d this plane at a typical hardware to reduce chatter. A screw is used to my favorites. Although it doesn't store or home center. But it is avail- tighten the lever cap and secure the have anything to do with perfom- able from several different wood- blade in the body of the plane. ance, I really like the way this plane working catalogs. (I've listed a few

Feel - Part of the reason I Wie looks. Ifs well-proportioned and has sources in the margh at right.) The this plane so much is the way it feels. nice, graceful curves. The cast iron cost is around $80.

Stanley also makes a couple of other versions of this plane - a No. 92 and a No. 93 (see photo below). These planes look similar to the No. 90, hut they have a longer front section. ?his extra length makes it a little easier to guide the plane, particularly at the b* of a cut But because of their size, these planes can't fit into tight spaces as easily as theNo. 90. d

4 Big rot hers. In addition to the No.

"RIDGES" FROM 90, Stanley also DADO BLADE makes a couple of

longer shoulder planes. These can also be converted

ONLY CUTTER 15 into a chiselplane by removfng the top.

No. 66 ShopNotes 33

Shop Talk c

e've received several letters w in the last month asking about the wood we used to build the workbench in ShopNotes Issue No. 65. And since we're featuring a

'1 matching storage project in this ' endgrain) issue, I thought it would be the per- \ fect For time starters, to talk there's about nothing it. special

about the species of wood we used - L it's just red oak The reason it

looks different is we used red oak boards with a very straight facegrain pattern. To get this look,

we selected $ s a w n lumber

Lumber Selection - :4.. F, Riftsawn - So what

exactly is riftsawn lumber? If you take a close look at the end of Ha&awn vs Riftsawn

a nftsawn board (the arched growth rinRs that are 30" (or It's more stable. So parts of the lower board in the margin

photo), you'll notice that the

m m ~ l _ growth rings are angled between (note endgm") 30' and 60" to the face of the board.

This results in face grain that's straight and consistent.

Flatsawn - Most of the other boards you'll see, though, have

less) to the face of the board, like the top board shown in the margin. In many cases, especially in wide boards, the rings will often be parallel to the face. This results in wide, arched facegrain patterns.

Does it Really Matter? - You might be asking yourself how much difference this could really make

Flatsawn. k Flatsawn lumber wiil

have sections of straight grain along

with some wide, arched grain

patterns. This inconsistency can

detract from the look of a project.

when it comes to building a project A glance at the photos at left and above, and the answer is fairly obvious.

When flatsawn-lumber is used on a large project, the grain grabs your attention and takes away fromthe look I of a well-designed project

Does that mean you should always use riftsawn lumber? Of course not But whenever you want to play down the grain, like in the photo above, it's sometlung you should consider.

Besides its looks, riftsawn lumber has another benefit

34 ShopNotes

project like doors are more likely to stay flat and sb&!ht, instead of warping and causing a problem with the fit And drawer fronts are less likely to cup or twist.

Cost & Availab'idy - Now you might assume that riftsawn lumber d l cost more. But if you spend a little extra time sorting through the lumber stack you can probably 5nd all the riftsawn lumber you need. That's because you71 almost always find some in the same stack as the flatsawn lumber.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case when you need riftsawnply wood. Unless the veneer is cut just right, you're likely to have to special order riftsawn plywood. Still, in the long run it's worth it to end up with a betterlooking project.

So the next time you head for the store, select your lumber (and plywood) with the grain in mind. I might take a little more work u @ kont, but it's sure to make your project a standout once it's built&

No. 66

@ 5torags Cabinet Hardware Although there isn't much hardware required to b 3 d the Convertible Shop Storage Cab'iets (page lo), there are acouple of items you'll need.

Knobs - To give the cabinet doors and drawers aunique look, we used ll/~"aquare knobs irom Lee Valley (01G62.20). The knob has a

post mounted with two screws, so you don't have to worry about it rotating during use.

Stides - And to make it easy to reach the entire contents of the drawers, they ride on fullextension, metal slides. This type of slide is available in avarietyof lengths and hnishes.

(We used 20'I-long NUML black slides on the Convertible Shop Storage Cabiiets.)

SOUR- Drawer slides Lee Vdley

are available from 800-871-8158 wmvJeevalley.com

most woodworking stores and the casters, mwer sources listed at right. Shdes, Knobs

Router Plate in You can use just about any type of router plate for the Table Saw Workstation on page 20. But one of the best we've run across is one made by Woodhaven.

For starters, the g1/4" x 113/4"

plate is a 3/#-thick piece of phenolic. So it'e solid and stiff enough for

counting a heavyduty router. mere's also a smaller version that's sized 73/4" x 101/4".)

Inserts - Then to accommodate different size bits, you get a set of three inserts that snap secnrely in place - an 13/1$-dia. bushing/bit hole, a 2"-dia bit hole, and a blank for customizing. no inserts

this, you also get a starting pin as small one sellsfor $50.) You can order part of the 'W - a nice extra. the large plate from the Woohi th

Cost - The large Woodhuva Store or both plates are available router plate costs around $55. m e from Woodhen (see margin).

Heavy-Duty Casters The locking swivel caster shown Double-Locking - But just below was used on both the Shop because each project is mobile Storage Cabinets (page 10) and the doesn't mean it isn't rock-solid during Table Saw Workstation (page 20) to use. Thai3 because thelever on these make them easy to roll around. casters locks both the wheel and

swivel action. And since each caster is rated for 300 lbs., they're heavyduty enough to support just about any shop (or home) project around.

Cost - We used 3" casters on the Workstation and 4" casters on the Storage Cabinets, but 5" casters are also available. The casters range in cost irom $16 (3') to $20 (5'7. These casters (or similar types) are available from the sources listed at right.

Roekler 800-279-4441 m.rnckler.com Casters, Drawer

Slides

woodcraft 800-225-1153

www.moodcraft.com Casters, Drawer

Slides

Woodhaven 8005446657

www.wocdhavencom Router Plates

Woodsmith Store 800-835-5084 Casters, Drawer

Slides, Router Plates

kojecl Plans Yuu Clicr on Sbbxnber S e ~ c e r ot

Can Dow~rload www.shopnotes.com

. Iinbstq Oihur

. Order Sh@pXotaa &

No. 66

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9 . I. ._. . .., -.c. . , . . <. '

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:~ *- ?%& Scenes f

I A The ouffeed table of this Table Saw Workstation k. The ouffeed table can also be positioned fo the side for makes It easy to rip long workpieces with a portable routing operations. And an opening in the access plate table saw Step-by-step instructions begin on page 20, makes it a snap to hook up a shop vacuum to the fence.

#/4" 8" 96"x x#/4"

#/4" 6" 96"x x#/4"

#/4" 6" 96"x x#/4"

!/2" 6" 96" (TWO BOARDS)x x!/2"

#/4" 6" 96"x x#/4"

CUT 20 LINEAL FEET OF EDGING FROM THIS EXTRA AREAx#/4" #/4"

CUT 20 LINEAL FEET OF EDGING FROM THIS EXTRA AREAx#/4" #/4"

#/4" 6" 96"x x#/4"

ZX

W

U U U

T TT T

Q

Q

Q

Q

P PP P

O

L LK K

JH

BBBB

AA A

A DD

E E

Page 1 of 2 ShopNotes No. 66

Cutting Diagram

Table Saw

®

WorkstationMaterialsA Side Rails (4) 3/4 x 21/2 - 171/2

B Side Stiles (4) 3/4 x 21/2 - 167/8

C Side Panels (2) 171/2 x 123/8 - 1/2 Ply.D Back Rails (2) 3/4 x 21/2 - 215/8

E Back Stiles (2) 3/4 x 21/2 - 167/8

F Back Panel (1) 215/8 x 123/8 - 1/2 Ply.G Subtop/Bottom (2) 211/2 x 26 - 3/4 Ply.H Lower Rail (1) 3/4 x 21/2 - 27I Top (1) 213/4 x 261/2 - 3/4 Ply.J Edging 3/4 x 3/4 - 9 Ln. Ft.K Fronts/Backs (4) 3/4 x 51/2 - 24L Sides (4) 3/4 x 51/2 - 20M Bottoms (2) 191/2 x 24 - 1/4 Ply.N False Fronts (2) 51/2 x 251/2 - 3/4 Ply.O Edging 3/4 x 3/4 - 11 Ln. Ft.P Side Rails (4) 3/4 x 21/2 - 221/2

Q Side Stiles (4) 3/4 x 21/2 - 30R Side Panels (2) 221/2 x 251/2 - 1/2 Ply.S Subtop/Bottom (1) 26 x 26 - 3/4 Ply.T Front/Back Stiles (4) 3/4 x 21/2 - 30U Front/Back Rails (3) 3/4 x 11/2 - 211/8

V Door (1) 193/8 x 267/8 - 3/4 Ply.W Edging 3/4 x 3/4 - 9 Ln. Ft.X Door Stop (1) 3/4 x 23/4 - 281/2

Y Outfeed Top (1) 261/2 x 381/2 - 3/4 Ply.Z Edging 3/4 x 3/4 - 12 Ln. Ft.AA Access Plate (1) 16 x 16 - 3/4 Ply.BB Pads (4) (Custom size to fit tablesaw)CC Bace 61/4 x 32 - 3/4 Ply.DD Face 5 x 32 - 1/2 Ply.EE Braces 31/2 x 31/2 - 1/2 Ply.FF Cover 5 x 515/16 - 1/2 Ply.

No.66 ShopNotes Page 2 of 2

Y

V

SS

R

R

N

N

MM

IG G

F

CC

AA

F FEE

DD

CC

48" 96" - PLYWOODx !/2"

48" 96" - PLYWOODx #/4"

48" 96" - PLYWOODx #/4" 24" 48" - PLYWOODx !/4"

shopnotes issue 66

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