DIY Rip Fence

My table saw's rip fence was never very good and had been becoming less and less accurate with time. It was narrow and failed to lock well, requiring a lot of coaxing into position. I wanted to order one like the Shop Fox, but it costs $235, plus another $44 for shipping. I used their basic layout, with a few changes of my own. It was a good excuse to invest in and learn to use a MIG welder, which was only slightly more expensive than the Shop Fox itself. I also needed an angle grinder, as using my bench-top one for pieces this size is quite tiring!

Rather than the usual cam locking system I employed a threaded lock, much like a c-clamp. To assure consistent locking force, there's a stop pin so the handle always rests in the same position. I made the handle from a piece of 3/4" square tubing welded to a 1/2" carriage bolt. One arm of the handle is shorter than the other so that it misses the stop pin, allowing for more rotation. The stop pin is necessary because the 1/2" bolt can effortlessly bend the 2" piece of angle iron.

This is the bottom of the removable fence, with the furniture glides I used for low-friction movement clearly visible.

Here's a detail of where most of the action occurs. At the top is the system for adjusting the angle of the fence to the track. There are two set screws with a metal strip to provide tension and prevent marring. At the bottom is the anti-mar device for the clamping bolt. You can see the two screw holes from the simple L-shaped piece of metal I tried that would retract by spring action, but I lacked the equipment to heat treat it, so it just bent permanently, scratching the paint. The final method employs two springs to achieve the same effect. A better way would be to put a nylon glide on the anti-mar plate and not bother with a spring retractor.

I later added a seven foot long track to allow larger pieces to be cut. Whereas last time I drilled and tapped bolts to hold the track assembly together (copying the professional ones), this time I simply welded it. I can now make cuts 50" to the right of the blade, although I'd certainly need a support to keep the whole setup from tipping over sideways were I to actually attempt it. I still need to paint the new rails, but that's not a big deal. Now that the rails are finalized I can attach a self-adhesive measuring tape so setting the cut width will be much easier. Eventually I plan to add a melamine extension for part of the extra distance to serve as a router table, but there's no rush on that.

There are many ways I could streamline the construction of the rip fence, but it slides easily and is solid as a rock when clamped.

Heating System Manifold

I am designing a five zone heating system, and bought the parts necessary to hook up all five pumps. Not only was it rather expensive, but assembling that many joints would be time consuming. Instead, I decided to weld up two manifolds (one for supply and one for return). Each manifold is simply a 12" long 1.5" nipple with four 3/4" nipples coming off of it (actually two nipples cut in half as threads are only needed on one end). The fifth connection is provided by a 1.5" to 3/4" adapter screwed onto the end. Together, the two saved me 14 fittings and 24 joints as well as being a fair bit lighter and more compact. To get the nipples attached solidly, I printed out a paper template of the shape they needed to be ground to and taped them on. This made getting a good fit simple and was rather easy to produce, as the 1.9" outside curve of the 1.5" pipe projected onto the 3/4" nipples is just an ellipse.

Getting the welds airtight was a little bit of work, and you can see the pressure testing setup I used. Some old washer hoses were the easiest way to seal the 3/4" nipples, and while they looked comical it worked fine.

Steel Wheelbarrow Handles - $10.68

My wheelbarrow's handles were shot and the cheapest I could find were $27, which is rather a lot for a wheelbarrow that's seen better days. Instead I bought a 10' piece of 1.5" electrical conduit for $10.68. Handles are usually 60", so cutting it in half was perfect. I considered welding the fittings on but decided ease of removal was worth some drilling, especially since I already had the bolts. Even if I'd gone with the store bought handles I'd still have needed to make the holes, although drilling hardwood is arguably easier. The handles not being square didn't seem to matter very much to assembly. The tubing was a little large to be comfortable in my hands, so I flattened the handle area a bit with a large hammer, taking care that the resulting shape was aligned vertically. Not the prettiest result, symmetry-wise, but perfectly functional.

Butcher Block Resurfacing

Originally posted on my private blog May 26th, 2009.

This butcher block table had seen some serious use, creating depressions over an inch deep and some nasty discoloration. It sold rather cheaply at an antiques auction because while some use adds character, a lot apparently just looks kind of gross. When measuring it up, I discovered the original top hadn't been parallel to the base so I corrected this while I was at it. Fortunately I was removing enough that all traces of the previous edge bevel were erased. Using some straight pieces of lumber as rails to ensure my router remained parallel to the surface, I made four passes, removing 5/16" and a final one removing only 1/16". This took about three hours. Next I need to sand the top smooth, round the edges, and sand the sides to remove the slight discoloration there. I may add a small groove around the periphery to catch liquids.