The spring clamps you just squeeze the handles to open. I have a few and really don't like them.I don't understand the 45 degree angle unless it is to keep the clamp out of the way. ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Stephan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 2:29 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] The Sawboard
Lenny, I have a couple of these for my jig saw, and yes, they're really handy. I don't understand though about the clamps, it says: right on the pencil line. Carefully clamp each end of the sawboard to your work with spring clamps positioning them at a 45 degree angle to the sawboard (make sure that you're still right on the line when your done). Now, set your saw to the appropriate depth and run it down the board as you did before with the saw foot against the guide ripper, and PRESTO!, What is a spring clamp, and how is it placed at a 45 degree angle? Thanks for any illumination. Bill Stephan Kansas City, MO (816)803-2469 William Stephan -----Original Message----- From: "Lenny McHugh"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 11/2/07 11:05:15 AM To: "Handyman-Blind"<[email protected]> Subject: [BlindHandyMan] The Sawboard The Sawboard The Sawboard Q. How does one work four by eight sheets of plywood into dead-on accurately dimensioned panels for cabinet carcasses (bodies) and shelves without taking out a second mortgage to finance a large stationary table saw with table extensions and all of the fancy trimmings? A. By using your old faithful circular saw and a sawboard. "What is a sawboard ?", you ask? Out of all of the weapons in this wood miser's arsenal, my sawboard has to be one of the most used and most functional pieces of equipment, as well as the least expensive to acquire. There aren't enough accolades to describe it! In the simplest of terms the sawboard is a straight edge circular saw guide. Now, I know what your probably thinking right now: "Yea right, another clumsy, pain in the butt saw guide thingys that takes forever to get aligned and clamped only to find out that you've trashed the cut because it missed the line!"...Right? Believe me I know exactly how you feel. For years as a professional I tried just about everything on and off of the market and the only methods that gave me accuracy I needed for cabinet work took forever to measure and clamp, and then re-measure and clamp again several times before I could even make one cut. What if I told you that with the sawboard there is no measuring for alignment with your cut? And then, what if I told you that the clamping literally takes only seconds? "No way!", you say? ...Way...dude! The sawboard can be made out of just about any kind of 1/4" or 3/8" material like plywood, masonite, flake board, or whatever. You might be able to find something laying around the shop for free! The sawboard only has two components, we'll call them the guide ripper, and the sawboard base. If you don't have a table saw you might seek out one you can borrow for fabricating these parts because if the guide ripper isn't straight as an arrow none of your future cuts with your sawboard will be either. The guide ripper should be 4" wide or a little more. The sawboard base should be the entire width of the saw foot base of your circular saw, plus the four inches for the guide ripper. Both the guide ripper and the sawboard base should be about 50 inches long or enough to lap over the width of a 4 by 8 sheet of material. Sawboard Plan All you have to do is attach the guide ripper to the sawboard base at one long edge flush to three sides. You can use whatever fastening system that suits your fancy but I recommend using yellow carpenters glue and clamping until dry. If you glue, keep an eye on the edge alignment as you clamp for any floating out of alignment. Also have a damp rag handy to catch those gushes and oozes (this could be real important for the accuracy of the saw board). Sawboard preassembly 3-D view If you decide to nail or screw, either one will work just fine, but just be careful to set and countersink everything and be sure that there are no points poking through otherwise it will defeat one of the great features of the sawboard we will discuss later. Sawboard assembled 3-D view After you have finished fastening the components together and all of the fasteners are set or flush and the glue is dried there is only one more thing to do and your done! All you have to do now is to take your circular saw and set the depth of cut a little deeper than the thickness of the sawboard base. Position your saw so that the motor side of its table (or foot) is against the edge of the guide ripper and the saw foot itself is resting on the open side of the saw board base. Then slowly and carefully make your cut making sure that you stay tight against the edge of the guide ripper until the excess material of the sawboard base is cut off. Rear view removing waste with circular saw That's it! That's all there is to it! You now have your very own customized sawboard straight cut system that will serve you well for many years to come. To use your sawboard just measure your material to be cut and make your pencil mark as usual. Lay your sawboard on the "keeper side" (vs. the cut off side) of your pencil line on the material to be cut with the single thickness long edge of the sawboard right on the pencil line. Carefully clamp each end of the sawboard to your work with spring clamps positioning them at a 45 degree angle to the sawboard (make sure that you're still right on the line when your done). Now, set your saw to the appropriate depth and run it down the board as you did before with the saw foot against the guide ripper, and PRESTO!, you have a straight as an arrow, dead-on accurate cut you can be proud of! Aerial view aligning the cut You can make up more sawboards with customized lengths for any number of other applications. I highly recommend making up an 8 foot saw board for making rip cuts on 4 by 8 material. With both a 4 foot and an 8 foot sawboard you'll have everything you need to start cutting panels out of 4 by 8 sheets for making cabinet carcasses. I first learned of this system from a couple of wise old carpenters who used it to cut off the bottom of interior doors to clear newly installed carpet. The beauty of the sawboard in this application is that when there is a need to cut the bottom off of a beautifully finished and expensive door, the saw never touches the door and there is no risk of scratches. The sawboard also controls the nasty fraying of wood fibers and veneers when cutting across the grain. Well fellow misers and miserettes, with sawboard in hand, and the Wood Miser's battle cry, "I CAN DO THIS!", on our lips, we are well on our way to manifesting countless beautiful and functional creations from our beloved medium. source: http://members.aol.com/woodmiser1/sawbd.htm [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ If you would like to join the Blind Computing list, then visit the following address for more information: http://jaws-users.com/mailman/listinfo/blind-computing_jaws-users.com For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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