Thread: Cutting Squarely

OK... so you've cut 4 squares at 70x70x19, right?

To drill the holes, I'd stack all 4 on top of each other and drill each hole through the whole pile in one pass on a drill press.

Then slip a bolt through the hole in the corner opposite the one you want to cut and throw on a nut... so now you have all four pieces clamped together in a 70x70x76 "cube."

If the cube doesn't stack "neatly" with flush sides then your four pieces weren't cut accurately in the first place and you'll need to remake them.

But once you have the nice, neat cube, it should be easy to run that through on your triton in just two passes to rebate out that section, thus doing all 4 in one hit and, so long as you carefully align things, it should all be square.

thanks Andy ill give that a shot......i just dont seem to be able to get a good square cut with the jigsaw !!

Hope it works for you!

If you don't like the idea of having the bolt in there when you cut the rebate out, here's a turner's trick:

• Make up a heap of 70mm squares. Four would do, but wht not make 8 or 12 so you can have 3 frames?
• Glue all squares up into a cube with PVA, inserting sheets of brown paper in each joint. A bit like sponge cake... "Square, glue, brown paper, glue, square, glue, brown paper..."
• Once dried into a solid block, you can cut and reshape to your hearts content.
• Come time to separate the squares, throw it in the freezer for a while, then place a thin knife on the glue joint and lightly tap it with a mallet to part the joint. It should fail along the layer of paper.
• A little bit of sanding to clean up, et voila!

Sounds like a bit of work to me, with a good small hand saw (I use a douzouki) should be the most basic thing to cut in a few minutes.
But what I really want to say: Instead of cutting the 90 degree square out of it would it be better for the jig if it was 88 degree or so?

Jigsaws arent really designed to cut straight lines ! Can you clamp a batten onto your timber and use it's edge as a guide for your router to clean up the end ?