Chopping Board Runners

[bitingmidge]

Yesterday when I started to work on the Mediocre Fumping Bench, I realised that I needed a couple of new sliding jigs for the table saw.

Never one to run away from starting a new project , I thought that rather than use a couple of strips of brass that I have kept for the purpose, I'd give the new fangled chopping board runners a try.

No problems.

Off to the warehouse (14k return trip) to buy a $2.00 chopping board, the largest they had in stock, 350 mm long and exactly the right thickness.

Home; rip the strips on the table saw to a fraction of a mm wider than required.

How does one get them exactly right?

Surform: forget it! (Even had a go at sharpening it on the belt sander!)

Belt sander: forget that too! Didn't even begin to remove any material, just left a gluggy mess to clean up.

Jointer: Too scared, and would have to build a jig to hold them because I love my fingers and the stuff isn't all that stiff.

Hand Plane :eek: ; Out with the (t)rusty #4, set for the finest cut possible, and shave away...... found the most expedient method was setting the blade at an angle and planing both sides for a slighty convex result.

The first jig is 600 wide, so I thought I'd just bung in two runners end for end...... that's when the fun began!

Drill, countersink and plop 'em into the grooves; easy.

Pack up with a few washers and stick some double sided tape on; easy peasy.

Whack on the base board, turn it over and screw up the runners; easy peasy squeasy!!

Flip it over and test it... :mad: wouldn't budge. Somewhere in the junction of both the runners was a slight bow, just a few squllionths of a millimetre, but obviously one squillionth too far to allow them to actually "run".

Tried every trick I could think of, even routed a sliver off the outside of the bow, took them off and replaned them to a slightly sloppy fit, offset the joints, tried two joined on one side and one centred on the other.

Every time I put the fourth runner on, no matter how carefully it had been aligned in the slots, the whole thing would bind!

After several hours and repeating my whole repitoure (how do you spell reppatwa anyway?) of asterisc (***) words a couple of times, the base board was looking like a bit of swiss cheese. I threw the mangled plastic away, and screwed on the brass runners which I had prepared earlier (five years earlier to be exact) and the thing just works fine.

Conclusion: Plastic runners are fine, if you can get them in one continuous length suitable for your purpose, but I am obviously in desperate need of advice and help to get them accurate enough to join in long lengths.

I could have just used one runner I suppose, either one piece in each slot, or one long one joined, either worked ok, but with a discernable if not measurable play which I thought may just get worse with use.

Any ideas?? Or does the brass just sound like the go??

Cheers,

P
(with one more weekend and one more unfinished project to his name
)

[zymurgy]

Maybe it's binding because when insert the screw, it's expanding the material. Drill a larger pilot hole and leave just enough for thread to bite.

[Rocker]

Bitingmidge,

I reckon that wooden runners are the go for tablesaw jigs. Brass ones are likely to be a sloppy fit and will wear and become sloppier. You can thickness a flat-sawn board to the exact width of your table-saw slots and then rip off 9.5 mm thick strips for the runners. You then put a thin strip of wood in each slot under the runners so that the runners stand just proud of the saw table; apply glue; then plonk on the jig. When the glue has set, add reinforcing screws. Finally wax the runners and Bob is your uncle. Anyway, that is how I made the runners for my cross-cut sled and box-joint jig.

Rocker

[Caliban]

Midge
You are an inspiration for me. I never, ever finish a job, because if I do it disappoints me, or breaks, ordoes what this thingy has done to you.
Repertoire is how all my dictionaries spell it.
I too have one more weekend and one more half finished job to my name.
Seriously, I understand how you feel as I read your entertaining post.
Don't give up.

[bitingmidge]

hovo is my soul mate!! :eek: Poor bugger!

To all who have replied: thanks!! I'll take up Rocker's suggestion next time round, and thanks zymurgy, that was one of the first things I tried to no avail! The binding was actually more to do with the join in the strips, but I still can't figure why they kept re-aligning themselves. If I was to use them again, I would use thicker stuff and route corresponding grooves in the sled. All seems too hard compared to gluing on a bit of wood!

It gets worse though!! All I had to do today, was go out into the shed, screw on a couple of cross pieces and start cutting timber. How hard can that be?? Should have easily got the bench finished today.

But on the way I tripped over an old floor bearer offcut that looked like it had a bowl in it. Now unlike DarrylIF who can turn out numbers of magical looking things in a day, I fiddled and fussed and eventually got interrupted by three different lots of visitors. In the process I did find most of that beginner's shaped bowl, and learned a bit....but will have to finish it another day or maybe a night later in the week!

So another weekend and TWO more UnFinished Objects (one a weekend is just beginner's stuff hovo old mate!!).

Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did this weekend! (Topped off by the engagement of my youngest daughter, but that's for another forum!)

Cheers,

P

[IanW]

Hi Midge - I'm with Rocker in using hardwood for runners - they seem to be much more durable than you'd imagine, particularly with the addition of a bit of wax, as he recommends. But brass ought to be pretty good, too - it has sort of 'self-lubricating' properties in that application. I've been using wood in all sorts of high-wear/high stress situations (clamp screws and in my bench tail vise, bench dogs, etc) for many years and am still a bit surprised at how tough and durable the right stuff can be.

And while you might be in the top 10%, most of us Weekend Wood Warriors aren't too far behind in terms of projects underway or time to finish! I have to limit myself, because I still have no real shed 12 months after moving, but it doesn't stop me altogether. A few weekends ago, I started on the desk I've been wanting to make for myself for 20-odd years (and been accumulating choice bits of Maple for, for much of that time!!). Got as far as roughing out the main bits and jointing/thicknessing it all. But it had to sit there all last weekend, as I had more urgent things to do. I did manage to sneak an hour and a bit honing the two new Veritas A2 plane blades that arrived Friday (early Christmas...) and fitting them to my two favourite workhorse planes. What took the time was expanding the slot for the lateral adjuster - I started out trying to do it with a diamond file, but after a few hundred strokes realised it was going to take several days to remove enough metal, so out came the angle grinder, and a few light passes did the trick, polished up with the diamonds. Then I had to fiddle with the mouth on my old 5 1/2, because the thicker blade made it too fine for general work, and the frog won't go far enough back without the blade fouling the sole. It still needs a bit of fettling to get it right, but it's working ok, so will probably stay that way until another stolen hour comes along.

I only had time for a couple of quick passes on the Maple, so can't say much about my new blades yet, except that they're certainly HARD - took a good deal of elbow-grease to polish off the fine grinding marks on the back of one of them. The blurb that came with them says Rockwell 60, and I have no reason to doubt that - it will be interesting to see how they stack up against my much-loved and very worn-down HSS Stanley, which I find better than the couple of Hocks acquired over the last few years.
Cheers,

[barnsey]

Hey Midge,

For my 2d worth - I'm with Ian - A bit of Tassie oak is as good as anything. Even if you have to join it, a thump with the mallet will give you alignment.

Unfinished projects? - Reckon I've got a double garage 30' long full of em and a whole heap more in assorted places from the nature strip(felled mango limbs) to the garage(20' Mustang Cruiser). And I'm not going to count em cos this old soul wouldn't be able to take that many pills to take em away :eek:

Do enjoy your posts though.

May the good fairy give you happy hours in the workshop
And when you find the ***** send her to my place

Jamie

[Alastair]

Midge

I think ".....you speaka my language..."

Alastair

[silentC]

Current list of half-finished projects:

1.Photo frames for wedding photos (married 7 1/2 years)
2.Vanity cabinet in 2nd bathroom - no doors
3.Wall cabinet in 2nd bathroom - no door, no shelves
4.Grouting and painting in 2nd bathroom
5.Shower curtain in 2nd bathroom
6.Skirting & Architrave in spare room in parent's flat
7.Bookshelf in parent's flat
8.Painting of house
9.Kid's cubby house
10.Putting practice thingy for the wife
11.Restoration of Stanley #5
12.Restoration of several old chisels
13.New handle for marking knife (still on lathe half finished)
14.Dust extraction ducting
15.Router table on tablesaw
16.New side tables for SCMS
17.Downdraft table
18.New handles for turning tools
19.Rocker morticing jig (still needs scales for the stop blocks)
20.Pair of wooden hand-screws
21.Restoration of old screwdriver belonging to Grandfather

These are not things on the to do list. These are things that I have started but not yet finished.

Can you beat that?

[bitingmidge]

Can you beat that?

Pfffft!!! Not even in beginner's league!! I've got 21 things I haven't finished since last Friday!

A list could be fun though, but I'd better do it towards the end of the month so you can use your spare bandwidth to download it!

Actually I am not phased by all these UFO's as I once would have been, I mean the completion of my new saw stools is not something on which World Peace hangs in balance.

...and I am old enough and wise enough to have bought most of our furniture (with a view to replacing it one day with stuff I will make of course!).

In the meantime, I reckon I could go 12 months full time finishing things I've already started!

Then you should see the list of things to do after that!

Cheers,

P

[himzol]

Well..
I realised a long time ago if I actually finished something without using it as an excuse for buying more tools then then project was a failure.

You genlemen are truelly onto the enlightened path ..

repeat after me and insert your own words where the brackets are.. " I can't finish ( your project) because I need (new tool)"

midge, you must need a lot of tools.

Himzo.

[himzol]

Midge,

I forgot to mention, when you cut the chopping board to use as runners did you make sure it was flat, and didn't have a slight twist in it.

I had a similar expperience when I was cutting a Zero clearance insert for my TS. I found that the chopping board that I got from the local discount chain wasn't exacly flat, which is OK if you are chopping onions for a BBQ.

When I cut it up for the ZC insert one of the corner stuck up, I fixed it with a bit of double sided tape. In the case of your runner if it wasn't flat when you cut it and you flatenned it out when screwing to the jig one end could have been just that bit out of square.

just something to consider.

BTW as a result of the above I'd use a bit of hardwood for a runner as well.

H.

[Caliban]

Midge
I really truely nearly almost finished something today. :eek: :eek: :eek:
I thought the bathroom was finished when I made the frame for the new mirror, I was worried about how to tell you, but then I noticed that the window frame and the window sill are still only undercoated, phew. Then I also noticed on the way out that there is no architrave around the door. My reputation is safe, and now I have started three other projects and I still haven't smuggled the newest muji planes into the shed for a play.
SWMBO has started her spring cleaning madness so I will have limited time to do the important things and then there's work and homework and Christmas presents to make and the soon to be acquired lathe to smuggle in, ($300 for a twenty yr old woodfast that school are upgrading). She doesn't know about that yet and she already bought my Chrissie present She also doesn't know about the supercheap compressor yet, but she liked the neat jobs the little brad nailer has done
If she ever reads this I'll not be speaking to you guys ever again. :eek:

[jow104]

To Hovo

I would have a serious word with your good lady, just starting spring cleaning in October :eek: , mine finished in March.

[Barry_White]

Hey Woody your on the wrong side of the world Spring started here on the 1st of September and doesn't finish until the end of November.