Wood chips
2008-03-13 01:11:24.324548+00 by
Dan Lyke
5 comments
Should you think that a faster way to make finger boards would be to make two at a time by using a plunging circular saw to cut strips in the middle of a birch board, and should you then be tempted to try to cut the resulting set of 3/32" wide fingers with 3/32" wide spaces into two fingerboards diagonally with said circular saw... don't.
Always wearing eye protection is definitely a good thing. Perhaps a fine dovetail saw would have worked, but the circular saw quickly reduced my nice birch potential fingerboards to splinters.
Doing the fingers individually from the end of the board, however, worked fine.
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#Comment Re: made: 2008-03-13 12:03:01.423691+00 by:
m
I would like to assert that I have never had a near disaster as the result of an improvident flash of insight into improving the efficiency of a process. But, I would be saying the thing that was many times not so.
#Comment Re: made: 2008-03-13 13:55:32.329132+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Okay, speaking of wood chips, I've got a silly question: Any suggestions for reducing chipout when cutting dovetails in "Lyptus" with a router? Next I'm going to try running the bit as slow as possible, but that lyptus stuff seems pretty brittle, and though we love the look of it we're having trouble getting clean dovetails. Even climb cutting the tails (right to left) doesn't seem to be helping, and the fingers on the Leigh jig don't appear to be deep enough to let me do something like a piece of quarter inch ply either side...
#Comment Re: made: 2008-03-13 20:59:53.921395+00 by:
m
I have never tried lyptus, but I have heard there are great disparities in the machinablity of the wood.
I have not had a problem putting in backers with my Leigh D3 for 4/4, but I don't think they make D3s anymore. If the 1/4 plywood really won't fit, you can try tape, which is often used to prevent splitting when sawing hardwood plywoods that are prone to chipping. I don't see any reasonable way to prescore the dovetail outline.
Are your dovetail bits sharp? A new bit may be required for lyptus.
Slowing down the router can help with chipping if the cut rate is also reduced. It usually helps with burning if that is a problem.
#Comment Re: made: 2008-03-13 21:04:05.747742+00 by:
m
Also, if you are not first cutting with a straight bit smaller than the others, that might be a help by reducing the load on the final cutters.
#Comment Re: made: 2008-03-13 21:06:50.480392+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Both good suggestions. I'm using brand new Leigh bits, but I'll try tape and running a ¼" straight bit first. If nothing else the tape will help me collect a few big chips to glue back in...