Two of the knob/bolt assemblies are used to clamp the
adjustable L-Fence assembly to the fixed backer board. Installing the T-nuts in
the fixed backer board that the knob/bolt part gets screwed into is next. The top drawing shows how all that fits
together. The location of the T-nuts
gets marked by tracing the slot in the adjustable L-Fence assembly onto the
fixed backer board. That’s shown in the
bottom photo along with a small pilot hole drilled through the piece centered on
the slot to be used for the next steps.
Next the piece gets flipped over and the recess for the
T-nut gets drilled as shown in the left photo.
It’s just about 1/64” deeper than the T-nut’s flange is thick so the
flange is a tiny bit recessed. With that
done the piece is flipped back to the first side and a clearance hole centered
on the pilot hole is drilled.
Last is to install the T-nut. Because the flange is recessed a spacer whose
diameter is smaller than the T-nut’s flange is needed. In this case a 7/16” socket worked out fine. The left photo shows the C-clamp used to
press seat it and the right photo shows it installed.
Here is a close-up front and back view. The left photo is the front where the
knob/bolt will attach and the right one is the back or exit side.
Here is the jig with all the completed pieces in
place. It’s not done but now I can do
some testing with how it sits here. Some
of the to-do includes attaching the laminated oak L part of the fence to the
adjustable backer and the other two knob/bolts along with their threaded
inserts plus a handle on the adjustable backer assembly.
First is to drill the holes for the knob/bolts and then
install the threaded inserts they will get run into. The top photo shows the pieces involved. The red arrows point to the threaded inserts to
be installed. In the bottom photo the
drill press is set to drill a guide hole through the end block and the
adjustable backer. This guide hole goes
through where one of the screws was when the end block got glued to the
adjustable backer.
With the guide hole drilled the adjustable backer is
clamped to the fence straddling jig and the same bit used to drill a dimple
through the guide hole into it. The blue
tape is my drilling depth marker.
Next is to take the fence straddling jig and using the
same bit that drilled the guide hole center the jig under it as shown in the
left photo. In the right photo that bit
has been swapped out with a larger one and a hold drilled that the threaded
insert will get installed into. 
Before installing the threaded insert, I want to cut a
little chamfer or bevel at the top of the hole to reduce possible splitting as
the insert gets run in. That’s been done
with the bit shown in the left photo. In
the right photo a black arrow points to the insert which has been threaded onto
the installation tool. OK “installation
tool” is a bit of a stretch as it’s actually a bolt with the head cut off along
with a couple of jamb nuts added to lock the insert in place. From here the insert gets installed by
lowering the chuck and turning it by hand so the insert threads its way into
the piece. The center bottom photo shows
the installed insert. There is another
insert at the other end and the same process is done with it.
Next a handle gets screwed to the adjustable backer
assembly. It’s made from a small piece
of oak where the exposed edges get the same rounded edge treatment using the
router as the knobs.
Next to last before final sanding is to glue the tongue
on the laminated oak piece into the stopped groove in the adjustable
backer. Those two pieces are shown in
the top drawing and clamped together in the in the bottom photo. This photo just proves the old woodworking
adage of, “You can never have too many clamps.”
Last is to run the adjustable backer assembly through the
saw taking a skim cut off the laminated oak’s edge. That’s to make sure the cut edge is dead
parallel to the table saw’s rip fence.
Once that’s done all the pieces get sanded and any sharp edges get
rounded. I had debated on putting any
type of finish on the jig but finally decided that because the sliding joint
between the back of the adjustable backer and the front of the fixed backer
needed to be as smooth as possible a lacquer finish would work best. 
With that decision made a little preparation needs to be
done before actually starting to spray the finish on. First, is to mask off the areas where plastic
laminate had been applied since I don’t want any lacquer sprayed on them. Here is what one of each of those edges looks
like.
Second, is to remove the T-nuts so they don’t get
lacquered. Rather than screwing in a
bolt and pounding them out a thumb screw and some spacers allows me to
gradually pull the nut out minimizing chances of chipping the edges during
removal.
The finish is going to be three coats of lacquer. Here in the cans are the various items to be
mixed together along with the mixing containers and safety equipment. One note on the respirator is the replaceable
pink filters are N100 for filtering plus being certified for removal of organic
and acid vapors.
Since the handles are small, they get sprayed with the
air brush. Here I have just finished
putting on a coat and used thinner to clean the air brush up. The lacquer mix is in the bottle not on the
airbrush.
The two larger pieces get sprayed using the HVLP (High
Volume Low Pressure) gun. This is a
couple views of the setup for the movable backer. It’s set on a lazy-susan to make it easy to
spin around to spray all sides. 
The flat fixed backer gets sprayed using the same HVLP
gun but not the lazy-susan. Painter’s
triangles are used instead to raise the piece off the carboard. Once the pieces have three coats, they are set
aside for several days for the lacquer to cure.
Next Up – Wet-Sanding Lacquer, Sizing Carriage Bolts, Assembly & Jig Use
No comments:
Post a Comment