Shopsmith Forums

One of the interesting uses of the Shaper Origin is being able to work on the sides or ends of work pieces. Of course doing so requires a way of presenting the work pieces so they can be worked on. Several users on the SO forum have shown their versions and I have liberally taken their work to design my first version.

Since it is not built yet I can not say if I will be happy enough with it or if version 2 is just around the corner. I have some things on order and I'm reluctant to start cutting until I have them on hand to check the measurements..... yes I mistrust the documents they show you and have had good reason to not work until I have them in hand.

The basic idea is to have a way to clamp a work piece vertically and have room for the SO to ride on a horizontal surface and have a place for the tape to be placed for the required reference. Since I have a couple of "tape boards" boards the have rows of tape placed on them that are not part of the area to be cut I didn't want to waste the space for that as part of the jig.

I also did not want to make this workstation too large. I have storage problems anyway. I picked what I hoped is a use-able size. Again time will tell.

It will clamp to a workbench or MFT or perhaps even the shopsmith in use. Of course that will limit the length of the piece in vertical position but I don't see that as an issue at this time.

Some of the parts that are coming are the t-tracks. After some bad drawings for Rockler on their track I have ordered from another place.... but again I'm not counting on their drawings either. There will be two sections of track that will hold clamps for the vertical work pieces.

Registration of the parts will be done using MFT style dog holes and dogs. The holes might also work for clamping but not without some other parts as most of the clamps are for 18mm thick tops and this will be twice that. Still it might be worth the cost of some longer threaded knobs but we will see.

Material will be baltic birch plywood. At least I have that on hand. This one is just .700" thick per my measurements, getting a little thinner all the time.

Here is a view of the sketch up drawing:
Ed

Very similar to the one I just built.

https://community.shapertools.com/t/ver ... on/186/186

sehast wrote:Very similar to the one I just built.

https://community.shapertools.com/t/ver ... on/186/186

Yes it sure does. Of course it has been modified again by me doing a bit more tweaking to fit the lumber I have on hand. Function remains the same but it is now a little shorter, the spoil board is not deeper and the width has been reduced along with the addition of a few other changes. I toyed with the idea of making the top out of 1/2" material but then though better of that for this version.

A few changes which would be hard to see are the alignment dogs now are independent of the top slot, in the old design I had them inline so the slot could be used for registration but then I have to get things to actually happen that way, I'm sure it could happen but why take chances??

I may not make the last column of dog holes as they are more then likely not needed for alignment but they still might be useful for clamping.

One advantage of the dog holes for aligning is that the waste board can get more used up by moving to another set of hole for following projects. If most of them are involved with just vertical clamping then the waste board can be inverted for more fresh areas....

T-track is due in on Wed. I might have time tomorrow to do the top, will have to see how the other tasks stack up and what else comes up. I know I have to mow the grass, get a couple of plants planted, get the rain barrels set up.....

So here is the modified design:
Ed

As I mentioned in my post the depth of the waste board is an issue and wished I had thought about before I made mine. I am thinking about cutting a deeper slot with the SO and then chisel out the corners. Another thing I am trying to address is how a tape board will be used when clamping the station on the edge of a long board for localized jointing. I have tried to make it small and portable so I take it to the work instead of the other way around but there are issues. The MatchFit clamps are working out so well that I doubt I will be going back to T-tracks. The T-tracks do give you a few more mounting options but add a lot of time and expense.

I've got a project that I'm now thinking of using the SO for but not sure if this is the best way to go about clamping it.

In the old days I would just use a drill and over laping holes then clean it up but with the SO I could get a better finish with less clean up, if I can clamp it well enough.
The part is 6" long and 1-3/4" square. The holes (one shown) is 1-1/4" wide slot, the second is on the other face. I need to make 4 of them so the interest in using the SO rather then the drill press. First slot should be do-able but then with the material removed and rotated 90 degrees..... Just don't have a feel for how that will work. Of course I could get creative and add a carrier???

Anyway I have made zero progress over the last couple of days but think I have the afternoon clear tomorrow to get started on the jig. T-track should arrive tomorrow but who knows when.

Ed

Would it help to first cut the holes in a larger piece (providing more area to clamp) and then cut the piece to size?

The only surface that could be clamped would be from the ends and that might not be secure enough. With this project is a screw hole in each acceptable? If so you. Kyle make a simple jig that captures the part on all four sides and then hold it in with one screw on each end. That would be secure enough. I have used that method with a plunge router for small parts with good success.
Paul

On a slightly different track. My t-track arrived and I of course had to see if it was all that was promised. So far so good! Not only will this take the typical 1/4" nuts but it also works with the Festool quick clamps. These quick clamps are fast becoming a favorite of mine.
The bad news of the day is the weather is not going allow me to work on this project, perhaps for the best as I'm thinking of another change to my design...

Ed