got’ Sa SIEM ANNIVERSARY ISSUE | * Sho NOTE Vol. 11 atl eee Issue 61 ye MEN sen A ae) EU ME AROS «Adjustable Hand Plane: ACAI UTS a works as good as it looks www.ShopNotes.com eIssue 61 January 2002 PUBLISHER eprron, [ASSOCIATE EDITORS, Donald B. Pesehke ‘Terry J.Strohman, Bryan Nelson ‘Vincent Ancona Joel Hoss Craig Ruegseguer Cary Christensen Kurt Schultz Roger Reiland ‘Mark Higdon ‘CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ART DIRECTOR ‘8R, GRAPHIC DESIGNER SENIOR ILLUSTRATORS ati Dror Td Prot Dope en Mak Pre irre Pa Cag sip Ce ‘eer eine SerPotpie Cg r-Dmg ar ghae inn ei tor Gr Racor» Ao Bre ievhatnone ere Suture Sm Det Sy «New Bs Dr ‘ae Rina" Gratte Marking a ee ‘Elmers Ao Cire rey Alpe fabs Eero lam Pegs Rapes epi er: ‘ges nin Sees © Bap & Caluco ge ater (Gsshatam » itn Paton Me Den + ‘Promatine atne aWaa ‘ef Pan ary br» intr etn tae “reams ce Reps tale ing een» Prat Dr: Cone hrs irae Ph Dye De str Neptunes Mo eh Coke Pre rage Spay Crk, Stn i ig Naa Nw a ‘itn Capea Di: ages Pater ‘Sew Ane Cal Smear» Cnt as Det rar eke os ror arn on. Da Die Sil etn ae eae Foul ns rs Wier ‘Resse re Lary ra gay Eee Yrldiwos er are Or ear ‘SwoNtes GS sn yaoi Mad Age he See ain 30 Crk evans Dana Boer eancealtrarteSheat, 2.0. Bax 16, ‘erpson Quen? Wie ios Catena Savin, Oc Bot se Moe, 1A S64 rea DE, ‘Eta aim Cane tm es FA 068 Sac TRINTED INA, EDITOR'S NOTE Cutoffs ‘ts hard for me to believe, but its ‘been ten years since the first ise of ShopNotes went out. I had the privilege of being a part of that first issue, And I know that many of you have also been with us since the beginning. To help celebrate this special event, we've decided to give something back to our longtime subscribers and to our new sub- scribers as well More pages ~ For the last ten years ShopNotes has been a 32-page ‘magazine. But starting with this issue, that’s changing — were adding four more pages. And we're increasing the quality of the paper those pages are printed on. Now each issue will have a tough, heavy- duty front and back cover. Of course this also means we will be able to present you with more information, And we're going to start off by adding two new departments —Shop Talk and Tool Chest. ‘Shop Talk - The idea behind this department is simple, We want to provide as many answers to wood- ‘working questions as possible and share with you even more indepth {information and tips from our shop. Visit other ShopNVotes subscribers’ workshops and see photos of the shop projects ‘they’ve built. It’s all online at ‘Woodworking Shop Tours on the ShopNotes web site: sewwishopNotescom ‘We want you to be part of our shop tours! To submit photos of your favorite ShopNotee projects or views of ‘your shop, just follow the instrue- tions you'll find on our-web site, ‘ShopNotes In this issue we take a look atthe dit ference between right- and leftalt lable saws and how it may affect your woodworking. Tool Chest ~ Our second new department is Tool Chest. In this department well introduce you to some of our favorite tools. Sometimes they'l be tools we've used for years. Other times they'l be brand nev. ‘Whatever the case, these tools have proven their worth in our shop. ‘And don't think that a tool has to ‘be expensive to be a top performer. In this issue we're featuring great scrapers that cost les than $20. ‘Woodsmith Tours ~ Speaking of nex, were offering an exciting opportunity for woodworkers that like to travet: A special tour that will take you behind the scenes in ‘American woodworking shops, tool factories and historic sites. For more @ information, call Linda at 900533-5441 extension 7241 or visit our website: ‘wwe WoodsmithTours.com No. 61Ea e Contents Features 5-in-1 Router Base Plate System 6 A unique router base plate system makes it easy to use @ umber of shop-buit accessories —morisng jig ciclo cute, flush trim jig, edge guide, and benchtop fence and table. BradiNallers ie Pes A brad nailer can now be standard equioment for every workshop. We'l give you the reasons why and the features 10 00k for when selecting one for your shop. Drill Fress Sharpening Wheel ___ 18 Use the low speed of your dil press to sharpen a plane ion ‘or chisel n minutes, Plus, this sharpening Whee! features & Jeather top for honing a razor sharp edge. Tapping Threads _______25 Allg, fixture, or oo! wil often work better and more accurately by tapping the metal parts to accept threaded fasteners. Here's what you need to know about tapping threads, Adjustable Hand Plane ______ 26 The look and felt araditonal wood plane with some of he easy fo.uso features you find on a metal plane: an adjustable ttroat opening and a secure blade-mounting system Departments Readers Tips. 32 ene Shop-tested tips to solve common woodworking problems. vet Shopslalk 230s. = eee ae Wie take on the left or right tit debate. When it comes to table saws, fs one really better than the other? et Wiool Chast =< sc Tag In this new department, we take a look at tools we use day inand day out. First up — Sandvik scrapers. oue meets TS ae 335 (Mail-order sources and supplies to helo you build the projects featured i this issue No. 61 ‘ShopNotes S-in-l Router System page Sharpening Wheel page 18 Adjustable Hand Plane page 26 3RES Te Readers’ Tips ° Clamping Jig for Fanel Doors. 1 When I decided to build a set of kitchen cabinets, had to make and assemble about three dozen raised panel doors. Instead of using pipe or bar clamps for this task, I came up with my own clamping jig, see photo. This jig Get more wood- applies even pressure along the working tips free. edges of the door and helps to Vsitus on the Web at ‘Keep it fat. And even though I used ShopNotas.com it for eluing up doors, it works just as well for gluing up flat panels. ayaa ‘The jig relies on wedges. for omailevery week, clamping pressure. The door (or panel) is trapped between acouple of pivoting arms. Then wedges. are driven in between the arms and a jig. Start by cutting out a square pins) Next, drill a single, counter couple of dowel pins creating a tight, piece of plywood for the base. Then _ bored hole in each of the other two -even grip on the workpiece. drill a row of holes along two edges _ corners for the carriage bolts used to. ‘As you can see in the drawing of the jig, starting in opposite cor- attach the arms, as shown in the below, there’s not really much to the ners. (These will be for the dowel detail drawing below. ‘The arms are cut from narrow Wenge ———~ 0 n Etc WaRow6ob) pieces of hardwood stock. After co drilling a hole near one end of each arm, they can be attached to the base of the jig with cartiage bolts, ‘washers, and nylon lock nuts, Before you can use the jig, you'll also need to make a couple of hard- wood wedges and a pair of dowel pins. The wedges can be cut on a table saw or band saw and the pins are simply cut from a hardwood dowel and then sanded lightly until they easily itinto the holes of the jig To use the jig, place the door on the base and adjust the dowel pins to position the jaws as close as possible to the edges of the door while still allowing room for the wedges. Then insert the wedges and tap them in tightly with a mallet. You can use vax paper underneath the door to avoid accidentally gluing itto the jg. Alter the glue is dry just tap out the wredgessndremave ned Edwin C. Hackleman Omaha, Nebraska 4 ‘ShopNotes No. 61< Toremove wood plug, EilM, Byler, of New Wilmington, PA, drives a screw through the plug until it hits the sei below and pulls out the plug like a cork A Tim Schoppert, of Lexington Park, MD, _& To help guide his hack saw biladle when makes a quick and easy driver bit for cutting threaded rod, Dana Craig, of Allen head screws by simply cutting olf Norwood, MA, uses a pair of flange nuts the short leg of an Allen wrench. backed up by a couple of hex nuts. ee where I set my glue bottle down last. ee. So T came up with a quick and inex pensive solution. I took a plastic coffee cup holder (the kind that fits ‘over your car door) and mounted itto block of wood. A couple of L-hooks allow you to hang the holder on a piece of pegboard. Ikalso works great {for holding a can of soda pop so you dont spill it on your workbench, Brael Oeoek Lakeland, Florida gore 1 Ibuilt the fush trim router jig you also puts them at a much more con came sas | featured in issue No, 56 and it works — venient working height for trimming TOSAWHORSE | creat. The only problem I had was the edging fish with the router. supporting my workpieces while Gil Sirubot sing the je. Thad some lange table Hogerstown, Maryland {ops that were to bg camp in my vise or tomy workbench. SoTeme Send in Your Shop Tips {simply clamped a couple of 2's Ifyou havea unique shop tp, we'd lke vertically form entionse Then Tact consider featuring itn one ormore of the workpiece on edge on the saw. OUrptntor electronic publications horse in between the upright 222%, Welly up fo $200 fora tip we pub- (fou ean add an extra clamp it | ee ne on needed) To equalize the damping! SwoPNotes, Sttns Readers Tis, To eualize the camping Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 5012, Or pressure fclamped a space’ block is | BAK ito 915-282-6741, or send us an Sete eee email at [email protected]. forlong pieces, Isetupasawhorse at Please include your name, address each end of the workpiece. and daytime phone number in case we Setting the workpieces on saw- have any questions. horses (rather than on a workbench) Ze os ShopNotes 5An assortment of jigs and fixtures to help make your router more versatile and enjoyable to use. i a tw ; E the last ten years, we've featured a lot of router jigs Bin ShopNotes. So what makes the jigs pictured here different from the others? Well they aren't just jigs Instead, they're part of a whole router system. The idea is prety simple, You start by making a replacement base plate for your router. This base plate is pretty handy in itsel Its large surface gives you a lot more support than ‘the plate that comes with your router. And since it has straight sides, it’s tracks beter along a fence. ‘But the base plate’s real ction i to serve asthe plat form for the router system. An assortment of five dif ferent figs can be built — all of which attach directly to the base plate. Attaching one of thejigsis simply a matter ‘oftightening a couple of knobs, And the jigs allow you to ‘perform a variety of routing tasks, from tush trimming edging to creating mortises (ee the photos above and below). There’s even a pintsized router table and fence that can be set up quickly on top of a table or workbench for small routing tasks. One other benefit of this project is the fact that you ‘wont have to invest a whole lot in the way of time or materials. Aside from some knobs and a few pieces of hhardvware, the jigs can be built almost entirely from scraps of plywood and hardboard Since the base plate is the heart of the system, it makes sense to build it frst. As you can see in Figure 1, the base 6 ShopNotes plate is just a couple of pieces of 1/4" hardboard that are laminated together. You can start by cutting these two lates (A) Weenie soz Bat ere ging fea) Ties yarns Oise Cas ad ORE ‘T-Slots - The router jigs will be attached to the base plate using toilet bolts and T-slots. These slots are cre- ated by routing a wide slot in the upper plate and a narrow slot in the lower plate. When the plates are sand- Sal eae UEP EDU SEST Bd the head of a T-bolt, see photo in margin on opposite page. In order for this technique to work, the slots have to be carefully positioned on the plates. Although there Grsceadoe ile Tl rasa a Bee ie aiesmcad ana pea eC ara No. 61slot, ike you see in Figure 2 ‘The nice thing about using the router table is that T only had one setup to make. Onee the fence and stop block are in position, you can rout the narrow slots in the lower plate. Gust flip the plate over to rout a slot on each side) Then, without moving the fence or stop block, I changed over to a ¥/'-ia siraight bit and routed the slots in the upper plate. (used this same technique for making the slots on some of the other jigs as well) SHIA Bane Insert Opening - In addition to the Tslots, the completed base plate also has a stepped opening for an insert ring (refer to page 13). Like the Tslots, making the opening is a ‘twostep procedure. But this time, I used the drill press rather than the router table. After locating the cen- terpointofeach plate,a3!/9"-dia hole is drilled through the center of the Jower plate, and a 3'dia, hole is drilled in the upper plate. (Lused a wing cutter tomake these holes.) ‘Assembly ~ Once the holes have b, seerroree R = peu copnrescune ROLES Pop Rowe been drilled, the two plates can be glued together. Just make sure the edges of the plates are flush as they are glued up. Atter the glue is dry, you can drill the countersunk holes for the screws that will be used to attach the ‘base plate to your router. To do this, 1 simply removed the factory base plate rom my router and used itas a femplate for driling the mounting holes, as shown in Figure Sa, ‘There's just one thing to keep in mind when doing this. You'll need to pay attention tothe orientation of the router. The router should be ‘mounted to the base plate so thatthe handles are parallel with the slots. ‘This way, the knobs that will be used to altach jigs to the base plate won't interfere with the router handles. When the holes are drilled and countersunk, you can attach the base plate to your router, Because this base plates thicker than the one that comes with most routers, you ‘may need to swap out the original screws with some longer ones, & T-Bots. Ligh fie down the sicle ofthe toilet bos s they slide smoctt inthe slots “Bur Moe os fel eer | [| ogee bo “OE ” ‘SERRE || Co aR: Cem ciate wats || REARS e “ait i — ti it } i é | U No. 61 ‘ShopNotes 7o = ADJUSTABLE FENCE NB SECTION view | ¥'Ps000 ‘A router is a great way to create A fired fence is glued up from gauge. This is just a narrow piece of lean, perfecting mortises. Butin two strips of 7/2" plywood and is hardboard that is cut to match the order to get the best results, you then glued lust with the back thickness of the workpiece you are need a mortising jig edge af the base. The adjustable mortising. In the center ofthis strip to guide the router fence is a bit wider than the fixed of hardboard, a hole is drilled that in a straight path fence, but it has a hole drilled at matches the diameter of your router along the edge ofthe work- each end for a toilet bolt bit. Now just slip the gauge over pice. That's where this router jig The mortising jig is mounted to your router bit and adjust the fences ‘comes in. Ithas a pair offences that the router base plate using a couple so the gauge is sandwiched in 4 Gauges. These straddle the workpiece and guide of toilet bolts, washers, and a pair between them (Figure 2). setup gauges — thebitinastraightline. And thejiris of threaded knobs. The toilet bolts Once the jig is set up, you can imake ita snap to adjustable to allow for workpieces of fit into the Tslots in the base plate start routing: your mortises. With adjust the jig for varying thicknesses. and pass through the slots in the the router running, slowiy lower the making different There are only three parts to this base of the mortising jig and the router and jig down over your work sizes of mortises, jig. The base is cut from a piece of holes in the adjustable fence. piece, plunging the bit into the area Ye plywood. thasaslotateachend Set-Up Gauge - To help center you've marked out for your mortise. and a large, rectangular opening in the router bit between the two Then rout the slot. I try not to between, as shown in Figure 1 fences ofthejig,Luseasimple setup remove more than a '/' of material ata time. For deeper mortises, you need to make multiple passes, iow- eee oa ering the router bit ater each one. iit One last thing Although you can ( Se use a straight bit for routing mor- ee tises, [prefer use aspiral upcutbit. . ‘The nice thing about these bits is ieee ed that their spiral design pulls the chips up out of the mortise, giving you a cleaner cut and making SECTION VIEW \\ THIRD: supe anuustasie rence easier to see what you are doing. ARASH NGS = (Gee page 35 for sources) ShopNotes No. 61Flush Trim Jig Dy rcrertmates iitce project out of plywood, I usually add hard- wood edging to any exposed ply- wood edges. And it’s almost alway's easier to make this edging wider than necessary and then trim it flush with the plywood after it has been applied. A router and a flush trim bit ‘makes this alittle easier, bt it’s stil dificult to balance the router on the edge of the panel you are trimming. ‘Thats because there isn't usually enough surface forthe router to rest ‘on comfortably. With this flash trim jig, the sup- port surface for the router is “built in.” The base of the jisr provides a wide, flat surface that rides against ‘the side of the panel that you are ‘lush trimming. This makes ita lot ‘easier to hold the router steady. T made the flush trim jig by cut ting a base out of 14" plywood. A large opening is cut on one side of the base to provide clearance for @ire ssh tim bit, as shown in Figure 1. A sabre saw or band saw ‘can be used to cut this opening, and then the edges can be sanded smooth with a drum sander, HANDLE 7 ONG Nears Choe FRow is" ReewooD No. 61 (O55 ‘Mounting Block — In order to attach the router to the jig, a ‘mounting block is added to the base of the ji ‘This block is glued up out of three layers of 1/2" ply- ‘wood. After these pieces are glued together, a p'dia, mounting hole is, drilled at each end. ‘Then a semicircular opening is cut out of the middle of the fence and sanded smooth. The mounting block is glued to the base, fush with the edge. Handle ~ To make iteasier to get agripon thei, a handles added to the base. Its made from two layers of Ys" plywood. The pattern for this handle is shown in Figure 1. To create the opening forthe handle, a hole is drilled at each end of the ‘opening, Then the waste in between the holes is cut away with a sabre saw. Once this is done, the inside edges can be sanded smooth, Finally, to make the handle more comfortable to grasp, all the exposed MOUNTING ‘BLO edges are rounded over with @ router and a roundover bit. ‘Then the handle is glued and screwed to the base ofthe jig ‘There's just one last thing to take care of before using the jig. AS you can see in Figure 1a, a clearance rabbet needs to be cut in the base of the jig to allow it to travel over the untrimmed edging. This rabbet can be cto a table saw. ‘Touse thisjig, start by installing a ‘lush trim bitin your router, see inset photo above. Then attach the jig to the baseplate using the toilet bolts, washers, and threaded knobs. You'll need to adjustthe fence until the cut ting edge ofthe bits just flish with the base ofthe Pare RABBETDETAILEdge Guide ‘An edge guide for a router can come in bandy any time you need to create a rabbet or rout a groove. But this edge guide has more to offer than most. Its designed so it can be hooked up to the hose of a shop vacuum, eliminating mostof the dust and chips. (You'll nced an adapter for the end of your shop vacuum hose.) Of all the jigs in this system, the edge guide is probably the most basic. Its just a fence made up of three layers of plywood, see Figure 1. To build it, start by cutting three identical pieces of /2" plywood. Two of these are glued together to form the top section of the jig. The third piece can be set aside for now. Once the two layers are glued up, lay out a semicircle on one edge, centered between the ends of the see Jigs & mom, | Ses antiae 1) ee lew ~ Noresco, roc weabsetN After this is done, a couple of tapers are cutalong the back ge of the jg simply to help reduce the weight QQ) “These tapers ean be cut with a band save or jig saw and then sanded smooth witha belt sander, “Thelast step to complete the iis to dil a hole in the bottom forthe blank (Fgure2), Then sing a band noadle of your shop vacuum, The sav oF jigsaw, cat anay the waste tick here isto size the hole so you inside the semiczcle. After sanding getanice fiction St when you insert fhe opening, smooth with a drum the nozle ofthe hose. (made mine sande, the third piece of plywood 194" in diameter) If the opening Canbesgived othe ottertwo, endsupaiite large, you can wrap a in order to altach the fit to the piece of duct tape around the nore router baseplate, you need to drill of your hose to create a better ft. A couple of holes forthe tole bolts, To use the jg simply attach ito te router base plate with the toilet. bolt washers, and Knobs. Then adjust the fin or out to poston the pera eae ea ntl Optional Face ~The opeing in the fence extra large to accom rmodate sloteting bis But if you fe using bits with a smaller profile Jou may want to ada facing piece to rece the size ofthis opening. This is just piece of hardboard vith a dleaence ‘notch for the Touter bt. The face is screwed to the fence soit can be removed. ShopNotes No. 61Circle Cutter on ca cas ce ot of wot using many different tools. But a router probably gives you the leanest, most accurate results of any of them. The trick is to guide the router with a jig. ‘This circle cutter is nothing more ‘than an adjustable auxiliary base that attaches to the base plate on the router. The ig slides in or out so you ceancutcircles varying from about 3" up to 18" in diameter. A pivot pin a one end of the jig fits into a small hole in the center of your workpiece, and the router then travels around {his point, see photo at right, ‘The jig is made up of two layers — one of plywood and one of hard board. This allows you to create a pair of T-slots for attaching the jig. And to make these slots, I used the same method as in making the T- slots in the base plate. A couple of 1j)wide slots are routed in the hardboard plate first. Then a pair of @© siren 6/529 slots are routed in the plywood plate. ‘Alter these slo are routed, the two pee PTT layers can be glued together: I's a 00d idea to use the glue sparingly around the slots. This way you won't have to worry about coming, back Jater to clean up glue squeezeout Once the glue is dry, you can lay ‘out and cut the large opening in the center of the fig. Again, this can be done with a band saw or jig saw, and the opening can be sanded smooth with a drum sander. Pivot Pin A small nail serves as the pivot pin. A hole i drilled in the Jig near one edge, and then the nals, epoxied in place. Using the Jig - To cut a circle ing the jig, start by laying out the circle and its centerpoint on your ‘workpiece. Then drill a small hole in the workpiece forthe pivot pin Next, a larger hole is drilled atthe edge of the circle. This hole will be used as a “starter” hole for your router bit, soit should be atleast as large as the diameter of your router bit If you're going to be making a hhole in @ workpiece, drill the starter hole inside the circle you've laid out. If you are HARDEOARD (ONE ShopNotes making a disk or wheel, drilthe hole ‘ouside of the layout line, as shown in Figure 2 below. “To rout the citcle, carpet tape the workpiece toa backer board that is clamped to your workbench. (The carpet tape is important — it will hod the circle in place once itis cut free from the workpiece). Set the router and jg on the work: piece so the pivot pin isin the small hole in the center ofthe circle and the router bit isin the starter hole. ‘Now rout out the circle in maltple passes, lowering the bit about 1" between each pass. NOTE: cour Biter Stree PASSES or Gres, iTable & Fence Compared to the other acces- sories, i alitle hard to think of this router table and fence asa “jig.” But it uses the same base plate that all the other jigs do. The router (with the base plate) just drops into the table, and the fence bolts to the Tracks. And although the table may look a little small, the fence features a sup- port wing on each end that allows you to handle longer pieces, see photo. And the whole thing can be clamped down right on top of your workbench when you want to use it. “Then stored underneath the bench or on a shelf when you're done. Table - The table is really just an open box that supports the router and base plate. The base from Yo" plywood. A couple of and router. To ensure a snug fit plate fits into a shallow recess on dadoes are cut in the bottom to hold _ between the router base plate and the top of the box, and the router is _ the sides, as you can seein Figures 1 the sides of the table, it’s important suspended beneath it, and 1b. [cut these on the table saw. to size these rabbets carefully. If ‘To make the table, I started by Arabbet is cut on the end ofeach you take a look at Figure 1a, you'll cutting out a bottom and two sides side piece to support the base plate notice that the base plate actually sis proud ofthe sides of the router @ ko pas table by 44". (( ended up making ne my rabbets /" « Ys.) Before gluing the sides into the dadoes in the base, I cut a couple of triangularshaped braces to help stifen the sides of the router table. Nove as ‘After you've cut these out, you can DES ARE glue everything together. In addition to the braces, some {facing strips also help to siffen up cross. surroer: ee the router table, These plywood ) strips are glued (0 the edges of the J sides and extend down over the edge of the base. At the top of the router table they create alip, lacking =~ the base plat in place. ee ‘The last piece to add is a cross support. "This is. simply glued between the two sides atthe back of the router table, flush with the bottom of the rabbets. It helps to keep the sides from buckling in. Fence ~ With the table complete, you can start making the fence. The 7 L fence is ust three layers of plywood GOTBM, —_that are glued together. Itis secured @ FACING to the base plate with toilet bolts, ere, washers, and threaded knobs. A 2 ShopNotes No. 61PRT es wing is attached to cach end of the fence to serve as outfeed support. ‘As you can see in Figure 2, the ‘main section ofthe fence is made by sluing up two long pieces of ply: ‘wood. The third layer is actully made up of two shorter pieces that are glued to the bottom of the longer pieces. These are ‘glued flush with the ends of the fence, leaving a gap in between for router bit clearance. Once all the layers are glued up, ‘you can drill a couple of holes in the fence for the toilet bolts that are A Fence. This adjustable fence slides in the slots fn the router base used to altach it to the base plate, ‘Then a small, semicircular opening for router bits is centered on the front edge of the fence (Figure 2a). ‘This opening can be cut out with a jig saw or band saw. Finally, the support wings are added to each end of the fence. ‘These are simply cut to size and glued in place. They not only sup- port long workpieces, they also help to guide the fence so it travels smoothly as you slide it back and forth over the top of the table. Insert Ring ~ The large opening in the router base is convenient ‘when you're using the router in a hand-held position. It allows you to see what you're doing a litle better. But when you're using the router in the router table, i's safer to have a smaller opening around the router bit So I made an insert ring that fits into the opening in the base plate, just ike you see in Figure 3. “The insert ring is just a piece of 4" hardboard, It's cut out on the drill press, using a wing cutter. Start bby carpet taping a hardboard blank down to a backer board that is clamped to your drill press, as shown in Figure 4. Now adjust the ‘wing cutter to cut a disk that will fitin plate, the opening in your router base plate. The key isto size the disk soit fits in the opening snug but not too tight. (had to make a couple of disks before I got the wing cutter adjusted just ight) ‘To create the openingin the insert ‘ing, the wing cutters readjusted to cata smaller (14a) hole Figure 5). Of course, you can make up sev ‘ral insert rings with openings of various diameters. aa rar heii calito szeawe hy TOR often 1BDfffestrecce otters probaniy woutdat conser the Librad mailer shown in the photo above a necessity. It’s something that’s more often associated with produc- tion cabinet shops or trim carpenters, And that’s too bad really. Having a brad nailer in your shop can make your ‘woodworking easier, faster, and more accurate. How often have you had to hammer in afew brads to hold a piece of trim or fo hold the back of a cabinet in place while the glued dried? With a brad nailer it only takes afew seconds. And you have one hand free to hold the workpiece in perfect position as you work. Need to get into a tight place (like the inside of a cab- inet) that’ all butimpossible to do with a hammer? Grab abrad nailer and it's a snap. Plus, you don't have to worry about an errant hammer blow damaging the workpiece. One area | use my brad nailer quite a bit is when I need to build a jig or fixture. With a few wellplaced brads, Ihave ajig or fixture that’s ready to use—no need to wait for any glue to dry. And for shop cabinets and storage projects, brads eliminate the need for any u ‘ShopNotes clamps. Just add gine and then nail in some brads to “clamp” everything together. You'll even find a few uses outside the shop. Brad nailers are handy for light-duty carpentry work, like installing trim around the house. Price & Availability ~ Okay: By now, you might be interested in finding out a litle more about brad nailers ‘And one ofthe fist things you might be asking is where ‘can you get one and how much isit going to cost? These dys, ust about any home center or hardware store will have a halfdozen or more brands. And they're not that expensive. Depending on the features ithas (more on this later), you can find brad nailers pried from $70 to $150. ir Requirements ~ As you may have guessed, a brad nailer isnt the only thing youl need. A compressor is required to provide the “power” to the brad nailer. But dont worry. Almost any compressor that can provide bout 2 cubic feet of air per minute (CFM) at a pressure between 70-125 pounds per square inch (PSD wil work fine. And ifyou don't have a compressor, those same home No. 61centers often have “kits” that incde the compressor, brad nailer, and the ‘accessories you need to get started. Driving a Brad ~ Regardless of the brand, all brad nals operate in basically the same way and use sim- ilar terminology. (See Brad Nailer ‘Anatomy at right) nce you connect the hose from the air compressor to an air fing at the back, compressed air fils. the ‘body ofthe nailer and the area above the cyinder inside the head. ‘As you squeeze the trigger, the ‘compressed air is released through the head valve, driving the piston inside the cylinder downward with tremendous force. Attached to the bottom of the piston is a driver rod that shears a single brad off a clip installed in a springloaded magazine along the bottom of the nailer, driving and countersinking the brad in the blink of an eye. Once the piston reaches the end of ts stroke, the pressurized air sur- uns the lower part of the piston. ‘This forces it back to the top of the ‘cylinder as the air expels out of the exhaust port Brad Nails ~ This is an amazing process considering the wide range of brad lengths you can install in a nailer. Brad nails come in lengths as short as /"to as long as 2A ‘But there aren't any brad nailers that can handle the entire range. In general, brad nailer fall into two dis- tinct categories. The first drives praia ‘ons brads that range in length from 9/3" toa maximum of 11/(" or 17s But for the kind of works I do, I prefer the second category. These brad nailers will handle brads from Ys! (or °/4') up to 2". The longer brad Jengths allow me to perform a wider range of tasks, whether its installing small trim around a project, securely fastening face frames to a cabinet, or installing some trim around the house. Other than their lengths, all brad nails look pretty much the same. As Imentioned, they come in a clip which is a gluedup strip of nails, as. shown in the margin, ‘This clip con- sists of around: 100 brads that fit into the magazine {cee photoatlef), Besides the 8 4A Loading. Loading brad nails is easy and conveniont. dust release the magazin, lay a clip inside (above), and then slide the magazine fonvard to lock itin place. No. 61 Sho fact that they come in a con venient package, pNotes BRAD NAILER: ANATOMY ~cusiwoneo HANDLE VAIVE RELEASES: ‘SURE OF ie THROUGH PREECE rrigoer Dern Or pene CORD SENT Low INNO there are a number of other differ: fences that make brad nails quite abit different than a typical finish nal, For starters, a brad nail is smaller in diameter (18 gauge). So itleaves a Jess noticeable hole in the workpiece that is much easier to fill. ‘And ifyou take a close look at the tip, youll see that i's more blunt than. a typical finish nail. This way, as it's Pieces of trim or molding. Finally, the glue holding the brad nails together in the clip helps increase the gripping strength of the brads. As it's fired into the workpiece, the glue heats up and melts, As it dries it helps “lock” ‘everything together One last note on brad nails. Most manufacturers will tell you to use only their brand of fasteners, And 1 tend to stick with that. But in a pinch T have used fas- teners made by other manufacturers ‘without any problems. Just be sure to test the fasteners in a couple of pieces of scrap before using them to assemble your project. ib brad naiters will handle a wide ra of nail langths, but often in two different ranges —%' to 1 orf" to 2Features & Maintenance Knowing that the basic operation of ‘any brad nailer is identical, what's the best way to go about selecting one? ‘As with many tools, it often comes down to a few select features. For brad nailers, there are a number that Tve found to be pretty useful. Safety — One of the first “fea tures” I look for isa safety system. With compressed air driving a small ral, you certainly don't want to inad- vertently fie the brad into a project of, more importantly, into yourselt. “To avoid this, al brad nailers cur rently manufactured have one oftwo safety systems builtin — a dual trigger ora restrictive nose safety. Dual Trigger - On a dual tigger system, squeeding the first trigger disengages the safety that prevents the brad nailer from firing. This allows you to squeeze the second ‘rigger tofire the brad. Although this type of system works fine, ‘once the first trigger is depressed, you can fire brads at any time — ‘whether the nose of the brad nailer is against a ‘workpiece or not NOoMAR PAD ‘Nose Safety - A STANDARD etter choice is a A Safety. A nose-mounted safety prevents the restrictive nose safely, nailer from fring inadvertently. And a pad (lett)n like the ones shown at some nailors prevents the nose from denting the right. This type of workpiece asitrocols, unike a standard nose (nigh), safety prevents you from firing a brad until the spring. loaded nose is depressed against the surface of a workpiece. ‘When you're ready to drive another brad, youll need to lift the nose off the workpiece to “reset” the safety. Just keep in mind that there A Depth Adjustment. A mechanical depth adjustment lke a thumb screw (left) or sliding tab (right) makes fine tuning how deep the nail is set easior than having to modulate the amount of air coming from the compressor. 16 LECCE SET TCT TE Co ‘A number of manufacturers have fasteners and adjust the drive depth. designed tools that: not only drive Price ~Now you might think that brad nails but also crown staples ina youl pay extra for this feature, But variety of lengths (/4" to 1). If you can offen pick one up for just you're notsure whether you're more about the same price as either ofthe likely to need a nailer or stapler or individual tools — around $125. ‘would like both capabilities in one _Asyou might guess, you don't get tool combination iool might bejust something for nothing. The down- ‘what you're looking for. side to the dual capability is youll ‘The nice thing about these toolsis have to settle for shortto midlength that there isn't anything to adjust on fasteners. And the driver rod often the tool when you need fo change leaves a larger indentation in the from mails to staples. Just swap the workpiece when you're fring brags, ShopNotes are two types of nove safeties: con: tact firing and sequential firing. ‘Contact Fire - In a contact firing nailer, the safety and trigger can be activated in any order. So you can depress the tip and then pall the trigger. Or you can hold the trigger in and “bump” fire the tool by pressing the nose wherever you want to drive a nail. “Tis feaure freizccxacyint critical. But as a woodworker, I'm tore concerned about placing iy brad right where I want it — not driving as many brads as possible in a short period of time. Sequential Fire ~ Thats why 1 prefer sequential fring nailer. This IS where the nal wil no fie unt you press the nose aginst the wore piece first and then pull the trigger. RB e No. 61