Table Saw Accessories

Dado Setup Jig

Making Featherboards

Magnetic Featherboard

Magnetic Stop Block

Miter Gauge Extension

Rip Fence Setup Gauge

Small Parts Sled

Small Piece Miter Gauge

Taper Jig

Zero Clearance Top

Miter Gauge Bookmark

When making a series of matching dadoes, it's impor-
tant that the two shoulder cuts align perfectly to the
blade. Here's a simple jig you can build to keep your
dadoes aligned and accurate.

The jig is a small adjustable hardboard stop attached
to a clamping block with carriage bolts and nuts. By
adjusting the nuts, you can move the stop in or out to
register the cut for the inside shoulder without having
to reset the fence between cuts.

See Part 2 on next page for setting up the jig and making your cuts.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Dado Setup Jig

(part 1)

Magazine

From

Table Saw Accessories

Adjustable Hardboard Stop

( " x 1

" x 5")

!/4

!/2

Clamping Block

(

" x 3" x 4")

!/2

3"

!/4" Holes

!/4" Nut

#/4"

#/4"

2

"

!/2

#/4"

#/4"

2

"

!/2

!/4" Holes

!/4" Nut

!/2

!/8

" Counterbore

" deep, drilled

on backside for
bolt heads

!/4" x 4"

Carriage Bolts,

glued into counterbores

Dado Setup Jig Construction

Continued on next page

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Dado Setup Jig

(part 2)

Magazine

From

Table Saw Accessories

Cuts #3 & #4
Remove waste from middle of dado.

Fence

Cut #1
Register end of board
against fence.

Cut #2
Register end of board against jig.

Jig

Distance from

end of board to

shoulder

of dado

inside

Jig

Fence

Distance from

end of board to

outside shoulder

of dado

!/2" Dado Blade

Here's how to set up the jig.
First clamp the jig to your fence (Fig.
1). Then mark the dado locations on
your workpiece (Detail a) and posi-
tion it against your fence so that the
dado blade aligns perfectly with the
inside shoulder of the dado.

Now, before making any cuts, repo-
sition the workpiece and adjust the
hardboard stop so that it aligns per-
fectly with the outside shoulder of
the dado.

Once the jig is set up, you're ready
start cutting (Fig. 2). Make the first
cut with the end of your board
butted against the fence to define the
inside shoulder of the dado.

To make the second cut, slide the
board away from the blade and butt
the same end against the hardboard
stop. This defines the outside
shoulder of the dado. To complete
the dado, clear away the waste
between the two shoulder cuts.

Dado Layout Lines

Dado Width

Outside
Shoulder

Inside

Shoulder

a.

1

2

Featherboards are a great way to hold a workpiece
firmly against a fence or table surface. But there's more
to making a featherboard than just sawing kerfs in the
end of a board. To get the fingers to flex properly, the
spacing between the kerfs must be nearly perfect. To
make the job easier, I built an indexing jig from just a
few pieces of scrap wood in my shop.

The jig is nothing more than a long piece of plywood
(backing board) with two saw kerfs spaced 1/8" apart.
In one kerf I glued a hardwood "pin" that serves as a
index. Leave the other kerf open.

To use the jig, start by setting your blade to a 30° angle and cut one end of your feath-
erboard. Then position the jig on the table, lining up the open kerf with your saw
blade. Next secure the jig to your miter gauge with clamps or screws.

Now position your featherboard against the jig, making sure it's pushed up snug
against the index pin, see detail "a." Secure the featherboard to your jig with clamps
and cut your first kerf.

Next unclamp the featherboard, and again, push it up snug against the index pin. Re-
clamp and make another pass to cut your second kerf. Repeat this process to complete
all the fingers on the featherboard.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Indexing Jig for Making Featherboards

Table Saw Accessories

5"

17"

3

!/2"

1

!/2"

FIRST:

CUT

TWO KERFS
APART IN
BACKING
BOARD

!/8"

THIRD:

PLACE SAW BLADE IN

SECOND KERF TO POSITION BACKING
BOARD ON MITER GAUGE

SECOND:

GLUE INDEX PIN IN FIRST KERF

INDEX PIN

(1

x 1

-

-THICK

HARDWOOD)

!/2"

!/2" !/8"

BACKING BOARD

(

PLYWOOD)

#/4"

!/8"

BACKING
BOARD

SAW BLADE IS
TILTED TO 30°

INDEX
PIN

HOLD-DOWN

a.

Magazine

From

Featherboard

Sometimes clamping a featherboard to the table saw is more
trouble than it’s worth. The cast ribs underneath the saw
table always seem to get in the way of the clamps. And when

I need to move the featherboard just a hair,
it’s a pain to reposition the clamps.

To help simplify things, I made a magnetic

featherboard that attaches to the table saw

in seconds, as you can see at right. The key

to this featherboard is a pair of magnetic bases

like the kind used to hold a dial indicator (above, left photo). We bought our magnetic bases
from Enco Manufacturing. Search their web site

www.use-enco.com

for Part No. 625-0930 or call

toll-free 1-800-873-3626 to order. Note: magnets do not work on aluminum tables.

The unique feature on these bases is a switch that lets you "turn" the magnetic field on or off.
Once the featherboard is in position, you simply flip on both switches to secure it to the saw
table. To reposition (or remove) the featherboard, just turn the switches off.

To make this work, a featherboard is attached to an L-shaped support, like you see in the
drawing below. After cutting an angled notch to fit the featherboard, I rabbeted each end of the
top to fit the magnetic bases. A threaded hole in the top of each base makes it easy to bolt them
to the support.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Magnetic Featherboard

Table Saw Accessories

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From

When cross-cutting short pieces to the same length, I
like to clamp a stop block to the rip fence of my table
saw. This block provides clearance between the rip
fence and the saw blade so the cut-off pieces don't
get trapped (and kick back).

But recently, I came up with an idea that avoids the
hassle of fiddling around with clamps. Instead I use
a magnetic stop block. It's just a hardwood block
with a pair of small magnetic catches inserted into
one edge, see drawing. Note: If the face of your rip
fence is wood or aluminum, simply put the magnetic catches in the bottom face
of the stop block.

The magnets hold the stop block securely against the fence. And when I'm done,
I simply store the block out of the way on the side of the saw cabinet.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Magnetic Stop Block

Magazine

From

Table Saw Accessories

3 "

!/2

3 "

!/2

1 "

!/4

Magnetic
catch

%/8"

Using a miter gauge to cut multiple pieces to identical length on a table saw is
easy — if the pieces are fairly short. But if the pieces are long, it can be difficult
cutting them to identical lengths. Unless I use an extremely long fence, there’s
no place to clamp a stop block. And a long fence would just get in the way
most of the time.

To solve this problem, I added a removable extension rail to the wood fence
attached to my miter gauge. Then I made a stop block to fit on the rail.

Extension Rail

– The extension rail is a piece of aluminum bar stock that

attaches to the back of the wood fence. (You’ll find bar stock at most home cen-
ters.) To hold the rail in place, I cut two notches in the bottom edge of the alu-
minum bar to fit over screws installed in the fence. Tightening the screws will
secure the rail to the fence.

Stop Block

– Next, I added a sliding stop block. It’s a thick, hardwood block

with a wide kerf that fits over the rail. After positioning the stop block on the
rail, locking it in place is just a matter of tightening a knob that fits into a
threaded insert (see detail 'a').

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Miter Gauge Extension

Table Saw Accessories

a

Magazine

From

When trying to make very accurate cuts with my rip
fence, I used to check the distance between the fence
and my saw blade with a tape measure.

But trying to hold the end of the tape against the rip
fence and adjust it at the same time took more coordina-
tion than I could muster. So instead I made a simple set-
up gauge for my rip fence.

My set-up gauge consists
of nothing more than a
block of hardwood and a
12"-long steel rule, see drawing at left.

I simply cut a shallow dado across the bottom edge of the block to

hold the rule. Then glued the rule into the dado with epoxy so that it

was flush with the edge (back) of the block.

To use the gauge, just clamp it to the rip fence, see photo. This

way, the gauge moves along with the fence as I adjust it,

leaving me with both hands free to set the fence.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Rip Fence Setup Gauge

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Table Saw Accessories

Using a table saw to trim a number of small parts to iden-
tical size can be tricky — especially if the cut is angled. But
this small parts sled makes it easy and safe.

The sled consists of two parts: a base that carries the work-
piece through the saw blade and a pair of fences that posi-
tion the workpiece on the sled.

Base

– The base is a scrap of ¼" plywood (or hardboard)

that’s ripped wide enough to accommodate the work-
pieces, as you can see in Figure 1. (I cut mine 6" wide.) This
creates a reference edge that’s used to position the fence.
Note: You can make the sled whatever width is required
for the workpieces you are trimming. Just don't move the
rip fence once you've cut the reference edge.

Fence

– The fence is made up of two

scrap pieces. To position these pieces,
lay out the line you want to trim to on
one of the workpieces. Then, align the
mark with the reference edge on the
plywood. Finally, butt the fence pieces
against the edges of the workpiece and
glue them to the base, as shown in
Figure 2. Note: Hot melt glue works
great for this.

Trim Workpieces

– Now you're ready

to trim the workpieces. Just slip one in
place against the fences and then run
the sled along the rip fence. Note: In
my case, the workpieces were mirror
images. So when I trimmed them, I
could stack the two mating pieces
together, as you can see in Figure 2.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Small Parts Sled

Table Saw Accessories

1

2

Magazine

From

I make a lot of small picture frames for gifts.
But there's a couple challenges: mitering the
small pieces accurately and holding them
safely. So I've made a jig designed to help
with this. It's nothing more than a shallow
box attached to a miter gauge runner.

The runner rides in the miter gauge slots for
accuracy, as you can see in the photo. And
the workpiece can be clamped to either side
of the jig so your hands are always out of
the way.

The Jig

– To make the jig, cut four pieces of stock for the sides. Rabbet joints

at the ends of two of the pieces help align them during glue-up, as shown in
the main drawing. (Note: Size the pieces for the box so it clears the blade
once it's attached to the runner, as illustrated in the detail at right).

Add Bottom

– To strengthen the sides of the box, I glued a piece of ¼" hard-

board to the bottom. Finally, glue and screw the box to a wood runner. Note:
To cut accurate miters with this jig, it's critical to make sure the box is square
and sits at a 45° angle to the blade. (I used a plastic triangle to set the position
of the box.)

Shop Tip:

The workpiece may shift when making the cut even when it's

clamped. To prevent this, you may want to attach self-adhesive sandpaper to
the sides of the box.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Small Piece Miter Gauge

Table Saw Accessories

Magazine

From

Recently, I was building a blanket chest featured
in Workbench magazine. When it came time to
make the thick, tapered legs, I needed a way to
make a long, angled cut quickly and accurately.
But I also wanted to make sure the taper on both
legs ended up identical. So, I made a simple taper
jig. The jig makes it easy to position the leg at the
correct angle and hold it in place during the cut
(see photo).

The jig is nothing more than a plywood base with
two support blocks. The base acts like a "sled"
that carries the leg through the saw blade. A couple of hold-downs attached to
the long support block prevent the leg from shifting.

To build the jig, start by ripping a piece
of plywood for the base. The ripped
edge will serve as a reference to indi-
cate the path of the saw blade. This
same reference edge can be used to
align the leg on the base and help
locate the support blocks.

To position the support blocks, lay out
the width of the leg at the top end, then
align this mark with the reference edge
on the base of the jig. Next, position the
bottom outside corner of the leg flush
with the reference edge and trace the
outline of the leg onto the base (Fig. 1).
Then screw down the support blocks
along the layout lines and add the
hold-downs (Fig. 2).

Now to use the jig, simply push it
through the saw blade along the refer-
ence edge to cut a taper on each leg.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Table Saw Taper Jig

Magazine

From

Table Saw Accessories

7

"

!/2

1

!/2"

Base

( " ply)

!/4

Trace around leg

to mark the position

of the support block.

Reference

Edge

Inside

Groove

Leg

24"

1

2

Most table saw inserts have
wide throat openings around
the saw blade. This makes it
all too easy for narrow cutoffs
to fall in the opening and pos-
sibly bind against the blade.
Also, since the throat opening
isn't supporting the work-
piece, you'll often end up
with chipout along the
bottom face of your board.

To solve these problems, I
made a zero-clearance insert
from ¼" hardboard. But as
you can see in the drawing,
the one I made doesn't replace
my standard table saw insert, it's simply a large piece of hard-
board that I lay over my table just before I'm ready to make a
cut.

Here's how it works.
1. Set your rip fence for the desired width of the cut.
2. Lower your saw blade below the surface.
3. Place the hardboard on your table, flush with the fence. Use
carpet tape to hold it in place.
4. Turn on the saw and slowly raise the blade.
5. Position your workpiece and make the cut.

To make another cut at a different width, simply re-adjust the
fence following the steps listed above. The large-size board
will provide you plenty of room for making a variety of cuts
before it needs to be replaced.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Zero-Clearance Top

Table Saw Accessories

Magazine

From

When cutting miters on my table saw,
I sometimes need to change my miter
gauge to a different setting, but then
return to my original angle to finish
the project.

To help me get back to my original
setting, I use a piece of tape to “book-
mark” the location on my scale, see
drawing. Just before I make my first
cut, I place a small strip of adhesive
tape across the gauge scale and indi-
cator and cut it with a razor blade (so
I can reposition the gauge for my next cut).

When I need to return to my first setting, all I do
is adjust the miter gauge so the strips of tape are
realigned.

© 2002 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Miter Gauge "Bookmark"

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Table Saw Accessories