From DIYinfo.org
[edit] A Simple jig to aid accuracy when using a hand held power saw.
A short while ago a lady asked on a DIY news group how to cut square with a small power saw. She was a first timer and was cutting floorboards with it. The answers were a bit vague, and didn't really address her problem. I guess she was talking about boards that would be no more than 95mm (4") wide and they could be less.
Let me tell you after a fair bit of power saw experience I think I would have trouble cutting square also. It is not easy. What I would advise her to do is build a variation of the age old joiners mitre box, but with a power saw in mind. I would go to my local joinery shop that makes kitchen cupboards etc and buy off them a mob of MDF or ply offcuts. They are cutting up full sheets all the time and get plenty of small strips left over.Here is what I'd make with them.
The base can be any size, in fact the longer the better. The rails "C" and "D" make them fairly short, say 450mm. This is to stop bent boards jamming in the jig.
Were ever you use it, fix it firm. I use clamps most of the time. Fix a stop along along a bench and use this jig to cut many length to the same size.
Pieces "D" and "C" are full lengths and only cut in two when the whole thing is ready to use.
The gap between "D" and "C" is the same as the width of the floorboard plus plus a couple of mm for clearance.
The gap between pieces "A" and "B" is the width of the baseplate of the saw plus a couple of mm for clearance. Pieces "A" and "B" are set square off "D"
Piece "C" is as wide as to like, to give the saw a good stable base to start on.
"A" and"B" are set slightly more than the thickness of the flooring from the base. Again a couple of mm for clearance. Use bits of packers to get the clearance. Anything will do, bits of thin ply, Masonite, plastic even cardboard.
Pepper it together with timber screws (or nails) and cut your first board, with your blade set 5mm deeper than the board.
Here you see a board in position, ready for cutting along the dotted pencil line which is lined up with the saw cut in the jig.
A little job like this would give the lady plenty of practice with the saw, and then help her to cut her floorboards up neatly, quickly and safely. It is safe because it is made to hold just one size of timber, so there is no slop to allow the saw to kick and jam. If she clamps the board she will have both hands free to use the saw.
I would say to her, don't even try to make it a work of art, rough enough is good enough. The beauty of all these sort of jigs is that they are so quick to make that they are often thrown away after the job is done.
OK so we used flooring as an example, using straight square cuts. You would make one of these up if you did not have a mitre saw. So make another for cutting mitres if you have a few to do. You can set your saw blade at 45 deg. to the base of the saw and cut mitres that way too.
One you have the basic idea you can adapt it for many jobs.
I use exactly the same system for routering end panels for shelves etc. When you get used to thinking in terms of making up jigs, you will soon speed up or increase the accuracy of many repetitious jobs.
[edit] See Also
[edit] Author
Bill Bradley
More DIY and home improvement pages on my website. Bill's site
