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Step 3Cutting guides
If the table is to be square and flat, the cuts must be straight and square. A table saw would be ideal. I don't have a table saw, so I need a cutting guide for my circular saw. And since I didn't have one of those, either, I made one. Or rather, three.
These guides are like every pretty much every other one anyone has made - two pieces of whatever flat panel material is convenient -- a thin one that the shoe of the saw rides on, and one that provides the edge that guides the saw.
My first attempt at making a cutting guide didn't work. What I ended up with worked fine for cutting panels, but the guide-strip was too narrow, and when the saw was extended fully for rough-cutting the 4x4's the clamp heads got in the way. So I made another. Actually, I made two more, so that I could cut one into shorter pieces that would be easier to handle.
Making the cutting guide:
Use whatever panel goods are convenient. You want the base to be thin, and the guide strip to be straight. I used 3/16" hardboard for the base and 1/4" ply for the guide strip.
There are two critical dimensions. The guide strip needs to be at least as wide as the distance the saw motor overhangs from the edge of the saw's shoe, plus a couple of inches for the clamps. This is where I made the mistake in my first attempt.
The base needs to be as wide as the sum of width of the guide strip and the distance from the edge of the shoe, plus a bit extra, With my saw, the overhang is 3-1/2", so I made my guide strip 5-1/2" wide. The distance between from the edge of the shoe to the blade is about 4-1/2", so the base needs to be at least 10" wide. Since I was working with a 24" wide sheet, I just sliced it down the middle.
I used the factory edge of the half-panel of hardboard as a guide for cutting the ply. I wanted to cut a 5-1/2" strip, and my saw cuts 4-1/2" from the edge of the shoe, so I wanted the edge of the hardboard 10" from the edge of the ply. So I set my combination square to 10", and used it to mechanically set the distance. Hint - if you need two things to be precisely the same length, try to avoid measuring them separately. Use some mechanical mechanism for setting the distance.
These sorts of things are usually glued and screwed, but it's actually the glue that holds them together - the screws just hold everything tight while the glue cures. Screwing into hardboard or 1/4" ply is an exercise in futility, so I just used glue, and used my two 4x4's as long clamps. It would have been a bit easier, if I'd done this before I'd rough-cut the 4x4's, but it worked out.
The next day, I used the 4x4s, again, to support them along their length, then ran the saw down them to cut them to match the width of the shoe. Then I cut one of them into shorter pieces, and I had a workable set of edge guides.
Because my base was originally 12" wide, after I'd trimmed it to match the saw, I ended up with a strip of hardboard roughly 2" wide - which proved useful in making a number of pads for keeping my clamps from denting my work pieces.
These guides are like every pretty much every other one anyone has made - two pieces of whatever flat panel material is convenient -- a thin one that the shoe of the saw rides on, and one that provides the edge that guides the saw.
My first attempt at making a cutting guide didn't work. What I ended up with worked fine for cutting panels, but the guide-strip was too narrow, and when the saw was extended fully for rough-cutting the 4x4's the clamp heads got in the way. So I made another. Actually, I made two more, so that I could cut one into shorter pieces that would be easier to handle.
Making the cutting guide:
Use whatever panel goods are convenient. You want the base to be thin, and the guide strip to be straight. I used 3/16" hardboard for the base and 1/4" ply for the guide strip.
There are two critical dimensions. The guide strip needs to be at least as wide as the distance the saw motor overhangs from the edge of the saw's shoe, plus a couple of inches for the clamps. This is where I made the mistake in my first attempt.
The base needs to be as wide as the sum of width of the guide strip and the distance from the edge of the shoe, plus a bit extra, With my saw, the overhang is 3-1/2", so I made my guide strip 5-1/2" wide. The distance between from the edge of the shoe to the blade is about 4-1/2", so the base needs to be at least 10" wide. Since I was working with a 24" wide sheet, I just sliced it down the middle.
I used the factory edge of the half-panel of hardboard as a guide for cutting the ply. I wanted to cut a 5-1/2" strip, and my saw cuts 4-1/2" from the edge of the shoe, so I wanted the edge of the hardboard 10" from the edge of the ply. So I set my combination square to 10", and used it to mechanically set the distance. Hint - if you need two things to be precisely the same length, try to avoid measuring them separately. Use some mechanical mechanism for setting the distance.
These sorts of things are usually glued and screwed, but it's actually the glue that holds them together - the screws just hold everything tight while the glue cures. Screwing into hardboard or 1/4" ply is an exercise in futility, so I just used glue, and used my two 4x4's as long clamps. It would have been a bit easier, if I'd done this before I'd rough-cut the 4x4's, but it worked out.
The next day, I used the 4x4s, again, to support them along their length, then ran the saw down them to cut them to match the width of the shoe. Then I cut one of them into shorter pieces, and I had a workable set of edge guides.
Because my base was originally 12" wide, after I'd trimmed it to match the saw, I ended up with a strip of hardboard roughly 2" wide - which proved useful in making a number of pads for keeping my clamps from denting my work pieces.
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