Aerowerx
Well-Known Member
Here are the Hickory slats that I cut on my table saw.
You will notice the dark spots. They are where the wood was scorched by the table saw. The reason, I think, is that the saw was running on 110v, and it was getting bogged down a bit. This was the best saw I could afford ($600 at Lowes), and one reason I liked it was that it could be wired to use 220v. At 110v it is rated at 15 amps. Of course I had to try it right away, but when I plugged it directly into an outlet it kept tripping the circuit breaker. The only way it would run at all is at the end of a 100 ft extension cord:shock:. I have since purchased what I need to install a 220v outlet in the garage. It should hopefully run much smoother and do a better job on the Hickory.
To measure out the T-88 epoxy, I came up with this:
It is a simple balance beam scale, based on this design, and made from scrap materials.
The first picture shows it in use. I won't go into details as to how it is used, as the linked to page does that.
The third picture shows how I used a razor blade as the pivot point, and you can just see the notches in the Aluminum angle. In the 4th picture you can see a small screw I added. It is on the bottom, and is adjusted to hold the beam level and almost ready to tip with nothing on the scale.
And here are the slats, all slopped with epoxy and clamped together:
So what have I learned so far?
The first thing is that it is possible to cut thin slats out of Hickory on a table saw, but you need a saw with enough power, preferably running on 220v.
Second, T-88 is a lot thicker than what I thought it would be. I had bought a bunch of these small brushes to spread the epoxy:
They did not work out too well, and I ended up using way more epoxy than needed, and a lot of it squeezed out when clamping. I had a hard time getting a nice even layer with the brush with out putting it on too thick. I will need to come up with something better, like a scraper or squeegee of some kind. What do most of you use?
I also think it would be best to always use some kind of jig, even on small simple parts, as I had trouble keeping the slats aligned when applying the clamps.
[Edit]Somehow this last picture got attached as a thumbnail instead of inserted. It shows how much epoxy squeezed out.
You will notice the dark spots. They are where the wood was scorched by the table saw. The reason, I think, is that the saw was running on 110v, and it was getting bogged down a bit. This was the best saw I could afford ($600 at Lowes), and one reason I liked it was that it could be wired to use 220v. At 110v it is rated at 15 amps. Of course I had to try it right away, but when I plugged it directly into an outlet it kept tripping the circuit breaker. The only way it would run at all is at the end of a 100 ft extension cord:shock:. I have since purchased what I need to install a 220v outlet in the garage. It should hopefully run much smoother and do a better job on the Hickory.
To measure out the T-88 epoxy, I came up with this:
It is a simple balance beam scale, based on this design, and made from scrap materials.
The first picture shows it in use. I won't go into details as to how it is used, as the linked to page does that.
The third picture shows how I used a razor blade as the pivot point, and you can just see the notches in the Aluminum angle. In the 4th picture you can see a small screw I added. It is on the bottom, and is adjusted to hold the beam level and almost ready to tip with nothing on the scale.
And here are the slats, all slopped with epoxy and clamped together:
So what have I learned so far?
The first thing is that it is possible to cut thin slats out of Hickory on a table saw, but you need a saw with enough power, preferably running on 220v.
Second, T-88 is a lot thicker than what I thought it would be. I had bought a bunch of these small brushes to spread the epoxy:
They did not work out too well, and I ended up using way more epoxy than needed, and a lot of it squeezed out when clamping. I had a hard time getting a nice even layer with the brush with out putting it on too thick. I will need to come up with something better, like a scraper or squeegee of some kind. What do most of you use?
I also think it would be best to always use some kind of jig, even on small simple parts, as I had trouble keeping the slats aligned when applying the clamps.
[Edit]Somehow this last picture got attached as a thumbnail instead of inserted. It shows how much epoxy squeezed out.
