Hot Tips Vol. 3

These tips are compiled from various publications. Suitability of use is up to the individual, and of course- TEST BEFORE IMPLEMENTING!

Groove shop-made dowel pins to disperse glue and hydraulic pressure when inserting into joints. A simple jig consists of holes drilled 1/32" oversize of your favorite diameters into a scrap block, with a pointed steel screw driven into the sides such that it protrudes slightly into the hole. Drive the dowel pin through the hole to score a groove.

Spray mount adhesive, available from craft supply stores, is useful for attaching peel-off patterns or sandpaper to wooden blocks.

Stock tearing out on your planer? Assuming the blades are sharp, try feeding the stock in at an angle to effect a skewing cut. Various other tricks are; reverse the feed direction, dampen the stock before feeding it in, stoning a micro- bevel on the back edge of the blade, stoning a negative included angle on the face of the blade (after trying the micro bevel first).

Magnets salvaged from radio speakers can be used on steel tablesaw fences as an offset stop block; build the thickness to an easy to remember dimension like 1".

Emergency bandsaw tires can be fabricated from masking tape; lay on three wraps of 1/2" wide filament tape (this will form a crown) follow with about 15 wraps of 1" wide masking tape- this has been known to last up to 5 years.

Saw blade harmonics cause inaccurate cuts. This condition is detectable by watching the blade in the kerf; if it widens on both sides of the cut, then the blade is whipping back and forth (under load), this problem is best cured with blade stabilizers. Try this procedure first though: mount and tighten the blade as usual, and give the saw a "bump" start (a quick on/off) and watch for signs of wobble during deceleration. If noted, loosen and rotate the blade 1/4 turn on the arbor, tighten, and repeat the test. It's likely there will be some point when any runout in the blade cancels any runout in the arbor.

Paste wax on the threads of glue bottles prevents buildup, allowing for easy opening.

Increase cutting-line visibility on dark woods by going over your pencil line with white chalk, which will adhere to the wood–not pencil graphite– giving a black-on-white result.

Unsweetened gelatin powder, which is really hide glue that's been purified, is useful for small, quick jobs when mixed at 2 1/2 parts water to 1 part powder; be advised the open time is only about 60 seconds. Heat in a baby bottle warmer to use.

The non-fluted ends of full-bodied twist drills make precise feeler and setup gauges.

35 mm film canisters filled with acetone make good soaking tubs for clogged spray paint nozzles; follow up by mounting a stubborn one on an aerosol can of starting fluid and giving it a blast for a thorough cleaning.

Reinforce lightly backed sheets of finer girt sandpaper by taping the back of delicate outside edges before installing in electric pad sanders.

Obsolete 5 1/4" computer diskette storage boxes are great organizers for 5" sanding disks- separate the grits by marking their value on the divider tabs.

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