I have a client that asked me to make, what amounts to, a large wooden clothes pin. The piece I was given to match has two pieces 5″ long , 1 1/2″ thick and have several curves. I have to make at least 20 complete sets. I tried using a router with a flush- cut bit with a bearing. I made a pattern out of hardwood and used double sided tape to adhere it to the piece I had roughly band sawn. That worked fine but the idea is I have to make these fast ; like one complete unit every 10 min to make any money. Cutting the double sided tape and applying it then removing it after every cut takes time. Another point of concern is using my hands to guide a piece that small around the router table. I have shed blood only one time in a shop ( chisel slipped and cut my finger a little) and I dont relish the idea of that router bit being the second time. Is there a better way to do this? I am planning on using poplar for the wood. It machines easily and is relatively inexpensive. I could use white pine but select white pine costs as much as poplar.
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
” If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy……..yessa!”
Replies
John,
I would make a tempalate that gang several together end to end. Since a picture is worth a thousand words.
Leave enough on the end to keep you fingers safe. You can then seprate the parts and clean up the saw marks.
Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
I have given this much thought today and I am thinking that a gripping sled that incorperates the template will work.. The piece I am to duplicat didnt have any holes in it but knowing what its used for I cant see any reason I cant drill 2 holes in the finished piece. I can put dowels in the holes and this will serve to secure the pieceand also secure the template eliminating the need for double sided tapeI dont know if this will work but Im gonna try it. Anything to make this piece pay off and keep all my fingers.
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
If you have a brad nailer or better yet a pin nailer, you can attach the template that way.
I once, agreed to make a bunch of stars for a Girl Scout project. I had to make around 30 or so of them. I cut a template out of 3/4 inch plywood with a 1-1/2 hole in the center. Attached a vacuum fitting to the center of the template and viola. I would pick up the rough cut blanks with the vacuum and rout them. I was done in no time.
Your going to spend about the same amount of time making the jig as it takes to make the parts. Of course, it would have taken way longer if you did them individually and a lot more nerve racking.
Good luck!Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
Len, this is one of those projects where one person wants this but many people buy them. What I did was make the template and drill holes in them. I then drilled holes in the piece to be routed. I used dowels to hold the template to the piece and give my fingers clearence from the work. I made the piece out of poplar thinking this would be easy to machine. The piece was 1 3/8 thick but routing it wasnt that easy. It splintered. Never would have guessed that would happen. Tomorrow I'll try pine and meranti....maybe cherry. This is a chellenge.........and the damn thing looked so simpleWicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Mass production is a different kettle of fish- requires a different mind set.
What about the use of small toggle clamps, on a base shaped for the pilot router bit to follow on? When these are used they save time over pinning etc, and no bother with filling pin holes.Philip Marcou
John,
As Phillip said production requires a different mind set. I have to produce two/ three offs all the time. Production is never easy. It becomes less expensive because you've made a couple dozen but screwed up twice as many in the process.
1-3/8 thick is difficult to rout in one pass. IT won't matter much what the material is. It's putting a lot of resistance on the bit. I would suggest you slow down. I would get as close to the final shape as possible on the bandsaw (if you have one.) Stack a couple of pieces at a time. Then rout the final shape.
Another option is to only rout half at a time, then flip the piece and rout the other side.Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
As a production woodworker I rely heavily on vaccuum jigs and shapers. I consider a small run several hundred pieces and will ask for a 50 pc. min. and a two year contract. My smallest batch is 50 pc./twice a month, 2yr. min. Less than that and the price goes way up. A true production run is 800 pcs.+ per week for me. Less than that is not production, it is a small batch hardly worth doing due to the cost of jigs, tooling, sharpening,maintenance etc. Your mileage may vary, but from a production WW, thats where it breaks down for me.
................................................
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London
Gee......thats a lot like work isnt it?? What do you make that there is so much repetition?Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
I have band sawn the shape to about 1/8" of the final shape. I am using a brand new Freud trim bit I bought just for this project. I see what youre saying about the thickness aspect but I would have thought that 1/8" would be easy to do. Im going to try that piece of poplar again this morning then try some pine and see what happens. The sample I was provided to match was white pine and it was just under 1 1/2" thick. Isnt wood working exciting??Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
John,
Making 20 sets is neither here nor there...it'll probably take you that long just to find a system. In any case, my first thought would be to rough bandsaw the shape, then attach a plywood pattern using 23 ga. pins. The router should be only for trimming a few mm to the final shape.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
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