Popular Woodworking 2004-10 № 143, страница 63

Popular Woodworking 2004-10 № 143, страница 63

JIG JOURNAL

Adjustable Featherboard

ost featherboards are single pieces of wood with flexible "feathers" or I fingers cut into one end. They're designed to be clamped to the workta-bles or fences of various power tools. Unfortunately, this simple design doesn't always work for the table saw because the table often is too large to clamp the featherboard near the work.

This adjustable featherboard solves that problem by having the mount clamp to the table. By moving the mount from side to side and the featherboard back and

forth, you can position the featherboard anywhere you need it on the saw.

Making this jig is straightforward, but there are two important considerations. First, you must adjust the length of the mount to fit your saw - when assembled, the space between the inside edges of the mount blocks should be about 1/16" longer than the front-to-back dimension of the table. Second, you must glue a disc of #220-grit sandpaper to the top surface of the featherboard, over the pivot hole, to help keep it at the proper angle.

1V2" rad.

Glue sandpaper to featherboard

-4 23/4" -

3/4'

3/4'

2"

Depth of saw table plus 19/ie"

V2"-3/4" 4 -h3/4"

Side view

3/8"-dia. hole thru with 7/8"-dia. x V4"-d. countersink

HTFTTTTT

3/8" x 2" carriage bolt, washer and wing nut

34"

3/>"4.

- W' x 20 thumbscrews and T-nuts (2 req'd)

To mount the featherboard on the saw table, place it so the mount blocks straddle the front and back edges of the table. Turn the thumbscrews with your fingers only. They don't have to be any tighter than that - the sideways pressure from the featherboard locks the assembly in place.

Popular Woodworking

Place the wood you want to cut on the saw. Position the featherboard next to the wood and adjust the angle so the feathers are flexed slightly. Secure the featherboard by tightening the wing nut. Note: The featherboard must press against the wood before it reaches the blade. If there is sideways pressure at the blade or behind it, the blade may bind in the cut.