Popular Woodworking 2008-10 № 171, страница 10

Tricks of the Trade

KDITED BY PAUL ANTHONY

THE WINNER:

Shop-made Beam Compass

to create a hole that will grip a pencil with a press lit. (I use a round rather than faceted pencil.) Make the 6'-k>ngsaddle from a piece of solid wood glued between two pieces of '/♦'•thick plywood. Cut the center piece about V;»• narrower than the beam to ensure a frict ion fit t hat allows you to adjust the saddle position but that holds itssetting without clamping. Drill ahole in the underside of the saddle toacccpt a dowel center, which is sold for aligning mating dowel holes.

To use the compass, adjust the distance bet wccn the pencil's point and tl»e dowel-center tip to match the desired radius. Use an awl to poke the center point of your circle or arc into your workpiece. register the dowel-center point tip in the divot, and swing the compass to make your made.

— Larry LaBeau, Temperance. Michigan

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"/w'xi'xtf solid-wood center

I n my work I often need to draw large-radii curves, for which I use this long beam compass. Built from scrap wood and a dowel center, it's cheap and easy to make in any length. It can be quickly adjusted and doesn't need lockingclampsorscrewstohold itssetting.

The compass consists of a beam with an inverted frict ion-fit saddle. A dowel center inserted into the underside of tin: saddle serves as a pivot point. Make the lx*am from YVx 1" stock, and glue a small block onto the end to help hold the pencil. Drill through the block and beam

V₄'x2'x6-plywood side

Cash and prizes for your tricks and tips!

Each issue sve publish useful woodworking tips from our readers. Next issue's winner receives a S2S0 gift certificate from Lee Valley Tools, good for any item in the catalog or on ihe web site (k^aljcy.com). (The tools pictured at right are for illustration only, and are not part of the prize.)

Runners-up each receive a check for $50 to $100. When submitting a trick (cither by mail or e-mail) you must include your complete mailing address and a daytime phone numlxT. li your trick is selected lor publication, an editor will need to contact you. All entries bccome the property of Fopul.tr Woodworking. You can send your trick by e-mail to IJopwoockric.ksOfvvpubs.com, or mail it to Tricks of tlx* Track-, Popular Woodwxtrking, 4700 E. Calbrailh Road, Cincinnati, Oil 45236.

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