Popular Woodworking 2009-02 № 174, страница 40
JOINTER When this technique was first shown to me, my eyes became as wide as saucers and as bright as a supernova. 1 couldn't believe this method actually worked - not to mention it's easily repeatable and consistent. Now whenever I demonstrate this technique to others, I'm delighted to see their eyes grow wide and bright as well. You may think I'm about to describe a standard, well-known method that has you make numerous passes over the jointer knives until you've achieved the needed taper, counting the passes as you go so the steps can be repeated on other legs. (I've seen this process recently touted in other magazines.) It's not. This entire operation is completed with a single setup at the jointer and in two passes. Yes, precise jointer setup and accurate layout on the leg stock is necessary to match your desired profile. But once set, the method pro duces any number of matching legs as long as you hit the marks. Now, this is how I create my tapered legs for any project. —GH 1 Half the total taper. The most important mark on the leg stock is a line drawn at half the total length of taper - measured from the bottom of the leg upward. Square that line around the leg on all four faces and mark an "X" on the two adjoining faces that you wish to taper. H _ 2M Precise setup required. In order to create H an exact taper, your jointer has to be set up properly. The cut required is going to be more aggressive than you normally make with your jointer, but it's OK and possible. Set the depth of cut to one-half the total amount of taper. (In our example, we're tapering a ls/8" leg to % " at the bottom, or removing I" of waste. Therefore, the depth of cut set at the jointer is one-half that amount, or '/2 ".) Check your setup on a scrap to confirm. 3 Find the cut. For consistent results, it's crucial to find the exact point where the knives begin to cut. With the machine unplugged, set a square to the knives and on the infeed table. Slowly rotate the cutterhead toward the square, pushing the tool back, until the square stops moving. At that point, mark the jointer fence and extend a line up the fence face. 4 Step one. Start the first cut at the bottom of the leg. Place one "X"-marked face flat to the jointer bed and slowly push the stock into the knives until the layout line on your leg touches the line marked on the jointer fence. Carefully remove the leg from the jointer. (You can also set up a stop block to control this cut.) To cut the second face, rotate the leg 90° and pass the leg over the knives again. Compete step one on all leg blanks. Note: The guard has been removed for clarity. 5 Step two. Flip the leg "end for end" so the top of each leg points toward the knives and one of the two cut faces is flat to the bed. Apply pressure to the cut end to make the leg "wheelie" up at the top end. (It's important to maintain this pressure along the entire length of cut.) Make one continuous pass over the knives to remove the balance of your waste material. As you complete this pass, you're making two small tapered cuts. The first begins at the top of the full-length taper and takes a V2 " cut at the termination of step one. The second small taper begins at that same point and continues through the bottom end of the leg. Rotate the leg to make another pass over the knives and the tapered leg is finished. populara-oodworking.com ■ 57 |
