Building Grating with Proxxon Saw KS230

Since I only had small proxxon but needed to prepare wee bit of gratings, I created small jig as add-on to KS230 circular saw.

New wooden base is 7 mm thick oak, and the blade sticks out only 1 mm to cut grooves. 1 mm from the blade I glued in 1x2mm brass profile that is acting as a lead for subsequent cuts.

That's basicaly it. My whole text is here: Building Grating with Proxxon Saw KS230

And those are my gratings built using that method:

Cheers
Jerzy

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:22 pm • Post subject:

Hi Jerzy

Please could you show more photos of your jig, and how it fits to your saw. I have a new tablesaw, and information I can get will be very useful.

Thanks
Jim

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:55 pm • Post subject:

I drew holes in wooden base to fit original saw's screews. Screws from proxxon are relatively long, and they catch thread even through the wood.

And do not worry, even without those 2 screws, aluminium base is firmly attached to plastic cover of the saw.

Jerzy

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:43 pm • Post subject:

Thanks Jerzy,

I've not made a grate from scratch yet. I bought the Jim Byrnes tablesaw so it will be interesting to see how this goes 8)

Jim

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:08 pm • Post subject:

"Jim Byrnes" you are saying. I do not know this one.

Unfortunately Austria is very conservative country, I believe also Germany and Switzerland, I put those countries together as we have one common model magazine with same adds etc. ....coming to the point, the market is quite closed in terms of brands and companies. Except Proxxon (and Dremel for drills), there is not much choice here.

Bringing stuff from US is not always the cheapest stuff, now looking at UK shops I already see massive difference.

Anyway, I bet you will find a way to build gratings with your saw as well. Make sure you use good, hard wood.

Cheers
Jerzy

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:30 am • Post subject:

Hi Jim, as a fellow Jim Byrnes tool enthusiast, I can add the following for your consideration.

I have used the JB saw for making gratings. Due to the construction method JB uses, it is difficult to make a saw sled or other jig to assist so I tried another method I came across and it worked great. You will need the slitting blade and make a zero-tollerance plate for it (if you don't have that already); otherwise the thin strips will be sucked through the gap and into the vacuum pick-up (if you are using that as well).

I tried two methods of making the grating, one very similar to Jerzy and a modification to that method - in either method the cutting technique is exactly the same. As we will not have a jig we will need a spacer piece of the thickness exactly the width of the grating timbers). I used a piece of scrap planking I had, and then drilled and glued a toothpick to the top edge to allow easier handling of the spacer (and keep the fingers clear Smile

)

Ensure the cutting side of the grating timber has been smoothed, and that the sides are square. Set the blade depth to half the thickness of the grating timber. As we do not have a jig, it is a matter of moving the fence. Use the spacer to determine the fence position for the first slit. After cutting the first slit do not remove the wood but release the fence, insert the spacer between the edge of the wood (with the saw blade still in the slit jyou have just cut) and the fence, then retighten the fence, remove the spacer, adust the timber across and cut the new slit - repeat as required.

On completion, turn the wood such that the saw will cut with the grain and with the slots facing up. Adust the blade to cut through the full thickness. Repeat the steps outlined above to get the appropriate thicknessed grating timbers.

For the first method, the grating timber width shoud be half the depth of the wood so that when laid sideways and glued together as described by Jerzy (and Russ in another thread), the grating timber widthes look even. The alternate method (my preferred) is to interlock the pieces. This is possible by having ensured that the first slots were exactly half the grating timber depth and that the width of the grating timbers equal the width of the saw balde (obvious this will only work at the smaller scales).

I hope this is clear enough? the main point is that for the JB saw, I found that unless you took the fence off, it was too difficult to lay and manoeuvre a jig on top of it. Every time I have removed the fence I have had to realign it. So I have found it easier to move the fence using a spacer piece to adjust the spacing. Due to the great design of the fence this is not that arduous a task.

cheers

Pat

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:35 pm • Post subject:

G'Day BANYAN

I keep reading your post, and trying to understand that 100%.
If I understood correctly, after every cut you re-adjust the fence? Can you confirm? Or should I read it again?

Hang on, down under you have 240V sockets... those tools from Byrnes are available somewhere in EU with decent 220V?

Jerzy

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:03 pm • Post subject:

G'Day Jerzy,

I saw your post before about this jig you made. I have been dying to try it out myself on my Proxxon. Excellent idea, well done and thank you.

Dirk

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:12 pm • Post subject:

Cheers Dirk,

jig is a jig, one will still need some practice. And next part of the trick is to use right wood.

There are let's say 20 odd methods of cutting those grooves for grates, but if wood is too soft, "teeth" will fall out when cutting them across even using proxxon fine cut blade - one with 100 teeth.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:24 am • Post subject:

Hi Jerzy, yep. Unfortunately is is not so easy Unless doing very small gratings to build a jig similar to yours; so I got around it by moving the fence each time you do a new cut. Using the spacer is easy when you get used to it.

Unfortunately, the saw and sander are 110V - had to get a transformer - but it was worth it and very little if any loos of power - just need to watch the overheating Smile

Pat