Drawing straight lines

[jmricker]

 I've spent the last couple of days laying out my design for my jukebox on my wood. Most of the time was spend erasing, redrawing, remeasuring, erasing, redrawing, etc. Many times I'll think I've got a piece drawn to the correct dimensions only to find that one side is 1/8" off. I've been thinking to myself that there must be an easier way that I'm not seeing. Is there? Any other ways to draw this stuff out?

Joel

[ScottS]

I can't remember the last time I needed to draw a straight line on a piece of wood... Normally, I just make a couple of tick marks, then line-up a guide rail/saw board to the ticks and make the cut. I rough cut everything slightly oversize, then square and trim individual pieces to length when I'm done with the rough cutting.

BTW, when doing layout don't forget to take into account the "kerf" of your saw blade! For most circular saw and tablesaw blades, it's 1/8th of an inch.

FYI, I use CutList Plus for laying out parts on a sheet of plywood or MDF. I think I have the LT version.

[jmricker]

BTW, when doing layout don't forget to take into account the "kerf" of your saw blade! For most circular saw and tablesaw blades, it's 1/8th of an inch.

So in other words, I need to draw my lines with an extra 1/8th inch all around, then line my sawboard up to that line and cut to ensure that my end result is actually the side I intended on?

CutList Plus looks interesting -- looking at the screenshots it looks like it handles these sorts of things like kerf. BTW, I'm using the plans for the jukebox that are available from Mameroom.com.

Joel

[ScottS]

So in other words, I need to draw my lines with an extra 1/8th inch all around, then line my sawboard up to that line and cut to ensure that my end result is actually the side I intended on?

You just need to factor it into the layout more than anything. As your saw is cutting, it will chew up and completely destroy some amount of material. For a circular saw or tablesaw, it's usually 1/8th inch (maybe less if you're using a "thin kerf" blade).

So say you want a piece of board that's 1 foot wide by four feet long and you've got a 4'x8' sheet of plywood to work with. You'd draw a line 1 foot from the short edge, line up your sawboard, and make the crosscut. It would give you a 1'x4' board. The piece left over would be 4 feet by 6 feet and 7/8ths not 4'x7'.

CutList Plus looks interesting -- looking at the screenshots it looks like it handles these sorts of things like kerf. BTW, I'm using the plans for the jukebox that are available from Mameroom.com.

Yes, it handles kerf. But it's primarily designed for (kitchen) cabinet builders, which means that it only handles square and rectangular shapes. So for an arcade cabinet sides, you'd give it the maximum width and height; it won't draw shapes with complex angles or anything like that.

[NiteWalker]

I too use cutlist plus and love it. I'll be upgrading to the silver version very soon.

As for jmricker's question, I learned that the less measuring you do in a project the better. Scott has the best way to do this, tick marks and a guide for the saw. The man knows his stuff. 

[xmenxmen]

My solution, which really isn't my solution.  Go build yourself a saw board.  Before the sawboard, I have tried and failed way too many times trying to get a board to cut at the right size even when factoring the extra 1/8. 

So, why the saw board?  Simple.  Take measurement, either pencil mark or draw line where to cut.  Now place the sawboard on there and cover up the side that you want to save, making sure you cover exactly the whole length (this is where I measure twice with the saw board attached), now cut away!!!!!  Believe it or now, this has work wonders for me!!!!  Thanks to all those fine folks that created this board and those wonderful idea.

[rdowdy95]

I did how xmenxmen did it.  Sawboard.  Cover the line up with the sawboard.  Cut and there ya go!

[jmricker]

Lately it seems that my sawboards and me do not want to cooperate. Twice now I've chewed up part of my sawboard while making my cuts. I think I found it is because I lined my board up and tried to plunge the saw into my work.

I have however found an solution that is working well for me. I rough cut everything then cut the piece down to size using a template cutting bit in a router. In this case I still need to be able to draw accurate lines that run square with each other but I think I've got the hang of it.

Thanks for the advice.

Joel

[NiteWalker]

Using a template bit and straight edge is a great way to get straight, accurate cuts. I would trim close to your cutting line with a jigsaw first so the template bit doesn't have to work so hard. The finished cut will be nice too.

I think you're right with the sawboard. I wouldn't make plunge cuts with it. You can actually make a sawboard for your router using the same method outlined in Drew's thread. It works very well, especially if you make a base for your router with a straight edge.

BTW, love your av.

So true...

[jmricker]

BTW, love your av.

So true...

Thanks. I really appreciated my router when I first used it. I had never used a router before now and borrowed one in anticipation of doing some slot cutting for the t-molding.

I have two sides of my jukebox that of course should be identical. I cut and recut and measured and remeasured until I had one piece that measured accurately. I used it to trace out another and used my sawboard to cut it out. Did it match my first one? Of course not.  Only one side was accurate. So I read in one of the threads here about a template routing bit and decided to give it a try. After a couple of quick passes I had my two pieces that was actually identical to each other. I knew then that this router was going to be my favorite tool 

Joel

[NiteWalker]

Routers are great. I'd bet anything that an entire cabinet can be made with absolutely noting but a router and some bits. It can cut the pieces to shape, cut the t-molding slot, be used to drill the button and joystick holes and recesses, shape the cp, etc. The possibilities are endless. If you spend a decent amount of money for a good router your cuts will be accurate and consistent.