A free jigsaw? Worth every penny paid for it, and nothing more.

[Jdurg]

When I bought my router today, there was a deal at my home depot giving me a free jigsaw to go with my router.  I thought that was pretty sweet.  I had my CP all planned out on the 3/4 inch Poplar plywood and put a guide rail up against which the jigsaw would follow and cut a straight line.  WRONG!!!!!

The blade on the jigsaw is nice and warped so as soon as it started to get warm from the cutting the jigsaw automatically started moving from right to left.  So half of the cuts are warped out to the left, while the other half are warped out into the CP.     Thankfully, I moved the front edge of my CP away from the edge of the poplar so now I just need to wait for my dad to have a vacation day and go up to my parents house and borrow a circular saw, or if he can dig it out of the garage, a table saw to make a straight cut.  I'm pretty pissed right now.  I figured i'd be able to make my straight cut and get my holes drilled out today, but with how this turned out i'm not touching another power tool until I've gotten comfortable with it.

My CP can still be saved as the piss poor cuts only affected two sides which can be fixed, but damn.  I figured it would be easy to get a straight line cut in a panel of plywood.  My clamps must suck, my jigsaw certainly sucks, and I guess I suck at woodwork as well.   

[ChadTower]

Is that a saw problem or a cheap blade problem?

[Jdurg]

Probably the cheap blade that came with it.  Still, I think I'd be safer/better off if I save the jigsaw for short, two inch maximum lines and let the circular saw do the multiple feet cuts.

I'm just a bit nerfed that my first 'cuts' on my cabinet turned out so ---smurfy---.

[ChadTower]

I probably wouldn't try any lengthy cuts in 3/4" material with a jigsaw.  Certainly not a cheap one.  Use a circular saw if you have to use a portable... if you have long curved type cuts, reduce the material with the circular saw and then clip off the small remaining pieces (like for a large curve) with the jigsaw.

[Jdurg]

I probably wouldn't try any lengthy cuts in 3/4" material with a jigsaw.  Certainly not a cheap one.  Use a circular saw if you have to use a portable... if you have long curved type cuts, reduce the material with the circular saw and then clip off the small remaining pieces (like for a large curve) with the jigsaw.

Yeah, that's what I'm realizing now.  I have some re-measurements I need to take due to the poor cuts i've done, but that shouldn't be too bad.  The only "movements" are at most a half inch so I won't even need to move my button layouts.  I'm just glad that I didn't make cuts in areas that I couldn't fix.  On the bright side, I have plenty of scrap wood to practice my router and drill on. 

[ChadTower]

You could always just cut a new piece the right way and save that one as scrap for later.  It's not like you're building this thing out of 1" walnut.

[Jdurg]

That's true, but then I'd have to re-draw and re-measure out all the locations for the joysticks and buttons.  Besides, once I move my cut lines down a half inch the overall look won't change at all.  I figured something would go wrong during the cutting so I went and made sure my stick/button locations could handle a minor screw-up.  Now if something goes wrong with the routing of the joystick mounts or the holes for the buttons, then I'll start over.   

[Jdurg]

Okay, the jigsaw works fine for small cuts in small areas.  The plywood being 3/4" thick gives it a bit of a problem, but I cut out the main hole for the 4-Way Joystick after using a spad bit to create four holes in the corner for the jigsaw to go in.  I will need to do some sanding to smooth out the last areas, but the hole is pretty much square and ready to accept the joystick.

I've also discovered that my cordless screwdriver can only do 4 button holes each day.  So it's a good thing I started now since it will be the weekend before all buttons are cut.  That's a ---smurfette---, but hey, the screwdriver was a Christmas gift and as I get better at it I probably won't need to kill the battery as much.

I learned too that the plywood I have is VERY strong and hard stuff.  This will hold up well to much abuse.  Pretty pricey at $16.00 for a 2 foot by 4 foot section, but for overall strength and ability to withstand abuse I think this will be great.  (Plus it gives me confidence that the small area the joytsticks will actually be adhering to will actually stand up).

The only problem with the plywood is that the bottom piece of laminate ends up ripping instead of cutting nicely when the spade bit gets to the bottom, so the underside of my CP looks pretty ugly.  I'll try and fill up some of the areas with wood putty and then sand it smooth, but it's not going to be seen so it won't be bad.

Finally, the screwup caused by the jigsaw cutting earlier can easily be corrected and won't affect the CP at all.  The cabinet is being designed to have maybe an inch or two between the monitor and physical back edge of the CP anyway, so I'm not worried about not having enough space to effectively use the trackball. 

I'm getting pretty psyched now because I have a few holes drilled out ready to accept buttons, finally.   

[ChadTower]

Sounds like you need to upgrade your tools, bro.  You shouldn't be cutting button holes with a cordless screwdriver.  The thing will last about 20 buttons before it jumps up, slaps you, and then dies.

[rovingmind]

Okay, the jigsaw works fine for small cuts in small areas. 

The only problem with the plywood is that the bottom piece of laminate ends up ripping instead of cutting nicely when the spade bit gets to the bottom, so the underside of my CP looks pretty ugly.  I'll try and fill up some of the areas with wood putty and then sand it smooth, but it's not going to be seen so it won't be bad.

Get a piece of scrap wood, place it UNDER where you want the hole drilled through the panel and keep pressure on the plywood so it doesnt slip, your hole splintering issues should go away.  Make sure you keep the bit sharp.  The resin dulls them.

If you get your wood at home depot, and have a long straight length to rip, measure it out before leaving the store and have them use the panel saw to rip it down for you, doesnt cost anything extra for them to do this at Home Depot or Menards, smaller lumber yards usually charge.  (only if the long sides are parrallel)    We did this for a friends christmas project and they trimmed a 32 x 60 panel within less than 1/16 of square.

Never use a jigsaw for Long straight cuts in any kind of plywood.  The grain in the layers runs different directions and the blade will hit resin and flex enough to start ripping down a layer.  As you have seen you really shouldn't use a jig saw for ANY long straight cut.  Plus the faster your trying to cut with it, the quicker it will flex out of shape.  Even a yardsale circular saw would be better (assuming you find one with good bushings). 

Good luck, post pictures

[Jdurg]

Thanks for the advice.  Last night, before the drill lost its charge, I went and put some more plywood scrap underneath the one I was cutting and everything went perfectly.  Even those that didn't work out as well are fine.  Only the very last, thin laminate layer peeled away.  Nothing that will cause any problems. 

I did find a good use for the jigsaw;  Rough straight cuts that the router and a hand planer can straighten out.  I tested out my router today and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!  It corrected all of my issues with the jigsaw and helped make a beautifully straight cut.  I fixed up the short end and will wait until I get a shop vac before tackling the long side.  Way too much dust was created for me to be comfortable with.  (You can kind of smell the dust right now in the house.  Thankfully, it's not dry and the heater and water pump have cycled multiple times so it's not a fire hazard.  (Plus my basement is quite drafty)).

I will certainly post pictures once everything is cut. 

[ChadTower]

If you think that made dust, wait until you route MDF.

Don't do that inside.  Trust me.

[TOK]

I cut my first panel with a jigsaw, and never had much luck cutting a straight line with it, regardless of the blade. I found it easiest when using it to cut 1/8" or so outside the line and sand flat. Since you bought the router, use that. 

[Jdurg]

I cut my first panel with a jigsaw, and never had much luck cutting a straight line with it, regardless of the blade. I found it easiest when using it to cut 1/8" or so outside the line and sand flat. Since you bought the router, use that. 

Heh.  Exactly!  I now know that it's impossible to make a long straight cut with a jigsaw.  For the long edge, which I've kind of started, I went and every inch or so made a perpendicular cut to the edge I'm trying to cut.  This way, my jigsaw only has to make a straight cut for about an inch or so.  It's a lot of work, but it will work just fine.  For the 1/8" or so that's left, I'll use the router to clean it up and the hand planar to ensure it's straight.

I didn't get too much of a chance to work on the panel today outside of using the router and using my drill to cut open a few more holes for buttons.  My mother decided to stop by the house today and offered to take me out for lunch, so that was a nice surprise.  Then she tricked me into helping her set up the new wireless printer they've got.  HP WIRELESS PRINTERS ARE THE DEVIL!!!!!  As soon as I turned it on, it completely reset the network, deleted all passwords, and made it impossible for the computers to connect to the network.  I reset the computer router (Heh, today's been my day of routers!), and everything worked fine until the printer was turned on again.  My parents finally decided to just ditch the wireless printer and made it a wired one.

Anyway, for losing my entire day and helping out my parents, they took me grocery shopping and got me a Home Depot giftcard there for $25, as well as some groceries I needed.  (How nice of them.    )  I then went to home depot and got me a 6 gallon Shop Vac for $40.  I used it to clean up my basement from the sawdust and it works great!  It's a "Rigid" shopvac which matches the brand router I have.  Tomorrow when I do more routing I'll hook it up to the router and be able to work with a bit less dust.  I'm really excited that I can now go and finish my panel.  (After the few days it will take to cut out the button holes and wait for the trackball and spinner to arive).

[Jdurg]

You know, I think the "suckyness" in the jigsaw was more my talent than anything else.  After making a few more cuts with the jigsaw, I'm now pretty comfortable with it.  (Probably because I know I can use the router to clean up any crap leftover).  I decided to cut off the corners of my rectangular piece of plywood tonight.  I got all four corners cut so close with the jigsaw that a simple hand plane will straighten it out perfectly.  Heck, these were nearly 7" segments that I cut perfectly straight!  I'll be just fine cutting the long portion now that I've gone ahead and made some perpendicular incuts every inch or so.  I'm really seeing the panel cut out now and it's making me quite happy.

So far, I've got the following done;

Cut out basic outline of CP within 1/8" on 7 of the 8 sides.
Cut out the P1 Start and P2 Start button holes.
Cut out all 7 buttons for P2
Cut out basic outline for 4-Way joystick.

Still need to do the following;
Use router and smooth our the edges of the plywood.
Cut P1 button holes.
Cut 4-way Joystick Button holes.
Cut 2 Trackball button holes.
Use plunge router to route out inlays for joysticks.
Cut bolt holes for all three joysticks.
Get Trackball and Spinner and cut their openings and inlays.
Finish Designing Artwork.
Get Lexan/Plexiglass and cut that out.
Get more plywood, cheaper the better since it's the side and bottom, and cut out the sides and bottom.  (This should be as bad since once I get the dimensions set, it will just be a bunch of straight cuts that I will use my father's table saw for, or have Home Depot cut for me).
Get I-Pac4.
Wire everything up.
Cry as I play games using arcade controls.
Finish up cabinet. 

So I have a ways to go, but I'm getting better every day.  I'm still a tad bit nervous when using my power tools, but that's a good thing since it will keep me alert and aware of what I'm doing.