How to make a guide bar for a hand saw and cut boards evenly as on a stationary circular saw
Making a straight cut with a handheld circular saw is not easy. Because of the heterogeneity of the wood and for other reasons the saw always tends to move to the side. Of course, you can buy a guide bar in a store, but the factory branded product is comparable in price to the saw itself. With basic carpentry and locksmithing skills, this useful addition to the tool can be made by yourself.
- Hand-held circular saw;
- laminate;
- aluminum channel rail;
- screws, bolts, nuts and washers;
- aluminum plate;
- double-sided adhesive tape;
- roll of sandpaper.
The process of making a guide rail for a manual circular saw
On a stationary circular saw, make longitudinal and cross cuts of the laminate to obtain the base blanks of the guide rail.
Join the two laminate boards lengthwise by tapping the joint with a mallet, and fill the back side with quick-drying glue.
Sand the surfaces of the workpieces with sandpaper on a round holder and wipe with a cloth napkin.
Apply glue to the back surface of the narrow laminate workpiece, press the aluminum channel to the base along the length as a stop, and glue the narrow workpiece to the base along the aluminum channel.
Drill holes of the same type in the back of the aluminum channel at regular intervals, drilling them on the inside for screw heads, and removing burrs on the outside with sandpaper.
Lay the aluminum channel along the narrow strip glued to the base with a guaranteed gap, using two pieces of aluminum channel of the appropriate size.
Apply glue to the contact area between the aluminum channel and the laminate base and press the channel so that the stops will slide freely along the guide rail.
Fix the guide rail with screws, screwing them through the holes in the back of the channel to the base.
Grind down the ends of the screws on the back side of the base with a hand grinder.
Fix the narrow strip with screws along its length, screwing them into the laminate base. Grind down the screw ends with a hand grinder on the reverse side as well.
Cut to size the aluminum channel that corresponds to the guide rail. Starting from this size, make two parts from the aluminum strip, bending twice at right angles toward one end. Straighten the bend points with a hand file.
We mark out the large sides of the curved plates and cut along the edges along the entire length of the strip. Remove burrs and round off the edges.
Make two holes at the base of the slats.
Curve the corners of the aluminum channel. Glue the aluminum curved strips to the aluminum channel, following the attachment points on the handheld circular saw.
Drill holes in the aluminum channel, matching the holes in the curved strips. Fasten them with bolts, nuts and washers, placing the bolt heads inside the channel.
Insert the long ends of the curved strips into the attachment points on the circular saw and tighten the wing nuts. The channel must fit tightly on the side of the circular saw’s working base.
Set the end of the channel on the circular saw in the groove of the guide rail and cut off a strip from the base, so that its width equals the width of the working base of the saw. Adjust the other sides of our fixture as well.
Once again, sand it down with an emery cloth, remove the particles of material with a brush, wipe the base of the device with a damp napkin.
Glue strips of double-sided adhesive tape to the clean surface of the base along the length. Measure out a roll of coarse sandpaper along the width of the base, and tear off the excess across the width.
Remove the protective film from the adhesive tape and glue a strip of sandpaper with the grit outwards. Cut the ends to the length of the base.
Rub the contact surface of the guide rail and the laminate base with paraffin candle and our device is completely ready for use.
How to make a wooden decorative lattice on a circular saw
It often happens that in a home workshop there is no possibility to have a wide range of equipment. But many products can be made not in the traditional way, but with the tools that are available. And if you need to make a door with a decorative lattice, but do not have at hand a router, you can also do with a circular saw.
Needed:
First we make the grating itself, and then the frame of the door.First of all we saw pine boards 25 mm thick into pieces about 1 meter long and about 10 cm wide. These dimensions are still arbitrary and selected for the convenience of initial processing.
Preferably use planks that are already sawn. Otherwise we plan them with an electric planer.
And then we saw them into strips with a circular saw. Attention: The thickness of this workpiece determines the thickness of the future grating.
In this case we halved the boards, and smoothed the resulting 12mm thick boards to a thickness of 10,3mm, using the panel cutter.
We set the special thin-cutting saw carriage on the table of the circular saw. Controlling the protrusion of the saw blade with the caliper, lift it to the height of 5,2 mm, i.e. to the height just over half of the thickness of the workpiece.
At the base of the movable hook carriage is fixed a 16 mm wide tongue, which determines the width of the bulkhead of the future lattice. The length of the tongue is about 80 mm, the height is 5 mm. At first we set the shuttle so that the edge of the tongue is at a distance from the saw blade at the spacer of 25 mm width. We have thus set the parameters of the future lattice: the width of the bulkheads will be 16 mm, and the size of the empty cells 25×25 mm. Move stop B to the shuttle and fix it with wing nuts. To find the position for stop A we use the caliber with the width of the tongue reduced by the thickness of the kerf of the saw blade. Fix the stop A.
That’s how you make a half-tree groove with 16mm width. We put the workpiece with the groove on the tongue of the shuttle, and repeating the forming of the outermost grooves and the cutting of the wood between them we make the second groove.
Remove the bumper carriage and use the circular saw to cut the workpieces into 16 mm wide lattice elements.
On the assembly table we draw the borders of the grid with the necessary dimensions.And based on these boundaries of the sawn slats we make a set of bars. Attention: Make sure that all elements go beyond the drawn borders.
After that you can glue all the strips together with PVA glue. To do this, we separate one strip at a time, put a drop of glue at the joints, and return the strip in place.
Next, we make a bevel on the outside of the circular saw, so that the door visually seemed thinner and pick a quarter for the grid.
Making a trimmer
As the side braces I used a bar of 44 cm, t.к. the maximum cutting depth of my saw is 4.3 cm. For the base I used furniture board. But it is better to use a sheet of plywood, t.к. It is much stronger, and it definitely won’t warp over time.
I glued the beam to the base and fastened them with self-tapping screws. I trimmed off the excess beam. I used aluminum angles for the rails. The thickness of the angle bars is 2 mm. It sagged under the weight of the circular saw, so I decided to reinforce it with a second angle. I got the 4 mm thick stiffener.
To fix the 2 brackets together I put double sided tape, glued the brackets together and then made some through holes for the screws. The screw heads must be flush so that they don’t interfere with the saw’s ability to slide along the guide rail.
I fix the rails with self-tapping screws. At every operation it is necessary to check the set angle of 90 degrees.
First we fix one of the rails. Then we mount the second rail, take the saw and set the distance between the guides to the width of the saw’s sole.
Fixing the second rail. The saw should glide freely on the guide rail, but should have no lateral play. Making the first cut along the entire length of the guide.
To make the 45 degree stop, I took another aluminum angle and cut it to the right length.
Choose a place for it. I made a through hole in the base of the guide. On the reverse side of the board pressed a furniture nut.
From the kerf of the saw, I put off an angle of 45 degrees. Drilling another hole for fixing. (The number of corners can be arbitrary.)
My edge router and my circular saw have the same base width. That is why I can use the guide along with the cutter.
Fabrication of the metal bed: instructions
A circular saw machine made of metal is much stiffer and stronger than a wooden one, and has a longer life. To make such a bed, you will need the following material and tools:
- Sheet metal (preferably steel) of about 1000×500 mm and a thickness of 3 to 5 mm;
- a metal angle of about 45×45 mm;
- M8 bolts and nuts;
- Welding machine;
- power drill;
- angle grinder;
- clamps.
First of all, the table for the machine from the circular saw is prepared. To do this, a metal profile is welded around the perimeter of the sheet metal. To make it fit tightly to the plate, it must be clamped to the surface. Then the places for fastening the body and the saw blade groove are marked on the back side of the plate. Drill 8 mm holes with an electric drill to fix the body.
On the front side of the table, the holes are countersinked for the countersunk fastener.
Use an angle grinder and a drill to cut a slot in the table for the disk. To cut the groove accurately, you need on the edges of the planned groove drill holes with a diameter of about 10 mm and between these holes with an angle grinder cut the groove. The tool body is placed and fastened in the prepared place.
Four pieces of angle, about 800 to 900 mm long, are cut from the angle for the legs of the table. Then the legs are welded to the table legs. To make the legs more rigid an angle is welded between them at a distance of about 100 mm from the floor surface.
To saw the material qualitatively, it is necessary to install a guide strip parallel to the disk. It is best to make it from an angle. To do this, an even angle is cut to the length of the table, then two guides are welded to it, which should fix the movement of the bar parallel to the cutting disc. The bar can be attached to the table with clamps or by means of a welded plate with screws.
After welding work is complete, welds are cleaned, surfaces are degreased and covered with a rust-preventive paint. The circular saw machine is ready for use.
Requirements for domestic circular saws
Circular saw for wood Structurally, self-made circular saw should not differ from the factory models. They consist of a support table, in the center of which there is a slot for the saw blade. In addition, there are measuring components, elements for fixing the workpiece and ensuring operational safety.
Before making it, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic requirements for its components. It is important that they fit together not only structurally, but also according to technical parameters. For this purpose you can take the scheme of a typical construction of a factory woodworking machine.
The set of woodworking sawing equipment:
- table. Must have sufficient stability, the surface of the table top. perfectly flat;
- power unit. The main parameters of the electric motor for disk rotation. power and number of revolutions;
- additional components. These include stops for fixing the wooden workpiece, a ruler for measuring the workpiece, and a ruler for measuring the workpiece.
The advantage of homemade models is the possibility of choosing its dimensions, productivity and other technical parameters. In the process of drawing up a scheme of making it is possible to choose the optimal height of the table, the size of the table top, the characteristics of the electric motor. These are not included in a manual woodworking tool.
The requirements for woodworking disks depend directly on the parameters of the workpiece, the type of wood and the required productivity speed. It is calculated individually.
Circular saw from a circular saw with his own hands
The stationary circular saw is a very necessary tool in the carpentry workshop. for those who perform carpentry work for their own needs or make various items to order. Such a stationary machine is characterized by convenience in the work. especially long and monotonous. With it, the craftsman’s back is in a straight position, so there is less fatigue.
Today in stores machines and tools are presented in a huge selection of models. However, they are too expensive for an ordinary carpenter, so to get out of this situation you have to look for other solutions. One such example. the craftsman made a stationary saw with his own hands, taking a hand-held circular saw. In what way he did it. let’s see below.
List of necessary materials: hand-held circular saw; plywood 11 mm; bolts M-8 with a furniture head; screws; switch; wire; bar 40×40; rails for furniture.
List of tools: electric jigsaw; hand circular saw; drill; electric screwdriver; hammer; screwdriver; pliers; ruler.
How to assemble a stationary circular saw
As we have noted, for the construction of his circular saw, the author used a hand-held circular saw. In doing so, he did not make any changes in the design of the saw itself. In this case, the master made a table, the sole of the saw attached to the bottom of the table top. where before the cut for the disk was made. He drilled holes and then sawed. Taking plywood and a 40×40 beam, he made the base.
After that, the author took plywood, sawed out the tabletop. It is better to have it laminated or varnished, with a flat and smooth surface. As described, made a kerf, drilled holes in the corners for subsequent fasteners.
At the bottom of the table top we mount the circular saw, using M-8 bolts. In doing so, the bolt caps must be sunk into the plywood.
For more convenient work with the machine craftsman made a movable support on rails for furniture.
Aluminum corner for the longitudinal stop.
To adjust it, you should loosen the bolts and move it to the desired distance for further work.
Stationary machine
If the master dreams of engaging in woodworking seriously, then there is only one way for him. to make a full-fledged circular machine. The creation of such a unit will take more time and effort, but in the process of its operation it will pay off all the costs. The only requirement is a well-thought-out drawing, so it is better to use ready-made schemes, which can be slightly “adjusted” to your conditions.
Bed
This is the basis for any machine. the frame, on which all the main elements of the structure are attached. It must be stable and reliable, so there is only one optimum material: unbeatable metal. The best options. thick-walled angle or the same profile pipe. To fasten the parts of a stationary machine usually use welding. If you plan a collapsible design, you can allow the use of bolted connection, but in this case, mount “strong” will be difficult to call: it will need constant testing.
Tabletop
Here too, metal is the favorite. The best materials will be steel or aluminum alloys. Another option is a thick plywood, which is trimmed with sheet iron. The ideal table top for any woodworking machine must have a smooth surface, be able to withstand friction, to withstand the weight of up to 50-60 kg easily, without the slightest hint of deflection.
In it they make a hole for the disk. There are two options that are used in the case of a circular saw:
The second method is preferable for metal tabletop, as in home conditions, cutting a groove is an operation quite difficult. On the tabletop attach a parallel stop. In this role they often use a handy metal angle. For its attachment, they also make a hole. The alternative. reliable and powerful clamps.
Motor
The choice of engine for the future of the circular saw depends on what kind of lumber is planned to process it. If discs with a diameter of 150-170 mm will be used, a unit with a power of 0.5 kW will be enough for them. For larger disks (from 350 mm) a larger motor of at least 1.1 kW is suitable.
If the circular machine will be outdoors (e.g. outside under a shed), even a gasoline engine with low power can be used. it is possible to make it detachable.
Torque transmission
The best drive for a circular saw is the V-belt drive. In this case, 2 pulleys are used: the first on the motor, the second. on the drive shaft. The reasons for this choice. safety and convenience: in case of a small accident, the belt will simply slip, alerting the master of the need to turn off the device.
Pulleys with different ring grooves (streams) or diameters give a chance to easily regulate the speed of the disc, which allows you to find the optimal mode for processing different types of wood. It is almost impossible to make the shaft, to which the rotor rotates, with your own hands, so you have to buy or order this part from a turner. The bearings used to mount the shaft must be sealed, otherwise their service life will be short.
Pendulum suspension
Those who are not into metalwork can make a circular saw, which has a special feature. a pendulum motor suspension. Its convenience lies in the fact that the shaft, motor and cutting disc are located in one common frame.
One side is hinged to the bed, the other side is held by a screw, which can be adjusted if the height of the blade exit needs to be changed. The advantage of this system is the possibility to use different sized blades, the height of the cut is easily adjustable.
A simple circular saw with their own hands can be made from various tools, but the best option is a stationary model equipped with a powerful motor. On the other hand, the choice of model depends entirely on the master, on the planned workpieces “favorites” and the amount of work.
You can take a closer look at the process if you watch this engaging video
what to do?
The first question is what depth of cut is required? Teeth of the circular saw blade should enter into material under the certain small angle, otherwise the cut will be torn, and the work will become dangerous. Angle of entry of the tooth determines the allowable protrusion of the saw blade over the working table. For discs with teeth of different profile sizes of the ledge are somewhat different, but, in general, it is not necessary to “push” the disc more than 1/3 of its diameter. it can “bite”, which will create a dangerous situation.
So, depending primarily on the desired depth of cut of the circular saw with his hands is made by different types of designs, and much means and the desired length of the cut. For sawing wood with a thickness of approx. up to 120 mm you need a blade with a diameter of 350 mm and higher. The thickness of the sawing can be doubled by making each cut twice from opposite sides, but then the cut length will need to be fettled. In this case a stationary woodworking machine with circular saw blade and dressing drum is required, pos. 1 in Fig. The length of the cut on it is determined by the length of the workpiece and the size of the workshop. For the drive an asynchronous motor of 1,2-2 kW is enough; a single-phase 220 V electric motor of such power can be found. If you want to build very cheap, cutting unbarked round timber, you already need a much more complex sawmill, but not circular saw.
For clean sawing in place in the course of finishing work (say, on the road) to a length of 1.5-2.5 m, in t.ч. at any angle, a manual circular saw with a guide rail, brand-name (pos. 2a) or self-made (pos. 2б). It can also be equipped with a circular table with lateral support (pos. 3a and 3b). Length of the cut becomes unlimited (within the room), but its depth will not exceed 40-50 mm, taking into account its reduction by the thickness of the rails or table top.
Amateurs also try to adapt for circular saws angle grinder (angle grinder) and manual drills (pos. 4 и 5). The power of 1300 W angle grinder, in theory, is enough to cut a depth of 200-250 mm. But you can not put on the angle grinder a saw blade larger than the regular one (usually 120-160 mm), even if it is designed for high rotation speed. In reality, the depth of cut will be no more than 30-32 mm; if you “take it deeper”, you will get dangerous “bites”. It’s all about the external characteristic of the electric motor, see. further.
Drill circular saw is possible only with low-power, not very qualitative cutting depth up to 15-20 mm. Why? Because the axial runout of the impact chuck of a drill with impact mechanism (or perforator) is inadmissible for a saw blade, and accurate impact-free drills are low-powered. Trying to saw with them a little deeper, limiting the feed rate of the workpiece is useless. the saw “bites” and tears the material. The reason is in the same collector motor.
About safety
Woodworking machines are hazardous machines. There is no place in the popular article for the description of the TU and HSE contents, and the DIYer is responsible for himself. Therefore let us briefly show “from the opposite”: what a circular saw machine must not be like in order to work on it without injury and mutilation. An example of “work”, which violates all indispensable rules of more or less safe arrangement of sawing and filleting machines, is shown in Fig. (electrical part is a separate topic).
An example of a faulty and dangerous circular sawing and boring machine
- A. saw blade without guard. It is a general sickness of almost all self-made circular saws. Like: keep your fingers away from the saw, use the workpiece pusher and everything is OK. So, for your information. now on the Internet you can easily come across a saw blade, manufactured by the methods of powder metallurgy. Bumping into a nail, very willingly breaks into small, sharp splinters.
- B. blade overhang is clearly more than 1/3 of the diameter. “Bites” of the jerky workpiece in my hands, shaggy step cutting. unavoidable. Injuries at work are more than likely.
- C. the power train is also not covered by the cover.
- D, D. a table made of dissimilar poor quality materials. Transverse distortion of the workpiece and “bogging” of the saw with all sorts of bad follow-up is also quite probable.
What can be made with a circular saw
No woodwork is without sawing. A manual circular saw is not very convenient for my tasks, and I have long had the desire to make a table for a circular saw. Т.к. my workshop is small. the table had to be small. Last week I finally made one. (“Sloth. Engine of progress” I needed to saw for the next wooden product, and I didn’t even want to start without it) It took me 4 evenings to make the table with the tooling.
The table is simple, but quite functional.table dimensions (W520 x D500 x H230 mm), cross-cutting saw slide (W580 x D170 x H80 mm)
Stop for crosscut.
For the table top I managed to find a sheet of laminated plywood 9mm at the market. What was very nice is that it was perfectly sawn: all sides are strictly 90 o. I attached my BlackDecker CD601 hand-held circular saw to the table top. (1100 W, 5000 rpm, 170 mm). Saw can change depth and angle of cut.
After aligning the saw perfectly to one of the table’s edges, I fastened it with M4 screws. For this I had to drill the iron base of the circular in four places.
For installation on the table in general any circular saw will do, but if you choose the type of fastening with screws to the base. then it is better to choose a model with an iron base. The cast can crack.
There is another popular way to attach the circular to the table without drilling holes in the base. Attach it with clamps, which fix the base, pressing it to the surface. Only to me this way seemed not enough correct in terms of accuracy and reliability of installation and I did not use it.
Another important feature of a hand-held circular saw. is an opportunity to connect a vacuum cleaner. If sawing without a vacuum cleaner. Fine wood dust is released into the air.
The base made of 22mm chipboard panels. I chose the dimensions of the table top so that it would be possible to attach the tooling to the edge of the table top.
The saw blade is sawed through to the top side of the table top. Height. 40mm (Bosh 160mm wood disc). The tabletop reduces the depth of cut by 9 mm. The cutting depth is set on the circular saw itself. It is convenient that the blade can be completely hidden in the table.
UPD: IMPORTANT! On a number of budget circular saws it may be that the disk is at an inconspicuous tilt. And all cuts are tapered. It is necessary to check up with a tool square, that the disk was under 90 grad, relatively to the table surface. (you can check the angle relative to the native plate before installing the saw). If the disk was not at a right angle and there is no way to set the perfect angle of the pad. it is possible to put some strips of sheet metal under a platform from one of the sides, achieving the ideal angle (it is possible to put washers under the screws by which the saw is fastened to the table, but this solution is worse)
To make the start of the saw more convenient to control. put the start button (it turned out that it. the most expensive part of my table 🙂 )
Inside the table I placed the outlet for the saw, which will now be turned on by the starter button.
For that the saw button on the handle was fixed with a cable tie in the pressed position.
This is how you can connect the vacuum cleaner to the saw. Actually the table is ready and you can saw. (made in one evening and one morning).
To saw without rigging it is of course possible, using slats and clamps, but uncomfortable.