This Thin-Piece table saw jig is designed to keep the thin piece of wood pushed against the table saw rip fence. The reason why you need this jig is because the wood is cut very close to the edge. Using your hands is very dangerous and using a push stick is very difficult.
The thin-piece jig keeps the wood pushed against the rip fence making this cut safer and easier.
Below is a video demonstration of the thin-piece jig being used with the auxiliary rip fence.
Materials
- 4 x 8″ plywood
- 6 x 2 1/2″ plywood
- #10-24 x 2″ Machine Screw
- Drill and drill bits
- Washers and nuts
- Jigsaw or Handsaw
Steps
- Cut the 6″ miter track runner
- Cut plywood slot
- Countersink and drill screw under the miter track runner
- Insert plywood slot into the screw shaft
- Add a washer and nut to secure the clamp
Cut miter track runner
The first thing you want to do is cut the miter track runner. The actual dimensions of the runner will depend on the make and model of your table saw and the miter slot size.
For my table saw, I needed to use 3/8″ thick plywood for my miter saw runners
Cut plywood slot
- Drill two holes, one at the 2″ and one at the 6″ mark on the 4 x8″ plywood
- Cut a line from one hole to the next using either a jigsaw or coping saw
- Widen the line until the screw shaft can fit through it
To cut the plywood slot, you first want to drill two holes into the wood. Next, you will either use a jigsaw or a coping saw to perform the inner cut from one hole to the other.
This cut will likely be too thin for the screw shaft to pass through, so you will need to cut another line from the two holes to widen the cut.
Countersink and drill screw under the miter track runner
- Flip the runner upside down
- Countersink and drill the screw into the runner
Now we will flip the runner upside down and countersink the screw into the wood. You want to drill the hole at the 3″ mark and fully countersink the screw so the runner isn’t elevated in the miter track slot.
Insert plywood slot into the screw shaft
- Place the runner right-side up in the miter slot
- Slide the plywood cutout through the screw shaft
In this step, we will place the runner right side up in the miter slot. The screw head should be facing down, in the miter slot, and the shaft should be facing up in the air.
Now, we will insert the plywood on top of the screw shaft through the cutout.
Add a washer and nut to secure the clamp
- Add a washer and nut to the screw shaft to clamp the thin-piece jig together.
Lastly, we will secure the clamp by adding a washer and nut to the screw shaft. This jig works by loosening the nut to adjust the jig, and by tightening the nut to secure it in place.
Jig Upgrade Possibilities
- Knob around the bolt
The bolt on this jig is very small and needs a wrench to tighten correctly. Tightening and loosening the bolt takes a lot of time when done by hand.
You can create a knob to add around the bolt to allow for easy turning. I did not do it for this jig because I wanted to make it very simple, but to look at how to create knobs around bolts, you should check out the “Create Vise Handles” section of my How to Create a Workbench Vise article.
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