Post by kraftt on Oct 24, 2017 21:27:20 GMT -5
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It's that time again. Time for anotherKrapco, er, Krafttco prototype ...
I giveth unto you the 'TPI'. Transparent Plunge Indicator.
Are you tired of the one piece speed and simplicity of the mafell plunge indicator? Well fret no longer. Now you can make one out of 3 pieces from parts in your junk drawer.
... well surprisingly it does have some benefits.
I thought it would be handy to have an MT-PA. But from the looks of it if your stop line is critical you’d want a birds eye view or strong side view to gauge where the edge of the red indicator lines up with a pencil mark (or the previous perpendicular cut line).
So I mounted some polycarb on two two 8.5mm fiberglass rods with two self adhesive rubber clips. I temporarily removed the plunge spring and scribed the bottom of the polycarb to match exact plunge depths (162 blade). Completely botched scoring clean lines because I just wanted a quick test but they are accurate.
Some benefits:
It can be mounted on either side of saw.
You can see exactly where plunge is in relation to line or previous perpendicular plunge cut from any angle. (since score lines are on the bottom of polycarb the distortion from using too thick a piece is still equal because you view both score line and cut/pencil line through same window on top of each other).
You can make different ones for different blades (165/162/160) or scribe extra lines for preferred depths (or just keep scoring the same one).
For the same reason of viewing angle it makes setting up 'rail-stops' fast & accurate - pretty much the reason I wanted it because while it's great to see where to stop cutting you really want the rail-stops to be already set up and the visual only as backup just in case the rail moves.
There must be 10 different ways to make one of these but this is a simple approach. The fiberglass rods won't bend out of shape if knocked around like aluminum or steel, the polycarb is bulletproof, the rubber clips (or any plastic clip) are practically indestructible and even if you didn't have the scrap laying around the whole thing could be made for under $15.
kept the rods long for ocd storage
click for movie
It's that time again. Time for another
I giveth unto you the 'TPI'. Transparent Plunge Indicator.
Are you tired of the one piece speed and simplicity of the mafell plunge indicator? Well fret no longer. Now you can make one out of 3 pieces from parts in your junk drawer.
... well surprisingly it does have some benefits.
I thought it would be handy to have an MT-PA. But from the looks of it if your stop line is critical you’d want a birds eye view or strong side view to gauge where the edge of the red indicator lines up with a pencil mark (or the previous perpendicular cut line).
So I mounted some polycarb on two two 8.5mm fiberglass rods with two self adhesive rubber clips. I temporarily removed the plunge spring and scribed the bottom of the polycarb to match exact plunge depths (162 blade). Completely botched scoring clean lines because I just wanted a quick test but they are accurate.
Some benefits:
It can be mounted on either side of saw.
You can see exactly where plunge is in relation to line or previous perpendicular plunge cut from any angle. (since score lines are on the bottom of polycarb the distortion from using too thick a piece is still equal because you view both score line and cut/pencil line through same window on top of each other).
You can make different ones for different blades (165/162/160) or scribe extra lines for preferred depths (or just keep scoring the same one).
For the same reason of viewing angle it makes setting up 'rail-stops' fast & accurate - pretty much the reason I wanted it because while it's great to see where to stop cutting you really want the rail-stops to be already set up and the visual only as backup just in case the rail moves.
There must be 10 different ways to make one of these but this is a simple approach. The fiberglass rods won't bend out of shape if knocked around like aluminum or steel, the polycarb is bulletproof, the rubber clips (or any plastic clip) are practically indestructible and even if you didn't have the scrap laying around the whole thing could be made for under $15.
kept the rods long for ocd storage
click for movie