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What angle to use? I saw a picture in recent post. I would like to try triangular bracing.

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Pat

I cut my x-braces in situ using this jig on a laminate trimmer. I think the angle I use is about 8°. I can send more pics if you are interested. For all other braces I pre profile them using a jig in my planer.

Do you mean like this? A 22.5 degree chamfer bit using the jig from the Gore book.

This one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004T7 ... ref=plSrch


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I use a 22.5 degree. I end up with a steep gabled house shape. I have a jig that is the correct height for my braces. It has a couple of thin screws to hold the brace in the jig. I do one side flip it and do the other side.

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Oh whoops, I was thinking triangular lining! Anyway, I've never tried a router bit but I have used the band saw and tilted table which works pretty good.

Michael, are you using that jig after the braces are glued down? I would love to see more pictures of that!

John, it seems like if you flipped them over it wouldn't be stable enough to go through the router again because one side would be angled already. Do the screws hold it securely enough to not matter? Good idea with the screws by the way!

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Pat

I use the jig described in the Gore book. Pretty much the same as what John has there. The screws work fine but I put a little dab of double stick tape in the middle for insurance. Not really necessary.

As for being stable, it’s riding more on the jig not the brace.

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Here's the planer jig. 2 passes, first the left slide then the right. They come our flawlessly. Also note that the guides are installed at a slight angle causing the feed rollers to force the stock against the guide fences.

Wow. Who knew there were so many techniques? Got some sorting to do. Thanks!

A combination of the screws and the square part of brace seem to hold the brace well enough to pass on the table. I have done a bunch of them. I got the jig idea from the Gore\Gilet book although they probably had a more elegant jig.

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Michael - Thanks for posting your jig. I've been doing something similar to get the angles on the two sides using a two piece jig through my drum sander. Yours is a better design. Something new for my to do list....

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I don’t fully understand the planer jig. I don’t have a planer, do u think once I figure it out I could use my thickness sander?

It took me a bit to figure out his jig, but it's elegantly simple. The rectangular brace blank is placed on top of the light colored angled strip on the left side in the photo against the dark strip which acts as a fence to hold the brace blank in place. The angle of the light strip is the desired angle for one side of the brace. He runs it through the planer and it cuts that angle into the upper face of the brace blank. He then flips the brace end for end and puts it on the light colored strip on the right which has twice the angle of the strip on the left. He runs it through the planer a second time and that puts the correct angle on the other side of the brace blank.

This would definitely work with a drum sander and I'm going make one like it for myself since it's an improvement on the jig I've been using.

You asked in your first post what angle to use. I've been using 16 degrees which works for me for upper back braces, the upper face brace, sound hole braces, and tonebars. Other angles in that ballpark would work too depending on the height and width of the braces.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

You have it exactly right except for my jig design working in a drum sander. The jig is not a sled -instead it replaces the plattern of the planer and relies on the overhead feed rollers to move the material past the planer knives. The drum sander, at least *my* drum sander, relies on a conveyor under the material to feed it past the abrasive drum. Unless I'm missing something.

It wouldn't work in my drum sander. I'm actually in the middle of processing a bunch of brace stock. I'll try to shoot a quick video of it in operation and post a YouTube link here.

Cheers, M

I believe it would work on a drum sander if the angled strips had adhesive backed sandpaper applied to them for traction. I have various sleds for sanding thin material, and the sandpaper holds the work securely while running it through the sander.

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It will probably be alright.

What I see in the photo would work with my drum sander if the strips were glued to the board and the board was used as a carrier for running the braces through the drum sander.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Yes, I agree...

If you removed the stop on the fixture, applied the abrasive paper and installed the fences and angle supports at the opposite angle it would work in a drum sander. It would take forever to run a part, and you'd be spending a bunch of time sanding the scratches out of the part if that was important to you. You also may have a sniping problem using it as a sled.

Generally, I've just purchased kerfing rather than take the time to make it. But, I have made some and I used jigs I made up for the purpose. Certainly, not the fastest way, but its gotten the job done...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Here is a quick vid of my planer jig in action.

https://youtu.be/C_5q7PEd-jQ

Cheers, M

Wow, that's super fast. It would definitely take longer on a drum sander, but it would work fine using something like your fixture as a sled to pass under the sanding drum. I use 120 grit when doing braces and so the sanding scratches aren't a big deal to remove, but a planar would certainly be nicer though. Thanks a lot for taking the time to make the video.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

You are welcome.

Oh, now I get it, only the brace moves! Nice!

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Pat

I always just bumped them up to the 6 x 89 belt sander. Laminated bracing told me when to stop.

Very nice! How did you make your angle guides? Seems at some point a router was used?