Second time I have watch this. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. Thank you. I am way grateful for your showing your screwups. Mine don't hurt -as much- when I see somebody else has done the same thing. Again thank you for the video.
Wow, thanks man! This is sweet! I have seen these jigs on other woodworking channels, but was never able to find the hardware or as detailed instructions as yours. I will be making the "Not $1200" jig, and buying a spare set of rails to design a sawmill.
Loving your videos! I especially enjoy the parts where you say things like “semi-pro tip” and “I’m just doing this to show you all.” Keeping it down to earth!
This is one of the most simplistic and valuable DIY videos I've come across. More should be like this. I've been wanting to build a slab leveler, but haven't really researched it extensively, assuming it may be cost prohibitive. This has proven otherwise. Thank you.
Great build summaries. I feel like I'm along for the journey and experience the ups and downs, just like I'm building them. That sled will last you a lifetime.
OMG I have big pieces of walnut and was going try build flatting jig.Thank you so much for the video and the breakdown.I just found you’re channel last week and subscribed.I enjoy you’re channel and videos.Thank you and keep making them awesome videos.Thanks for parts list also.Have a great day
I really enjoy your style Joseph and I thank you for the time and effort behind this very enjoyable video - just starting up in UK and this will help me a lot!
Another great video. I like the keep it simple vibe you got going. Looks like your starting to build all the things you’re going need for some big projects coming up!
Great idea for that second sled! I mostly work on small pieces (9 inches in diameter or less) so I built a small router sled a couple years ago. Slaved the metal rails from an old bed frame, then two pieces of angle iron for the top rail. The angle iron is connected with a piece of scrap wood on each end that also works as a guide keeping it on the side rails. No router sled needed as the router just fits and slides right in the angle iron. Price was "free" as everything was salvaged. But no dust collection. I wish it had dust collection.
I just built my own with 3/4" iron pipe and off ghe shelf fittings from lowes, the sled runs along the pipe side rails with some u-groove wheels i found on amazon, was roughly $100 in parts and is easy to take apart if i need to get it out of my way.
You had me at “iron sharpens iron” …. Great video/project shooting and play by play. You earned my subscription today. Downloading for reference. Looking for more videos and seeing your channel grow wildly. Best of everything…jb…
New subscriber here. I believe I will be learning a lot from you in the near future. I especially like your T-shirt and what it says, my brother. - Rick, USMC
Thanks for the video , I made mine but for the first option the thickness of slid board can't be 3/4" since the router bit doesn't extend more than 3/4" therefore doesn't have enough travel to make contact with the board that needs to be flattened
Thank you. Hindsight, I should have said that the thickness of the router sled base will depend on your router and router bit. It didn't occur to me to say that at the time I was making the video.
I just finished making a router sled very much like your second one here. I bought a router plate on Amazon though and it is working fine for me. I did not like the commercial router sleds so I made my own.
Awesome video again mate. I’ve made the free one before but I think for the next table I do then I might be trading g up to the not$1200 sled. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! There are so many Easter eggs in my videos, some super obvious, while others are so obscure you either know or you don't 😂. My mind runs on pop culture references 😅
@@fiveduckstudio Joseph, you're welcome. I appreciate your style and savvy. Most RU-vidrs are just ham and eggers whom, I don't believe, know a piece of oak from mdf. Anyway, keep driving on.
@@themeat5053 Thanks for the kind words. I'm still learning and trying to get better. Almost done with my next project and working on the next video now. Good journey 🦆
I generally stare for days, weeks, and months at slabs to get them surfaced and flat. Another free option is to negotiate with the slab. Ask them questions like, "Don't you want to be flat and smooth?" or "Wouldn't you prefer to be a table in in a nice climate controlled room rather than living outside?" So far, neither strategy has worked out, but I haven't given up hope just yet
First, love the video. I need to make one of these and I am also cheap... frugal maybe? Either way you have discovered what we at work call "frupid". It's the act of attempting to save money that has unwanted and easily avoidable outcomes... which makes it a stupid idea LOL!! Don't take it wrong, I have made many, and will make more, frupid decisions in my life.
I made 1 from timber same as your economical jig but I got a friend to cut out a rack and pinion from plywood the reason I did this was cause I've added a motor and back and forth step mechanism after this is cause my set up covers a little over 5foot by 12 I use it for large solid tables and the design is modular so I can make it bigger or smaller and adjust how much it takes off at a time
Thanks it was way over engineered but it is very nice to be able to turn it on and let it run while working on smth else or taking a break but I will be adding a brush curtain to the extraction for some reason never occurred to me 1 thing that is nice tough is I can fold it up against the wall this works nice to both lower it over heavy tops and store it for more room something that is always nice to have the option of
Nice! Professional woodworkers have just used wood on wood versions of this kind of thing, for over 50 years. Once you fire up the router the vibration makes it seem like the jig is on bearings. Particularly if th ejig isn't too overbuilt. Very similar concept to a chainsaw mill, and nobody uses linear bearings for those. Tage Frid was the first guy I ever saw do this in his 1985 book. He just had a couple of offcuts, of probably pine. When Nick Offerman kicked off the insanity with his unattributed jig in the a 2011 issue of Fine Woodworking, he used a more complex setup in plywood. Maybe some people want to do this kind of stuff every day. For me, it is a more occasional thing, Since I have a planer and jointer for the usual stuff. and I just use what I have lying around. Maybe I wouldn't have that stuff if I had started with one of these. The nice thing about going all linear bearings is that you are most of the way to some kind of CNC machine. Particularly if all you want is a fixed Z axis, at least not a Stepper controlled one.
Thanks! Yup there is a lot of way to get the job done. I do find that the metal rails are to smooth the natural friction of wood make so left tear out.
Thanks! The idea came from Lincoln St. Here's the link to his video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PULn3jU1vjg.htmlsi=-6EKw3pRNOtIfilD
As for the length of the jig: I'd say it's infinitely long? you can always scroll the wood forward and do a section at a time. All you need is tables to support it
Good Day 🌅 , I started building mine today, I am using a Mafell 65c , or OF2200 F , I can not decide yet the length, ideally 8X4 sheet, I just need to buy some rails, From France,
@@fiveduckstudio back when I was living in the uk , I had a lot more room, in my work shop, my bench was 1-5 Metres X 3 Metres, with the Festool track and rail all the way round, I used to make very large doors and windows, some doors were 3 inches thick, I was doing a lot of barn conversions and property renovations, I was always given the contract to make set items and then install as well, The table was rigged up as well for a vacuum table, I’m now retired living in France, my workshop is only about quarter of the size that I used to have back in the UK, so I still got most of my tools and equipment, I am interested in doing river tables, and I have some slabs cookies I think they’re called, where the centre is rotted out, I’m thinking of trying to make the table for my slab flattening jig in two sections. I’ve even been thinking of trying to make it so it folds up against the wall, I will let you know in due course what happens, I wish you all the best for the future, from France ,
@@fiveduckstudio Good Day 🌅, I did manage to get my Wadkin EKA yesterday, for the first time in 5 years, I have a lot of timber left over from jobs , so I am using one of my bedrooms to store tools and timber, something that I had to sell, was a very large mortising machine, I could do with that at the moment, however, I do have a Mafell handheld chain mortise machine , the trouble is it’s in the bedroom where I have been stuck in other tools and equipment and timber, It’s gonna take me a month of Sunday to try and get it out of the bedroom, I hadn’t realised that I’d put it in there before I started stuck in other stuff in there, I do have a very large attic, approximately 7 m x 12 m metres, but I’m waiting for my roof to be repaired at the moment and cannot store stuff up there, Got a few leaks, hopefully it’ll be sorted before Christmas, From France.
Hopefully that gets sorted out before Christmas! That's how it always works, you put the thing you need in a spot that makes your life hard.. well at least hard to get to. . Hope all is well with you. Sorry for the later response, being look in editing my latest video these last 3 weeks.
Compressed air and the blower port on my shop vac. 😂 I have a dust separator attached to it, the Home Depot brand. Which does help, but doesn't stop all the dust, maybe 50% of it. 😅 But I really need to build something for managing the dust around the blade. To see if that helps.
Thanks 5 Duck-I have been wondering how all those components would work and the cost add up. I was contemplating a sled for my current project today! Are you listening to me like Siri or Alexa ? If so, sorry about the language.
How much time did you spend on either project? Including planning and sourcing the material? After all, that is a big part of the cost unless you are a hobbyist.
It's hard to say as filming adds a lot of time to the build. Neither took me more than a day to build while filming. Neither of these things are new ideas so, planning and sourcing materials would be no more than an hour. But it depends on how quickly someone decides on things. Most hobbyist will have the scrap pile to make it happen. That's true, but if you need a flattening jig, but also need to buy a domino having a cheaper option is nice. 😆
@@fiveduckstudio As I said, not so relevant for a hobbyist. But it is still worth considering. At an hourly rate somewhere between $35 and $70 (salary + workshop + electricity +++) this adds up quickly. No good dust collection == more cleanup time, whenever you use it* == more cost on all subsequent projects. Btw, would love to see the 3 jigs compared in use. *And cleaning is the part of the project we all love the most 🤣
Yes indeed! everything has a cost to it, we just have to figure out the worth to us. Like cleaning.... Horrible and a time waster, but also 100% required 😢.
I made rail one after seeing other other video and works really really well. Only thing i screwed up was the router part and thus not so good dust collection. Can you share some dimensions for that portion? I have this exact router
I don't have the exact dimensions written down anymore. But it was the thickness of two sidewalls + the router base + 1/8 of an inch for wiggle room. Hope that helps.
Finally, a guy using drywall screws for a woodworking jig! Let the "pros" bitch, they haven't failed me once in over 45 years arsing around in the shop.❤👍
😂😂 Do people really complain about drywall screws? Weird. I wouldn't use them to screw 2x4 together... But to secure the plywood top to a 2x4 structure... Yes...😂
Quality control on drywall screws has plummeted due to need for storm rebuilds and new construction. They’re not designed for vibration or torque. But you guys do what works for your needs and circumstances.
the irony of making a router sled, but not using the router with the templates to cut the dust collection holes. 🤣 edit and you did, after a lot of drilling haha
Looks like the rail can come off of the aluminum riser? I see the longer rails come with a guid pin to connect rails end to end. But, can't tell if both ends of the rail have this or just one end. If one end, I would like to bore that hole for the pin. Would have to solve other issues with my lathe to accomplish this. But nothing to worry about if the rail does not detach from the riser.
No I have not. I think the biggest problem with that is the grain direction. The router spins so you can handle that... Where as a hand plane, I believe you're not supposed to go against the grain or you get a lot of tear out. Also, it's a lot easier to adjust the depth of the router so you would have to try to figure out a clever way of adjusting the depth plant of the hand plane.
@Greg1096 probably best to screw a straight piece of wood between the two rails flush with the tops of both rails then use a straight edge on the diagonal to hit both corners. Shim under the rails accordingly till there is not rocking in either direction of the straight edge
@@kevgerst6536 it doesnt need to be square it just needs to be parallel if your side rails are level in relation to one another and parallel with the surface you are placing to piece that you are flattening onto then that is going to be more than close enough for any home shop projects. Technically as long as you have the sled and rails level with one another you can just throw a surfacing bit in the router and use that to level the work surface in relation to the sled which is how we use to square mill work surfaces, the two planes being square to anything doesnt really affect how well it will work
😂😂😂😂 I have no idea why I did that either, I think it was to get as close to the template as I could. As the hole was like 3 in and my biggest hole saw is 2 in. And my pattern bit is dull... Maybe 🤔 😂
I find it a bit ironic (?...maybe it's just his priorities..??) that he builds a couple of "$$ saving" jigs....but has a LASER CUTTER to use rather than us poor folks who would have a HOLE SAW to do that step ! Reminds me of my niece who loves loud music, so she had a $12k(!) stereo system in her $8k Hyundai hatchback....whatever Lori...or this dude...lol.
@@fiveduckstudio Congrats on having a wife who appreciates your "tool needs" and goes the extra mile to enable you to have such an esoteric tool. Does it "make me feel better " ? Naaaah, not really...sorry.
I feel like you are going to lose a finger with the casual way you operate that table saw. You’re literally inches away from a life altering injury. Never put your fingers/hand in line with the blade. Bad habits kill.
I make sure to focus on where my fingers are when using the table saw. I'm confirmable with the distance and some of the footage is sped up so it looks like I'm going faster than I really am at times. Thanks for your concern!
@@fiveduckstudio of course, safety first. Ultimately it’s up to you! There is a psychological phenomenon, I think it’s called something like normalization of deviation, particularly important to understand in true life and death professions such as aviation. People have a tendency to deviate slightly, and then when nothing bad happens it gets normalized, and so on until they have crossed the boundary into dangerous behavior without realizing it. Then it’s just one mistake from disaster because there’s no longer any safety margin. Swiss cheese model is another analogy/metaphor. Thanks for the content!
I totally get it. Thank you for the reminder to always focus on safety! That's one good thing about recording yourself, you get a reminder of how unsafe you can really be at times. I'm working on a video right now and I'm just dumbfounded with a choice I made at the table saw. Getting too comfortable around power tools can lead to danger.
Thank you! You don't have to use them... But I will continue to use them for these types of projects. A lot of things in life aren't designed for the purpose that they are used for.
@@fiveduckstudio Totally understand what you're saying. Only reason I commented was I had some snap on a project and it caused all kinds of grief. Prior to the 'make them too fast' quality of drywall screws, I probably used them for 80% of my builds. So I get it.
Thanks for the additional info! I appreciate it. I will still use drywall screws sometimes as I still have some left over, but will consider you advice the next time I'm buying screws. 🦆
