Automated Resaw Sled Jig

Last month we bought a substantial amount of rosewood boards in various sizes. We need to resaw them into backs and sides. Services that provide this in the Portland area were a good thought, but it would be expensive. The next idea was to upgrade from our 2hp machine to a 5hp machine. This would allow the speed of the resawing to be faster. Either way a resaw sled would be needed to hold the wood in place and to run it through the band saw.

The plan is to get two rails and put sliders on them, mount this to the band saw table then use a pusher with compressible but rigid bumpers to hold the wood.
Jay is excited to start a new project. Going to the hardwoods store is like being a kid in a candy shop. He decided to get some high quality 13-ply plywood. He’s using his circular saw to cut up the board into appropriate pieces.

Cutting on the chop saw.

Here are the rails that will be used. They are bosh T-slots. The sliders on them are very smooth, the plate will provide a good surface area for the board.

First the bottom beam was mounted. If the beams aren’t parallel the sliders will veer off and the plate holding the wood will not slide. To make the beams parallel these steel gauge blocks were stacked at each end and the other beam was placed on top of it then was fasten in place.

The sliders work seamlessly.

Smooth. The part on the right on the blade, holds two rollers to assist in the slide. They sit on silicone bumpers the are stiff but still have some give. These help push the board in and hold it in place.

The back holding the rails is clamped into the band saw bed. The angle that this piece is at will affect how straight the outcome will be. To provide wiggle room two bolts are put in the back that act as set screws and are perfect for adjusting the angles.

It’s hard to hold and push the board for 20 minutes to achieve one set. At that rate it takes a lot of patience, when that wears out, it’ll be worth it to purchase a high-power machine. To fix this problem and automate the system a pulley with a weight on the ended was added to provide enough force on the board to pull it through the blade. We can now walk away from it while it works. The amount of force needed to pull the board is small, so a five-pound weight suffices.

Here it is working up close.

The complete project. The wood we resaw rests on a 12 inch piece of wood on the sled. This lets the clamp work.

The result is good. We get about .22 in at one end. And .20 at the other. 10% variance is acceptable.

As more experience is gained using the jig and with different woods it will become easier. The next wood used will be box wood to make purfling.

Here are two videos of it in action 

 

 

Cutting through a piece of zebra wood 

 

 

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