Ken's Scrollwork

TUTORIAL - CHESS BOARD SQUARES

I use the belt and disc sander to cut all bevels and to square edges etc..

The photographs in this section illustrate my method of making perfect squares for a chess board.

You will see that I have made a jig which attaches to the tray of the disc section of the sander.

I have made a few chess boards using this method and the results have been excellent.

This is a general view of jig attached to the tray of disc sander with two clamps.


The jig is 3/36" from disc and parallel to it.


The dark square in the bottom left is the stopper which goes through a tunnel towards the disc.

These pictures were taken when I first made the jig.

I soon found that the use of clamps to attach the jig to the tray of the disc sander was not satisfactory as it was possible to move the jig slightly, and, of course, this meant that perfect squares could not be obtained.

I therefore clamped the disc very firmly in position and bored two 3/16" holes through the jig and the disc sander tray so that the jig could be firmly bolted to the tray.

A view of the tunnel through which the stopper is pushed.

A view of the tunnel with stopper resting on top.

It is essential that the stopper is a perfect fit in the tunnel.

There must not be any "play" and it must slide easily.

In fact, when you are constructing the jig you must ensure that each angle is exactly 90 degrees. Any variation will result in imperect squares.

A chess square (about 3/16" oversize) is resting in position.

The square is held hard against the left hand guide as the stopper is pushed 3/32" to square off the second side (i.e. the side touching the disc sander).

You should now have a square which has two sides perfectly square but still about 3./32" oversize on two sides, ready to be sanded down to size and squared at the same time.

The square is rotated one turn in the jig and held firmly against the left hand guide.

The stopper is then pushed fully home, thus pushing the square into the sander to remove the 3/32" bit that was left on the third side.

The square is then rotated again to repeat this procedure so that the fourth side is exactly square and sanded to correct size.

The stopper cannot go any further so the square is exactly 2" square. The important thing is that all squares will be exactly the same size and the size is controlled by the stopper.

It is recommended that all squares be made ast the same time so that jig does not have to be removed and refitted several times.

THE FOLLOWING PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW THE FOUR POSITIONS OF THE STOPPER

First Position

Stopper is fully pulled out and you can see that a square which is about 2-3/16" can be placed in position ready to be sanded to size.

Second Position

The stopper has engaged the square which is still clear of the disc. Note that the stopper has 3/16" to travel.

Third Position

The stopper has been pushed in 3/32" and sanded one side of the square.

Fourth Position

Here, the stopper is pushed fully home and the square has been sanded to exactly 2" on all sides.

The finished squares