Jig for cutting equilateral triangle


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Hi Guys - I need to cut 1 ½" by 1 ½" square blocks into equilateral triangles.  The first cut I can do on the tables with the blade tilted but the next cut can't be done without totally trapping the offcut in the fence.  I'm basically cutting it by hand with a tenon saw and cleaning up to the line with hand planes, but this is something I need to make many multiples of and this method gets tedious real quick.  Any suggestions on a good way to cut these safely?  Thanks for any advice.

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If I were cutting these out from a longer stick I would use a miter saw and an angled stop block. Set your saw to 30* angled left. Then to the right of the blade set a stop block set to the same angle where the tip of the triangle is right at the point where the blade intersects the miter saw fence. Cut the end of your longer piece first to 30*, then flip the piece, put it up against the stop block, and cut again. One triangle done. Then flip the piece again and cut, another done. Keep going like that cutting and flipping until you run out of board or you have enough triangles.

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Hi Guys - I need to cut 1 ½" by 1 ½" square blocks into equilateral triangles.  The first cut I can do on the tables with the blade tilted but the next cut can't be done without totally trapping the offcut in the fence.  I'm basically cutting it by hand with a tenon saw and cleaning up to the line with hand planes, but this is something I need to make many multiples of and this method gets tedious real quick.  Any suggestions on a good way to cut these safely?  Thanks for any advice.

 

Did you try with an auxiliary fence? I mean an "L" shaped fence, made out of plywood. You attach it to your fence using c-clamps. It may help avoiding the fence trapping issue, depending on how you're making your cuts.

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Here's how I would cut them...but it requires a miter saw, for an accurate jig, and a band saw.

 

The concept is similar to cutting "Condor Tails" on a band saw.

 

Set the miter saw to 30 degrees to cut a 30-60-90 right triangle...this is the jig.

 

 

Here's the concept:

 

post-17084-0-14528000-1427507403.jpg

 

 

 

Note...this only accomplishes the first cut.  To accomplish the second cut, you would probably have to flip the jig, or possibly move the fence to the opposite side.  However, I am confident you could figure out how to set the jig up for the second cut.

 

Personally, I would not try this on a table saw.

 

Hope this helps.

 

FtrPilot

post-17084-0-14528000-1427507403_thumb.j

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