Techniques

Quickly Print to Scale in SketchUp Trimble released its new version of SketchUp and to no surprise they didn’t fix the problems with printing to scale which has plagued SketchUp users from day 1. [...]

My job is to post weekly, here on the American Woodworker Contributor's Blogs, on a SketchUp topic I think will be of interest to the readers. I would very much like to encourage readers to [...]

Q & A: Clean Bandsaw Tires   Q: My bandsaw tires have a buildup of pitch and sawdust that seems to be embedded right into the rubber. What’s the best way to clean my tires? A: An [...]

Shown above is “Sunset,” an intricate segmented bowl by Hal Metlitzky. When I learned woodturning in the mid-1990s, my goal was simply to make bowls and platters with fair curves, [...]

Router Dado Jig In the course of my work as a contractor, I often need to build cabinets and bookshelves on site – without the luxury of shop tools. I gave up on the flimsy router fence [...]

One of the reasons I prefer to plan projects from SketchUp models is how easy it is to extract information from the model. In my earlier days I  prepared shop drawings with pencil and paper, and [...]

In Part 1 of this two part post I covered this subject in broad strokes. Now we are going to look a little deeper at my naming conventions for components, layers, scenes and special layers such [...]

Q & A: One Step at a Time Q: ARGH! I cut all the parts according to the cutting list and my face-frame came up short! I worked out the math and the cutting list was correct. What went [...]

Machine Floor Locks Anyone with a machine on wheels – especially a tablesaw or planer – understands the necessity of locking it in place before using it. I use a pair of toggle clamps [...]

Plastic Stickers Don't Stain I use plastic conduit to make stickers for stacking and drying my wood. These stickers provide consistent spacing and excellent air circulation with minimal [...]

A plunge router is a versatile tool, but setting an exact depth can be perplexing. There are a bunch of knobs and levers that control how far down the bit will go, but if you’re trying to [...]

Triangle Sandpaper Triangular hook-and-loop sandpaper for detail sanders first loses it’s bite at the end because that part does most of the work. By cutting a used piece, as shown, and [...]