Thanks, John, for your minimalist example. I was thinking of something similar, but worried that it might not be secure enough. But since this simple jig is good enough for you, well . . .
So I built one.
As observant minds will note, my table saw is a Ryobi BT3100, which I bought this past December in large part due to recommendations from folks here. I'm quite happy with it, but the lack of a mitre slot bothered me, so I made a piece from MDF, to which I inset a 3/4" mitre channel. It just sits on the saw's rails, although it is snugged up against the outer moveable table. Still, when I did the actual cutting, I clamped it down on one end to eliminate a tiny bit of play it had.
I cut a piece of oak to fit the mitre slot, but left the length untrimmed until I mounted it to the underside of the jig's sliding crosspiece.
Next, when laying out the jig's sliding piece, which I cut from some good 1" ply, I was very careful to true it up with the sliding mitre, checking for perpindicularity against both the blade and the mitre slot. Then, I clamped it down and drilled it and the oak "runner" at the same time, then mounted the runner to the slider with deck screws. Next I trimmed off some of the length of the runner, but left it long to insure greater stability.
For the index pin I used a 3D 1-1/4 finishing nail, which was almost the exact size necessary for the Stewmac template I have. I nailed it in place, clipped off the excess, and filed down the tip to a more rounded shape to fit the template a little better.
Next, I cut a dado in the slider with the saw's regular blade, then changed blades to the one that Shane got for us a few months back. (Stiffeners came from Woodcraft)
Using a piece of plywood scrap, I tried out the new jig. I did this not only to get a feel for the jig, but to set the blade depth.
Then, like John, I used double sided tape to mount the template to the fingerboard, muttered a few prayers to my favorite diety, and began sawing away.
An after photo:
Everything went smoothly. No "oopses". You can see the freshly cut 10-string fb sitting atop the saw.
Lemme tell ya, 10-string fbs are a major PITA to cut. Because of the extra width the saw tends to sieze up in the cut and often will even flex, resulting in curved fret slots. Not good. I figured it took me about the same amount of time to build this jig and cut the fb than it would have taken me to cut the fb using my manual Stewmac slotting jig. What a time-saver!
Now, instead of dreading the prospect of slotting a fingerboard, I'll be looking forward to it!
Best,
Michael
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