“If you’ve been following our story closely, you know we’ve enjoyed a productive and symbiotic relationship with TTS already,” says Joe Hebenstreit, CEO of Shaper Tools.

TTS currently supplies the SM1 router spindle for Shaper Origin machines, and Origin ships in a custom Shaper Systainer from Tanos, similar to those used by Festool for its product line.

Hebenstreit says the Shaper team will remain headquartered in San Francisco, where it will continue to develop new categories of tools that merge human intuition with robotic precision.

“We couldn’t be more proud and excited to tap into the incredible wealth of knowledge and resources that TTS is able to provide, which will allow us to accelerate our plans for bringing Origin and other exciting Shaper products to a global stage,” Hebenstreit says.

Woodworker’s Journal Weekly previously has published an interview with Shaper Tools’s co-founders Alec Rivers and Ilan Moyer, outlining the history and development of both the company and its Origin handheld CNC machine. You can read it by clicking here. Visit the Shaper Tools website by clicking here.

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Chris Marshall: Let’s see if I’m understanding the predicament accurately here, Bill. You need to make a couple of beveled rip cuts with your band saw table tilted to cut the ridge angles on the roof panels. The combination of those ripped angles needs to add up to 100 degrees, which is why you want the table to tip further than 45 degrees (ideally, I’ll bet you’re wishing, it tilted to 50 degrees). It won’t, and to make matters worse, your saw’s throat won’t allow for workpieces this wide anyway.

First off, if you have access to a table saw, I’ll suggest making these rip cuts there instead, where the table stays horizontal so you can maintain optimal control. Making bevel-rip cuts on a band saw with the table tilted to a steep angle is precarious — especially if the rip fence has to be on the “uphill” side of the table where there’s more surface area and the workpieces are large. Don’t work against gravity unless you have no other choice. Plus, a table saw won’t cramp your space like a band saw’s throat can.

Second — and I hope this will come as good news! — you don’t need a special setup or jig to achieve the 50-degree angles on the edges of your roof panels. Any conventional table saw can get the job done. All you need to do is tilt the blade to 40 degrees and make those bevel-rip cuts. Why? Well, the saw’s bevel tilt scale is measuring tilt in terms of the number of degrees the blade is tipped off of vertical. The complementary angle left on the cut edge of the wood is 90 degrees, minus the tilt angle. So, for instance, if you’re making a beveled rip cut and the blade is tilted to 10 degrees, an 80-degree angle will be left on the cut edge. Tilt to 20 degrees, and a 70-degree angle will be left on the wood. Keep cranking to 40 degrees, and a 50-degree angle will be left on the wood. So, rip each of your roof panels with the blade tilted to 40 degrees, and, voila! You’ll have two 50-degree beveled edges to form the 100-degree apex angle that you need for your church replica (that’s just what I did in the photo, above).

Tim Inman: There are any number of ways to make a cut like this. But since I’m the “Official Old Guy” now, my answer is going to be “old-school.” Sometimes you just can’t beat an old fashioned “whoompa” hand saw. For this job, I would couple a good, sharp handsaw with a purpose-made miter box and go for it. My father and I frequently made little special-purpose jigs like this to get jobs done. He and his brother worked together for many years doing built-in cabinets, bookcases, staircases and so forth. On-site work often requires a creative instinct! A couple of blocks of wood, a little time scratching the side of one’s head, and some trial and don’t-be-discouraged testing are required. In fact, I find that many times, even in my own nice shop with just about every tool I can think to own, it is not uncommon that I resort to making up a special jig or fixture for a given project. Made-for-the-purpose miter boxes are a great thing to use and to know how to make. Second choice? A good portable circular saw and a straightedge to follow. If you’re making a compound miter like a hopper joint, just angle the blade and follow the straightedge — and Bob’s your uncle.

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The new Auto-Jig Pocket Hole System from Armor Tool is designed to make this setup procedure easier and faster than the competition. The company’s patented Auto-Adjust clamp mechanism, at the heart of this jig, self-adjusts both the drilling guide and the drill bit collar, and these processes take place simultaneously when you insert a workpiece into the jig and tighten the clamp. That convenience eliminates manual setting, measuring and adjusting in preparation for drilling.

For added convenience, the jig’s workpiece-holding platform on the drill guide enables 2x4s to be used for extension wings, so no special extensions need to be made or purchased. Armor also has developed a color-coded system for its pocket-hole screws. When the jig self-calibrates for use, the correct screw color is displayed on the jig for the workpiece thickness and depth being drilled. Choosing the correct screws is a simple matter of matching the screw color to the jig color indicator. This Color-Coat technology also provides anticorrosive protection when the screws are used for outdoor applications.

The Auto-Jig kit comes with everything required for making pocket screw joints: a self-adjusting drill guide block with dust collection port, self-adjusting drill bit, auto-adjusting clamp, #2 square drive bit, drill bit collar, a 6-in. face clamp and a 50-screw assortment in five color-coded sizes.

The Auto-Jig Pocket Hole System Project Pack from Armor Tool (item AJPHS-1) will begin to ship this week (anticipated to be Jan. 25) and currently is available for pre-order. It will sell for $149.99. A 750-piece washer head Color-Coat Screw Set is available separately (item A-750-CC-Screw Set; $35.11) and includes quantities of both coarse and fine screw pitches in 1-, 1-1/4-, 1-1/2-, 2- and 2-1/2-in. screw lengths, to suit softwoods or hardwoods. Packages of 100 fine-thread, 1-1/4-in. screws (item AW-F-125-100) can be purchased for $4.69, and 1-1/2-in. fine-thread screws in 100-packs (item AW-F-150-100) are available for $5.19.

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– Charles Mak
Calgary, Alberta

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So, here was my workaround: I clamped a wooden handscrew near the end of each shelf and inset them so they wouldn’t interfere with the dadoes. This way, I could use the handscrews as clamping surfaces for installing shorter bar clamps, to pull the assembly together. It worked great and saved me the cost of investing in longer, expensive clamps.

– Dave Janos
Corvallis, Oregon

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Video Script

Rockler’s standard router tables, with these steel leg sets, are a good choice for table routing. But, there’s lot of empty space down here that I thought could be put to better use. Because when you think about it, we use quite a few different supplies and accessories at the router table that need to be stored somewhere!

There’s all manner of router bits, plus collets and collet wrenches. You might have a wrench for a router lift too, and probably some push pads or push sticks. I often use a couple of featherboards, and then occasionally other jigs — like this box joint jig. And, what about guide collars, bit inserts or specialized, boxed bit sets like this? Here’s a lot of odds and ends here that need a place to go.

Well, that’s why I’ve designed this Router Table Organizer: to give many of those supplies a storage place right where I’ll be using them. It appears in the February 2019 issue of Woodworker’s Journal. And it’s made of 1/2” and 3/4” Baltic birch plywood, but you could use off-the-shelf plywood from a home center, too.

And, this is a shop project, so I’ve kept the construction process nice and easy. It’s all dadoes and rabbets … nothing fancy. So, you can have one of these put together and ready for finishing in a long weekend. Now, let’s take a look at the major features.

I’ve got a LOT of router bits, and if you’ve been woodworking for a long time, I’ll bet you’ve got a big collection too. So, I wanted this project to have a bunch of storage space for bits. And, it does! It’s got one of these bit storage racks on each side that hold 35 bits per rack. And, if you’ve got more than 70 bits, you could stagger the bit locations on the shelves to hold even more bits.

Now if you look closely here, the bits are held in place with these blue plastic inserts. They fit into 5/8”-dia. holes in the shelves. And, they’re stepped on the inside, so you can store either 1/4”-shank bits or 1/2”-shank bits. And that’s really convenient!

These plastic router bit storage inserts are a fairly new item for Rockler. They come in packs of 10 and sell for $8 per pack.

I like the fact that these inserts will hold either shank size, so you only have to drill one hole size. But, there’s a second plus here too: If you’ve ever built a storage rack for bits out of plywood or solid wood like this one, you probably already know that the bits can get stuck in these holes. All it takes a little dust build-up or wood movement, and bits can be really hard to get out. That’s not a problem with these blue inserts, because they fit into oversized holes to begin with, and the plastic is soft enough to “give” a little bit. So, no more stuck router bits.

In between the bit racks and under the router, there’s a deep drawer here that rides on full-extension drawer slides. It’s 00” deep and about 00” wide, so it holds a fair amount of stuff. And, the construction is simple: the corners are held together with rabbet-and-dado joints and glue.

Now, I’ve got one of Rockler’s new ProLift router lifts in my table, and it has an offset hex wrench to move the router up and down. That needs a storage spot, so I made a holder out of some built-up scraps of 1/2” Baltic and mounted it here, on the back of a bit cabinet.

Rockler offers a set of five aluminum insert rings for the ProLift as accessories. I’m storing these in this little compartment over here where they’re always be within easy reach.

And, even if you don’t have a router lift, you’ve probably got a couple of collet wrenches for your router. These get constant use, so I’ve hung mine right next to the On/Off switch. And to do that, I just picked up an inexpensive coat hook from a home center.

And, here’s one last feature hiding in back: a place to stow your featherboards! It’s a length of Rockler’s 3/4” miter track screwed to the back of the project. To hang featherboards, just set one of their expanding miter bars into the track, and tighten the lock knob. It will hold two or three featherboards without taking up any drawer space.

Now, you might be wondering if you’ll have to take your router table base apart to install this big project. And the answer is, No. My design is actually modular, with the big parts installing separately. The base board goes in first, screwed to these cross members on the legs. Then, you slide in the bit racks and fit the drawer cabinet in between those. Everything is held together with screws, driven from inside the drawer cabinet. So the installation is easy!

I think this Router Table Organizer is going to be one of those projects that fits my needs like a hand in a glove. And if you’ve got dead space under your router table, just think what it could do for your productivity, too. Remember, you can find plans for it in our February 2019 issue.

I’m Chris Marshall with Woodworker’s Journal Magazine. Thanks for watching!

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