A stop stop

[mklotz]

I'll freely admit to borrowing this idea from another forum and adapting it to my own problem. Regardless, it's just too good an idea to not pass along to all the other bodgers out there.

The picture below shows my homemade toolmaker-clamp-like miniature vise. Clamped in the bench vise, it is used to hold tiny parts for a multitude of operations. One of those operations is sawing off identical lengths of material. To that end, I added a (removable) depth rod arrangement similar to that used on horizontal bandsaws.

The problem is that when the stock is butted against the stop, as the cut nears completion the stock has a tendency to twist between the vise and the stop. This often jams the saw blade and, if using a jeweler's saw, can easily break the blade.

What's needed is a stop-stop. The aluminum cylinder with the setscrew does the job. Once the depth stop is set to the correct length, the stop-stop is slid up against it and locked in place, thus "remembering" the depth stop position. The depth stop is then swung out of the way...

and the cut can be made with the cutoff end free to fall away and not bind the blade. When the next piece to be cut is loaded, it's an easy job to reposition the depth stop against the stop-stop, butt the stock against it, and then swing the depth stop out of the way to avoid any binding.

[morsa]

....The problem is that when the stock is butted against the stop, as the cut nears completion the stock has a tendency to twist between the vise and the stop....

I guess this is the reason why in woodworking you should never make a cut with fixed stops on the miter saw, or radial saw, or use the miter gauge together with the fence on the table saw. For safety, it should be used, instead removable stops.

That's a clever solution, and a wonderful work, but out of my capabilities.

[Frank S]

Morsa, as time goes along you find that more and more things you thought were out of your capabilities were nothing more than minor challenges after you once set about to try and make them.
Mklotz that stop stop is so crazy simple that I have forgotten that my wife used to do almost exactly the same thing on one of the production band saws we used to have

[Toolmaker51]

I'd offer that capabilities are seriously overrated yet under used.

The real impasse is 'visualization'. Large or small, that spark is what sets realization in motion. At a turn it could manifest in tangible objects, foresight, lucky guess, acceptance and support of expertise.

Eiffel Tower. Union Station Los Angeles or Kansas City. Hoover Dam. Howe's sewing machine. Zebco Reels. Kiekhaefer outboards. Safety Pin. Diesel's engine [that Cummins perfected]. Model T. Auto-5. P&W SuperMic. the vernier. ballpoint pen. Slinky, when some guy dropped a spring. Only rocket science is rocket science.

And then some couldn't see past their success in the very same way.
Ford most notably 'stole' intermittent wipers that were offered to the Big Three and refused. Identical copies were found on production cars later. Cost to Ford? About 30 million.
Sam Colt, ignored patent opportunity on Whites bored through cylinder. That Put S&W in business.
Thales, commissioned all local olive oil plants a season in advance, then jobbed out processing at any rate he pleased.

And the Auto-5? Oliver Winchester, who bought more of J.M. Browning's designs than anyone didn't accept the business stipulations that time. So FN, Remington, and others produced them instead; totaling over 100 years! O.W. by the way, fortunes were in shirt manufacture until he met J.M.B...
He, who initiated gas activation via muzzle blast on fallen snow, certainly not the only one to see, just the first to observe.

I've harped now an then as "this" not being just a hobby. You can do what major corporations do; in reasonable, manageable scale.
Again, I'd offer that capabilities are seriously overrated yet under used. The real impasse is 'visualization'.

[DIYer]

Thanks mklotz! We've added your Adjustable Depth Stop to our Height and Depth Gauges category,
as well as to your builder page: mklotz's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Adjustable Depth Stop by mklotz

tags: depth gauge, stop

[ncollar]

Marv
I like it, very much.
Nelson

[ncollar]

Marv
I like it, very much.
Nelson