How would you do this?

[peter halle]

Well, now that weather is warmer and there are no more Fogtainers around to be seen, it is time to use up some of the paduak that I have been accumulating over the last year or so.  In other words, my open air shop is now open.

The project will be an aquarium stand approximately 48” long x 24” deep x 36” tall.  The structural part will be constructed of traditional framing materials.  The decorative skin will be a face frame of solid paduak with recessed side panels that will be plywood with a veneer.  I haven’t decided yet how I will do the doors.  I want to have what appear to be 3/4 columns at the front and rear corners.  They will be made of thin wall PVC pipe 6” in diameter.

On top of the aquarium will be a light hood that will mimic the appearance of the stand.  It will need a hinged portion to allow for maintenance.

I of course will using as many of my Festools as possible, and do not want to use a table saw.

The question:  How would you set up and cut the 36” pipe lengthwise to make the 3/4 columns if you had the following Festools in your arsenal?

MFT/3 (including clamps and clamping elements)    TS-55    CT-22    OF-1400    T15+3    Domino    Parallel Guides    Kapex      RO 150    ETS 150/3  RAS 115 

I have an idea how I would do it, but am curious about other ideas.

Anyone have suggestions?   

Peter

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Oh Peter, you devil - that's a tough one.  I'm sure someone will top this, but I'll get the ball rolling...

The heart of the problem is how to hold the pvc securely while cutting it with the TS55.  I would start by making a wood scrap holder out of ply or whatever that will sandwich the pvc - three sides, fourth side open.  How you attach the pvc to the holder depends on whether you plan to veneer or otherwise cover the pvc.  If you are covering the pvc, just shoot some brads through the pvc into the ply or screw it in.  The holes can be fixed with epoxy or other filler later.  If the naked pvc will show in the finished product, fix it with doublestick tape in the middle and clamps on the ends.

Put a guide rail on the top of the sandwich and clamp the whole works onto the mft.  You may need a bevel on the TS55 depending on exactly how the pvc will fit into the corners.

Make the first cut on the top, flip it over and make the second cut.

Interesting project.  Hope to see lots of progress pics!!

 

[tiralie]

Peter:
I would do it as Jesse suggested with a couple differences:
I would start with a 38-40" pipe and build my box around that. Because the pipe will collapse after you make the first cut I would cap each end (like cork in a bottle) with wood blocks and put screws through the pipe into the caps to hold the pipe from turning. I would then attach the caps to the box with screws into the caps holding the pipe in place.
Because the pipe has tendency to collapse, I would put a spacer the same width as the saw kerf (2.2mm) in the first cut to hold the cut open and then make a 1/4 turn on the pipe reattach into the box, screw the caps on and make my final cut.

Tim

 

[junk731]

Peter

Use the Kapex with blocking and do a cut and roll. Good dust collection or not the plastic will fly and stick to everything

John

 

[peter halle]

Peter

Use the Kapex with blocking and do a cut and roll. Good dust collection or not the plastic will fly and stick to everything

John

John,

You might have misunderstood.  I was asking about "ripping" the pipe versus cross cutting it.  But I will probably have to do something similar to what you suggest for the trimming of the ends.

Peter

Peter

 

[junk731]

Sorry Peter just eating lunch and was skim reading and missed the lengthwise. Lengthwise I would take to a friend with a bandsaw. Not what your looking for but probably just as fast as making jigs and multiple setups with no worry about the tube pinching a blade.

John

 

[BobKovacs]

The challenge with ripping the 1/4 out of it (other than locking the pipe from moving as you cut it) will be keeping the blade from getting pinched on the first cut.  As you work your way down the pipe with the saw, you'll want to slip some small wedges into the kerf to keep the pipe from closing in on the saw due to tension in the plastic.  

 

[Alan m]

i would do it by routing a circular groove in two bits of ply ( 1 for each end) with the with the same internal diameter as the pipe. if the ply picecs are square the 90 degree corner will give you the 90 degree cut out. as for cutting it you could make a jig to hold the first jig and allow the ts55 to cut , again a 2.2 mm filler strip while cutting.

another option is to make up a quick router table out of a bit of ply and run the pipe with the ends on it over the cutter . because the pvc is held out it cant squeze in on the cutter. but a hardwood strip the same size as the cutter screwed to the router table would act as a splitter.

 

[greg mann]

Cut a groove in the first cut but not thru. This will hold it together but also relieve the stress. Make the second cut thru at 90 degrees and then go back and finish the first cut. If you are worried about matching cuts make a sacrificial non-thru first cut, or even several in the waste, preferably close to your finish cut.

 

[fshanno]

Here's a box.

[attachimg=1]

Unless you're talking sewer pipe, that 6" stuff is pretty strong.  It should hold up during cutting.  Just clamp the ends of the pipe to the ends of the box at a couple of quadrant points.

Have you scoured the net for outside corner column trim.  I bet you can find it.

Are you going to try to keep that paduak red?  Good luck with that.  I hope you don't mind a dark brown aquarium base.

 

[GhostFist]

^^ this