Straight edge

[jmoo]

I need a good straight edge to rip plywood sheets down to a workable size. I have been using a T square for drywall, but there has to be something better.

Any ideas where to get one or how to make one that will stay straight and work. The easier the better.


Jmoo Learning as I go

[MasterWorker]

well i would recammend that you use a strait 2x4, but those tend to be too bulky....lately i have been using a strait 1x1.5 this for me has proved to be the very acurate (to within about half a milimeter)......i am suposing you do not have a TB saw but if you do, or can use a friends to rip a 1.5 in. strip out of a board it has served me very well and it was realy easy to make.....but anyway just my 0.02 cents.....
Luke

[FrankC]

Use the factory edge of a sheet of plywood, plans for one here as well as a rack to hold the sheet while you cut it:

http://benchnotes.com/Skillsaw%20Gui..._guide_boa.htm

Sawdust Making 101
http://sawdustmaking.com

[woodchuck1954]

I use levels and clamps.

[cut_short]

I use a piece of 1X6 manufactured board. It is used for trim and is paint grade...all the pieces are finger joints. I mount the 1X6 to a piece of plywood that is 1/2 thick, 2feet wide, 8 feet long. With the straight edge mounted on top of the plywood I took the circular saw and ran it down the straight edge cutting off the plywood. Now you have a straight edge and a cutting guide for the circular saw.

Just clamp the jig to a workpiece and line up the edge of plywood with the cutline and off you go.

I had an old timer tell me how to make this. I had some rough-cut white oak and didn't know how to get a straight edge on it. I called around to local cabinet shops (not too many of them) asking if I could pay to have a straight edge put on and no one wanted to do it.. One old man told me he never used a jointer to put on a straight edge...he describe the jig to me.

[DougB]

The jig I made is very similar to cut-shorts except I used 1/4" hardboard and the straightest pine 1X4 I could find at Home Depot. I glued the 1X4 to the hardboard and cut along both sides of it using the circ saw. Then I doubled up the hardboard on one side to get 1/2" thick on the side I run the circ saw against. The other side is just one thickness of the 1/4" hardboard and I use that side for clamping.

If you cut much plywood, these jigs are very useful and so easy to make that you will wonder why you did not think of it before. So quick and easy to use too - just line the edge up with a cut mark on each end of the plywood, clamp, then make the cut.

The only downside is trying to find a place to store the jig where it won't get the edge dinged up.

[Keystone]

Those metal studs work just fine too. With the punch outs in them it makes clamping easy(er). They are light and are tall enough that the saw or router doesn't jump over it.

[mstens]

You trap your work between the straight edge and the router bit?

[JCCLARK]

Yes, I know a lot of people advise against this but I never had
a problem.
It's my "jointer router" and only used for that.
I run all my cabinet stock 1x2's through and they come out
perfectly parallel,smooth, and all the exact same width. And straighter than on a jointer. I can do 6' long and dead straight.
I rough cut them a 1/16" wider then skim them through several passes.



Jim C.

[TDHofstetter]

I've got one almost perfectly identical to that, except it's steel. Actually was sold to me as a pair with a coupler, but the coupler wasn't good enough to keep 'em in line with each other. So I have two.

Any good wide alumin(i)um extrusion, unless it's been distorted, will be extremely straight. Good steel angles, too, will work really well... like a length of 1-1/4"x1-1/4"x1/8" angle iron from the local hardware store, for example.

A factory plywood edge is usually pretty straight - if you sight along it, you can tell if it's not.

LOTS and LOTS of options.

-- Tim --

Call me
Kaw-liga
:)