Banjo
10-18-2003, 07:20 PM
G'day all from the land of 'sun, surf n sheilas'
I just recently read and article in AABB (Australian Amateur BoatBuilder) about the use of Joggle sticks.
What's a joggle stick some may ask?
(Well I did!) :D
It's a very simple way to transfer dimensions and shapes from your intended sheet location to the sheet that needs cutting. The use of these nifty sticks has been around for some time but like I tell my kids, 'you never stop learnin' and for me it was a revelation to learn how to use them.
Basically it's a strip with teeth of varying sizes and depth, an offcut of ply is what I used. It should look like a badly sharpend saw blade, the teeth need to be "irregular" or of increasing sizes to make it easier to use.
How do you use it? Easy, just place a strip of ply central in the area you want to measure, they call it a 'Tally board", it needs to be wide enough to have three or four teeth from the stick accross it and long enough to do the job each end. This tally board lays central to where the new sheet will go, a couple of brads to hold it in place is advisable. Then you use your joggle stick to make marks on the tally board at all the points around your area that you require. Align the joggle stick at any angle that's usefull but make sure you get at least three or four teeth marked on the tally board.
Tack your tally board to the new sheet and locate it for good sheet usage and pin it again, then grab yer stick smile.gif and align the teeth with your marks and mark a point on the new sheet just under the point of the joggle stick.
It is self aligning because no one tooth is the same size or shape and this makes it foolproof to acuratly transfer the shape intended.
I used this method yesterday to cut my cockpit panels and it was soooooo easy, perfect fit first time with only the odd touch with my trusty hand plane needed in a few spots.
Some of you might already know this method, but like me there will no doubt be some who don't.
I hope I explained it clearly enough, I was going to scan and post the article but thought of copyright issues, hence the description in my own words! smile.gif
I just recently read and article in AABB (Australian Amateur BoatBuilder) about the use of Joggle sticks.
What's a joggle stick some may ask?
(Well I did!) :D
It's a very simple way to transfer dimensions and shapes from your intended sheet location to the sheet that needs cutting. The use of these nifty sticks has been around for some time but like I tell my kids, 'you never stop learnin' and for me it was a revelation to learn how to use them.
Basically it's a strip with teeth of varying sizes and depth, an offcut of ply is what I used. It should look like a badly sharpend saw blade, the teeth need to be "irregular" or of increasing sizes to make it easier to use.
How do you use it? Easy, just place a strip of ply central in the area you want to measure, they call it a 'Tally board", it needs to be wide enough to have three or four teeth from the stick accross it and long enough to do the job each end. This tally board lays central to where the new sheet will go, a couple of brads to hold it in place is advisable. Then you use your joggle stick to make marks on the tally board at all the points around your area that you require. Align the joggle stick at any angle that's usefull but make sure you get at least three or four teeth marked on the tally board.
Tack your tally board to the new sheet and locate it for good sheet usage and pin it again, then grab yer stick smile.gif and align the teeth with your marks and mark a point on the new sheet just under the point of the joggle stick.
It is self aligning because no one tooth is the same size or shape and this makes it foolproof to acuratly transfer the shape intended.
I used this method yesterday to cut my cockpit panels and it was soooooo easy, perfect fit first time with only the odd touch with my trusty hand plane needed in a few spots.
Some of you might already know this method, but like me there will no doubt be some who don't.
I hope I explained it clearly enough, I was going to scan and post the article but thought of copyright issues, hence the description in my own words! smile.gif