Replies

1. 
   john_c2 | Apr 07, 2022 04:32pm | #1

   Easy work with a tablesaw. What tools do you have?

1. 
   jayrw | Apr 07, 2022 08:50pm | #3

   I have a tablesaw. It only goes to 45 degrees.

2. 
   gulfstar | Apr 07, 2022 04:37pm | #2

   Bandsaw, table saw, radial arm saw, circular saw with a guide, jigsaw with a hole drilled at the bottom of the slot, straight grooves with a router and angle the rack backwards, make a strip of wood with 20 degrees edges, cut it to the desired length and glue on a straight piece with the spacing required. Can’t think of another method for the moment.

3. 
   bilyo | Apr 07, 2022 11:03pm | #4

   If I understand what you need correctly, just set your TS blade to a 20 deg tilt from the vertical and with the depth of cut you need. Then use your miter gage to hold the 2 x on edge and do a series of cross cuts to make the ruler slots.
   If your angle needs to be 20 deg from the horizontal, then the easiest is probably either by hand or with a band saw.

4. 
   pantalones868 | Apr 09, 2022 04:02am | #5

   All I can figure out from what your saying is that 20 degrees is actually 70 degrees from verticle..? Since the piece is long and multiple slots along it's length you might need to make the slots from above or straight on which would rule out the table saw even with a jig. A bandsaw or a handsaw is your best bet. A jigsaw could do it. But, your slots have to be the width of your rulers. Since I don't have a sawblade that is as thick as any ruler I have(actually that's not exactly true, some of my rulers are pretty thin) and making clean cuts side by side(widening the slot) is difficult I would make a series of blocks with your 70(20) degree angles and glue them onto a strip(board) spaced apart by the thickness of your rulers. I get why you want that steep angle so that the face of the ruler is visible so that you know which one is which. Actually it's a good idea ,now I want one! My rulers are just scattered in drawers.

5. 
   _mj_ | Apr 09, 2022 07:10am | #6

   Upload a quick sketch?

6. 
   rob_ss | Apr 09, 2022 05:29pm | #7

   An interesting question.

   You cannot cut slots in a long strip 70 degrees from the vertical with most power tools as the body of the tool will always get in the way.

   There are ways to achieve it by modifying a Dremel tool or similar. For a shorter block, you could even put an auxiliary table on the TS. Neither of these are really satisfying or particularly safe ways to do it.

   Instead, do it the easy way.

   1. Start with a somewhat oversize piece. You will need it to be a saw kerf wider and thicker than you want the finished piece, plus on the thickness, about an extra 1/8". It is wise to make it about 3-4" longer than finished too. True the stock on all four sides. Draw 2 pencil lines lengthways on the top and one on the bottom face. This is important.

   2. Cut off what will be the base of the rack on the table saw - you want to leave about 3/8" to 1/4" I suspect, but it can be anything from 1/16" up. Cut this no thinner than you can get through your planer to take off a hair to ensure a perfect surface. You can also hand-plane it if your skills are good enough. Make sure you don't plane the face with the pencil marks! Plane the cut surface of the larger piece too (If your saw cut was perfect you can skip this step, but the slightest blade mark will spoil the project, and we made it thicker for this reason.

   3. Using a cross-cut sled or mitre gauge, cut blocks off your larger piece with the angle and to create the spaces you need - these can easily be made at 70 deg by setting the mitre to 20 and using a 90 degree block to support the wood. You can make your ruler holder as wide as the saw is tall - say 2-3" for most TS. For safety, I prefer to angle my mitre gauge backwards - this reduces the risk of the piece grabbing and being pulled into the saw - as with all such work, you will need a strong clamp and backer board. This is why you need a few extra inches on the length - it is MUCH safer. If you are short on the length then glue the whole thing to a longer bit of scrap on the show side - you can plane it off later. Number the blocks as they come off the saw - you need to keep them in order.

   4. Now it is a simple matter of gluing the blocks in place, spaced appropriately to the ruler. You can joint, plane and saw the excess material off after and no one will ever know it was not one piece to begin with.

   This has a lot of advantages as a method - no complex jigs, no fancy angles, no removing safety guards and of course the size of the slot is totally adjustable to fit differing thicknesses of rulers.

   If you need to support longer rulers, just make a wide one, rip it in half and glue the two halves to a backer board.

1. 
   jayrw | Apr 09, 2022 10:39pm | #8

   Great!! I will try your suggestion tomorrow!! Thanks so much for your well thought out answer!

1. 
   rob_ss | Apr 10, 2022 02:43am | #9

   Please post a pic when done!

7. 
   gulfstar | Apr 10, 2022 09:29am | #10

   Since I figured that it was 70 degrees from the horizontal I had to resort to a pencil and paper to figure a way to do this on the tablesaw. What I came up with only involves square cuts except for the base which involves a miter cut. It’s a stack of blocks that can be grooved prior to glue-up to the desired slot width or the stack can be made of thick and thin rectangles. The drawing is hopefully self explanatory.

   
1. 
   john_c2 | Apr 10, 2022 10:25am | #11

   That will do the job, but man it's a bunch of work. A few minutes on a bandsaw, or backswing and chisel, and it's done.

1. 
   gulfstar | Apr 10, 2022 10:30am | #12

   Assuming a slot width of 1/4 inch I would also use a bandsaw. I would first drill a hole at the bottom of the slot and cut the cheeks with a well tensioned wide blade.

   
1. 
   john_c2 | Apr 10, 2022 04:25pm | #13

   I didn't think of the hole. That would make it really quick.