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Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig

  • evvo
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7 years 1 month ago #8540 by evvo
Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig was created by evvo
A while ago I bought the plan pack for the Macklin Guillotine Jig and finally decided it's time to build one.
Unfortunately, I don't have a wood shop anymore, so I decided to take a high tech approach to it: Laser Cutting.
I started with a webpage where you tell it what size box and the thickness of the material you'll use and it generates SVG files. I edited the files to remove the top and to extend the sides 1/2" past the ends of the box so there's be a frame to keep the guillotine aligned.
I then cut the parts from 1/4" MDF
I'm in the process of gluing it all together now, I'll try to make it to Tuesday's meeting for a show & tell

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7 years 2 weeks ago - 7 years 2 weeks ago #8565 by BDB
Replied by BDB on topic Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig
That looks great! How powerful of a laser did you need to have to cut 1/4" MDF? I'm just asking because I have free access to a laser cutter at URI. I've never used it, partly because I assumed it couldn't do something like this. I just want to compare specs.
Last edit: 7 years 2 weeks ago by BDB.

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7 years 2 weeks ago #8568 by evvo
Replied by evvo on topic Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig
It is a 30 Watt Epilog Zing laser. Using the recommended settings for 1/4" wood it took two passes to cut through the MDF and produced a more than moderate level of soot.
I'm looking around to see if I can find some 1/8" MDF stock.

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7 years 1 week ago #8588 by bobkrech
Replied by bobkrech on topic Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig
I'm actually surprised you could cut 1/4" MDF with 30 watts!

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7 years 1 week ago #8589 by evvo
Replied by evvo on topic Guillotine Fin Alignment Jig
It required great patience ;)
It's so tempting to get one of the cheap chinese K40 cutters and upgrade it little by little.

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