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[Kerry Verne]

Irish/Italian, and not quite that much chest hair. Aside from that...

[Eric Fuller]

Irish/Italian, and not quite that much chest hair. Aside from that...

I can attest to that...bald as a baby's butt.  He does have nice eyes though.

[Kevin W]

Hello Peter,

I managed to make one of these but it lacks the finishing details of yours.  May I ask how you placed the extra lines to make the look of the box symmetrical?  Everything I tried resulted in too wide of a kerf to match the lines created by the seams in the moving parts of the box.  Did you also do something to the naturally occurring seams to balance them all out?  Thanks for sharing your plans for this I really enjoyed making it. 

[Peter Wiltshire]

Hello Stuey, Glad you enjoyed making this puzzle!  Post a photo when you get a chance I would love to see it!  I chose to put the extra lines to mask the sliding panels and make it harder to find the first panel to move.  It was very easy to do and I created the lines by hand using a metal hack saw blade.  The thin blade is perfect for creating the small lines.  I cut into the box about an 1/8th to 1/4 of the way into the wood, and I also went over the natural occurring lines to make them match the lines I created.

Hope this helps!  Looking forward to seeing your puzzle box!

P.S.  I love your avatar, now how the heck did you do that

[Eric Fuller]

Hi Stuey,

I'm sure Peter will chime in with a different reply, but the way I would go about it would be to get a thinner blade.  Freud makes some 8.5" blades which are nominally for handheld circular saws...however they still have 5/8 arbor holes, and the kerf is extremely thin.  Not sure exactly since I'm not in the shop right now, but I think it's somewhere around 1/16".  Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/D0840S-Diablo-2-Inch-Finishing-8-Inch/dp/B00008WQ2M

EDIT: DOH! Peter beat me to it 

[Kevin W]

Ok I was not brave enough to take a hacksaw to my puzzle.  I don't have a steady enough hand to pull that off.    So I found a thin kerfed saw and did this.



Seemed to work ok after I practiced a little with it.  Here are some pics of the finished puzzles, click the images to see them full size.

P.S.  I love your avatar, now how the heck did you do that

Just a few pics put into an animated gif here is another. 

[Eric Fuller]

Wow, great work!  Glad the thin kerf blade worked for you.  I agree about the sawblade thing...I'd be way too much of a wuss to try that myself.

[Peter Wiltshire]

Fantastic Stuey!  Thanks for posting your Pictures.  Yes I too had to build up the nerve to start cutting into my box when I had it nearly finished  . But the hack saw worked really well for me,  I do have a lot of patience though, and I took it slow with the blade.

Your animated gif's are cool, I'm going to have to try that

[Peter Wiltshire]

Well after patiently waiting I have finally bought my new toy.  I have purchased a Ridgid ts3660 table saw.  Home Depot dropped the price by $100, and I picked up my new toy for $499 Canadian.  My father and I were able to get the 300 pound box in my small SUV, and it's sitting in the garage till tomorrow when I get time to put it all together.  Can't wait to get it all set up!!!

[Eric Fuller]

Hey, congratulations Peter!  Make sur eot carefully follow the alignment procedures in the manual, it will pay off a lot down the road in higher precision. 

Also, when I started woodworking I got suckered into a bunch of absurdly priced products to keep the table clean and rust free.  After 5 years and trying a lot, I've found the secret is WD-40 to clean it off, mineral spirits to get the WD residue off, and lemon pledge once a week to keep the rust off.

[Mike Toulouzas]

Well after patiently waiting I have finally bought my new toy.  I have purchased a Ridgid ts3660 table saw.  Home Depot dropped the price by $100, and I picked up my new toy for $499 Canadian.  My father and I were able to get the 300 pound box in my small SUV, and it's sitting in the garage till tomorrow when I get time to put it all together.  Can't wait to get it all set up!!!

well done peter
Now The first thing they don't have in the manual is the alignment of the disk with the  rail slots(preferably the left).You will measure the saw blade(The one you are going to use and not the one they probably gave you with the table saw)
Raise the blade completely up.
Mark one tooth
Bring the tooth in front and measure(dial caliper) with the left slide.
turn the saw blade and bring the tooth back now and measure again.
 these 2 values must be almost the same.If not,
 You must find the screws that hold the motor to tune it.
Well its a little painful the procedure but trust me some times factory settings are not the best.
I hope i helped a little...

[Kerry Verne]

If you have the time (and tools), make yourself a set of PALS.
(http://www.in-lineindustries.com/saw_pals.html )  Two pieces of angle iron, a couple socket-headed cap screws and a few washers did the trick for me.

Otherwise it's a game of 'Bump, tighten, curse, loosen, bump the other way, tighten, curse,...' (repeat as necessary).

[Peter Wiltshire]

Thanks all!  Eric I wish I had of read your post about table saw rust protection before I ran out today and bought a product for top coating table saws.  I guess I will switch to your method once I use up the can.

Thanks Mike for your tips on blade adjustment.  I have been reading forums on the saw and have seen the adjustment mentioned, but I like your idea of marking a tooth and measuring both the front and rear alignment using the same spot on the blade, that makes a lot of sense!

Kerry, I had been to a woodworking show earlier this year where I saw the PALS, they certainly look like they would make adjustment easier, so I will look at picking up a set.  Thanks for that!

[Scott Peterson]

Peter - I use paste wax on my saw top, but Pledge will do also.  The wax not only keeps the rust away, but it also lets your jigs slide easier.

If you do get some rust on the top (hey, it happens!) - just use a fine synthetic wool pad and a palm orbital sander.  BE SURE TO TAKE THE SANDPAPER OFF OF YOUR SANDER FIRST (experience speaking  ), then put down the synthetic wool pad, place the sander on top of it, and turn it on.  This will take the rust off pretty well.  I even use this method to take down the build-up of wax after a while...

UHMW PE slick strips on the bottom of your jgs also helps them glide easier...

[Eric Fuller]

Scott, I used to use paste wax too!  A buddy of mine who makes bass guitars recommended pledge a few months back and I thought he was out of his mind.  Tried it and it really works nicely.  I always had a hard time getting a nice, even, thin layer of paste wax applied.  The pledge takes a while longer to dry out, which makes it easier to spread uniformly.

Plus it's lemony fresh....what's not to like