Production Cutting:                                           

Making more than one of a project could be called production cutting, but I think more in terms of 20-100 of an item. I set up the saw so all the obstructions and problems are eliminated. When cutting I do not use the hold down arm on the saw. It does not take that much hold down pressure to hold the wood down with your fingers. And when using the nails to hold the stacked wood together, they would hit on the holddown. Also I have moved the air hose up to a height above the blade clamp, that still blows the sawdust off the line. Now I have the blade and all the area free of any obstructions. I replace the factory table inserts with my shop made 0" clearance inserts. Some of these I cut from .080" aluminum and others I have made from 1/4" Plexiglas. I trace the original insert onto the Plexiglas then cut it on the scrollsaw. Then, on the Plexiglas inserts, I use a router table to cut a rabbit on the bottom to leave the .080" top so that it fits into the insert hole just like the original did. But mine just start with a saw cut into the center to feed the blade into like a 0" clearance auxiliary table would be made. Now I'm ready to cut.

When using 1/8" Baltic Birch Plywood (BBP) I stack cut 5 or 6 layers at a time. With 1/4" BBP I stack 3 layers. With 3/8" BBP I stack 2 layers. I purchase all my BBP in the 5' X 5' sheets, then using the tablesaw cut them to 12" X 30" pieces. Now they are a manageable size to apply patterns to and stack as many as needed. With 3/8" and 1/2" pine I stack 2 layers. The pine I usually use 1" X 12" X 10' and maybe cut it into 5' or so pieces. I make my cut at a place where there is a knot that you won't be using anyway. One piece may be 4' and the other 6' but they are a manageable size now. Then to hold these layers together I use #3 finish nails. When driving the nails in, I do it on a steel plate so when the nail hits the plate it peens the tip so the bottom layer doesn't fall off nor does the nail point scratch the table on the saw. Also the nails make the neatest little handles to use in spinning the piece or just holding onto it.

Apply your patterns to the wood with copies glued on or tracing them on, using Formica templates. It depends on the complexity of the pattern which method I use. The easy patterns to trace are usually traced, the harder ones are copied then applied to the wood with a spray adhesive. I use the Weldwood brand from Scroller but there are many other out there that are good too. After the patterns are on the top piece of wood then I will nail the stack together in the waste area. Using the 12" X 30" pieces, I also nail the BBP at the center on the edge to hold the stack together. After I've applied the patterns for this job, and nailed the stacks together for cutting, I cut the used portion of the wood off the main stack. The next time that thickness wood is needed you already have the rest of the stack ready to trace on. For the pine I trace on one piece, usually the one with the most knots so that I can see that there won't be a knot in my save piece, then lay it on top of the rest of the stack, trying to line it up around the knots in the lower pieces, and nail it together. The unused pieces of pine are not nailed together, until used, because of the lining up of the knots. Now cut off the portion of the stack that you just put patterns on, then cut that portion into pieces, through the waste areas, so that you can manage the pieces for the final cutting of the pattern. Make sure that you leave at least 2 nails in each piece to hold the stack together. And cut them out normally using the 5R blades.