Taming the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw
Projects and Accessories to Expand the Uses of the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw
by
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The inspiration for this manual has two sources, the desire to get the most from a small set of tools and to build useful projects quickly. Many projects require a large investment in tools to prepare materials for projects. If prepared materials could be used, the time and effort to produce projects could be reduced. Projects presented here use prepared materials to quickly build projects. In the interest of reducing tool and material costs, the tool accessories that are distributed with the tools are used or plans for the accessories are included. A limited set of common of tools is used so that the beginning hobbyist or the facilities challenged can make the items and the accessories. The main tools used for these projects are ROTOZIP®, guidepoint bit, Sabrecut bit, drill, drill bits, select spade bits, select brad point bits, screw driver bits, screwdriver, framing square, and two 4" C-clamps. A WorkBench consisting of a garbage can and a square of plywood was used to make sure that these projects can be completed with a minimum of tools and equipment. A plan for a portable WorkBench is included to enhance its’ capabilities and move the sawdust generation outside where cleanup is the rain or a wind storm. If you are facilities challenged, the WorkBench is easily stored, and the garbage can provides weather tight storage for materials and tools. The WorkBench was customized to aid in making the projects with greater precision and convenience. Whenever possible, commodity materials have been evaluated and recommended. The evaluation and recommendation of materials that can be used without extensive preparation is necessary to make these projects viable with a limited number of tools and space to work. A comprehensive list of tools and materials for each ptoject is included so that you can collect the materials to complete a project. Detailed instructions are included to save time and relay the experience when the original project was rendered. An experienced user may only use the diagrams. A new user should find the instructions useful for preparing for a step and completing the step. The same experiences could be obtained by experimenting with scrap materials and not making an item. These projects do not preclude the use of scrap materials, but the effort may produce more than experience and sawdust. Please review the ROTOZIP® operator’s manual for recommendations on cutting direction, clockwise for freehand cuts, counter clockwise for guided guidepoint bit cuts. Cutting direction can determine the quality of the parts being cut. The portable fence and the fence clamped to the WorkBench give good results when used and even better results when the cutting operation pushes the project against the fence. Unmentioned in the operators manual are the suggestions for cutting when the ROTOZIP® is inverted and a fence is used. Most router project books provide addition instruction on cutting direction. Pay close attention to the manufacturer’s recommendation to steady the ROTOZIP®’s depth gauge on the material to be cut. Bits are more likely to break if they are allowed to chatter when entering the stock or the ROTOZIP® is lifted from the material. When making plunge cuts, avoid the problem by using a tall fence and slide the locked depth gauge down the fence. Three of the projects make intensive use of linear joints on tongue and groove cedar. An explanation of the terms is useful when using the instructions. A groove is similar to a dado. A groove follows the grain. A dado crosses the grain. A rabbet has only one shoulder and an open side. Stopped grooves and dadoes are recommended when unfilled joints would be seen if the joint was cut to the end of the stock. ROTOZIP® Capabilities: The ROTOZIP® is routinely displayed as a saw for construction and remodeling. Overlooked is its potential for some router applications. The ROTOZIP® was chosen because it has the potential to replace several tools. It is compact and can be used in place of several powered and hand tools. Its main features are the availability of inexpensive 1/8" bits and the 1/4" collet allowing the use of router bits. To get the most from your ROTOZIP®, the following projects and accessories have been assembled to show how the ROTOZIP® can be used for atypical projects. In part, the projects are selected to exploit a capability of the ROTOZIP®, and afterwards to allow you to apply the experience on other projects. The Bull Wood Bank exploits the pattern following capability with the guidepoint bit and freehand cutting of small parts. The Magazine Box introduces the dado and rabbet joint for a simple sturdy open ended box. The Bureau Box tray exploits the flush trimming capabilities of the guidepoint bit and two case splitting operations with the Sabrecut bit. The Bureau Box is the first use of the WorkBench to cut square panels from 2 and 3 board panels and builds on the Bureau Box Tray experiences. The Electrical Box Covers use quickly prepared templates to make custom decorating accessories. The greatest improvement that can be made to the ROTOZIP® is installing the circle cutter (part # CRCT1 ). It is the basic addition that permits the use of the ROTOZIP® when control and stability is needed. The circle cutter is invaluable for quickly making patterns and jigs to make straight smooth cuts that are not possible by manually guiding the ROTOZIP®. Buy it. Use it. It is a valuable inexpensive addition to the ROTOZIP®.
ROTOZIP® is a registered trademark of the ROTOZIP Tool Corporation.
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About the Book
Plans and Directions for seven atypical projects and two accessories for the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw. Manual contains over 120 pages of project directions, illustrations, plans, and patterns. Directions include project sequence and descriptions of the results for the project. Projects and material recommendations permit efficient building of quality atypical projects using the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw as the principal tool. Plans and patterns are available in an Appendix which supplements their presentation in the manual. Triple the uses for your SCS01, SCS02, or RTM01 ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw. Obtain directions, techniques, material lists, plans, patterns, and results on projects made using the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw as the principal tool and apply the techniques to your projects. Many projects and techniques can be accomplished with conventional routers. Accessories can be modified to fit conventional routers. Review the illustrations and results to apply the experience to your projects. Project plans and directions expand the techniques for using the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw. Accessories permit standard router operations for dadoes and rabbets, portable rip fence, table routing, use as a panel saw, edge trimming, pattern routing, and case splitting. Techniques and accessories are illustrated to permit use of the methods on your projects. Instructions are included to save the craftsman's time by sequencing steps and suggest steps that improve the construction quality. Material recommendations and instructions allow construction of projects without lots of large tools or workspace. Detailed directions and techniques emphasize the use of small set of common household tools to make the projects. Included are three sets of patterns and five sets of plans for the projects and accessories. Projects are Bull Wood Bank, Magazine or Scrapbook Box, Traditional or Modern sized cedar box trays to organize traditional cedar boxes or jewelry boxes, Cedar Bureau Box with tray rail, Electrical Box Covers, Bracket, Board, and Stringer Shelves, and. Computer Tables. Projects escalate in complexity to challenge an experienced woodworker, but detailed descriptions allow completion by the casual woodworker as projects are completed. The projects and accessories were selected to exploit qualities of the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw and commercial materials. Projects were selected to utilize the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw to solve construction problems.
|
Project Name |
Problem Resolved |
Solution |
|
Bull Wood Bank |
Cutting matching parts without patterns or templates |
Pattern routing and edge fortification |
|
Magazine Box |
Grooves and dadoes on delicate case parts |
Expanded base to guide ROTOZIP |
|
Bureau Box Tray |
Small tray construction with common tools and equipment. |
WorkBench to hold router |
|
Bureau Box |
Medium sized Jewelry/Document box made with common tools and inexpensive material. |
Panel assembly, ripping, and edge trimming of medium sized cases. |
|
Electrical Box Covers |
Accurate guided cutting needed for presentable covers. |
Covers made quickly and accurately without myriad of templates or patterns. |
|
Bracket, Board, and Stringer Shelf |
Construction of a strong, wide shelf without using premium materials |
Stringers to position boards, portable groove routing and rabbeting. |
|
Computer Tables |
Large, strong case construction with Straw board and structural reinforcement. |
Skeleton case members used to assemble large case. |
|
Expanded Base |
ROTOZIP depth gauge too unstable for routing and dadoing operations. |
Expanded Base allows fence attachment and inverted use in WorkBench |
|
WorkBench |
Portable, storable, stable workbench needed for projects and speed setups for guided cuts. |
.Trash can used for base and work surface stablized with weights. |
To encourage building of the projects , the projects employ a small set of tools that are usually available in most home workshops. I have limited the tools used to allow the casual woodworker to enjoy making these projects without a large outlay for tools. The procedures encourage the building of the projects where work and storage space is limited.
User built accessories are included to allow the hobbyist to build an inventory of accessories and templates.
Accessories are Expanded Base and portable WorkBench. Accessories can be self built to allow the ROTOZIP® Spiral Saw to be used as a panel saw, rip saw, and table mounted router.
About the Author
My experience has been gained by building routing tables, templates, furniture, a boat, remodeling homes, and automobile reconditioning. The experience was applied to solve application, construction, and materials problems using the ROTOZIP ® for atypical projects. The experience is used to exploit the core technology of the Spiral Saw to projects that expand its uses. The projects are selected on how well the Spiral Saw and materials can be used to build the projects while saving on total investment in tools, materials, work space, clean up time, and preparation time. The detailed instructions and illustrations are a result of experience in detailing procedures for repeatable processes, in this case, for projects that reflect craftsmanship and beauty. The projects are developed in IntelliCAD® by CADopia. The use of a CAD package improves the quality of the plans by dimensioning the drawing, encouraging the consideration of options, and allowing the printing of patterns and templates. The development of the plan, writing of the procedure, constructing the project, finishing the project, using the project, and critiquing the project are parts of a process that is necessary for creating build able projects. Projects are not handed off to someone where the complications of a design are not immediately and directly experienced in building the project. The experience of completing the project, based on the directions, is immediately improved in design and directions for subsequent builders. Many of the projects are presented as demonstrations for "What if I used" proposals for solving problems or the use of commercial materials. The use of commercially available aromatic cedar is used to build medium sized boxes that have cases that are in proportion to their purpose and size. The shelf conserves wood and provides functionality with a moveable center section. The outlet covers are included as a common item that has customization possibilities when they can be made quickly and easily. I have tried to select projects that present solutions and encourage readers to apply the solutions to new problems by including an analysis of the completed project and procedure in the Results sections.