Accu-Slice Jig

[stuart johnson]

John Manura posted photos of bells he made. Tucked in the description is a link showing how he cuts the rings so thin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIkxrWPcMXE . In the video he talks and demonstrates his Accu-Slicer. After watching it I hope he is going to bring it to market. If he does depending on the price I will certainly purchase one.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

Stuart nice catch, I missed that
thanks

 

[mfisher]

John Manura: Very nice jig. I hope it becomes available commercially.

The one weakness I see is how the material is mounted to the jig. I have seen double sided tape come loose when someone is cutting a ring on the bandsaw using a different type jig. The issue seems if the sacrifice plate is not perfectly clean, the tape does not hold as well as it should . Hot glue may hold better.

Maybe a support for the rings could be designed to keep them from possibly rotating while being cut when the tape/glue gives way.

I see a lot of potential in your design of the thin cut jig for bandsaws.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

I wounder what type of blade he is using in the band saw?

 

[mfisher]

After watching the vid, not sure how the jig is adjusted for blade drift.

 

[stuart johnson]

I don't think drift is an issue when the fence isn't being used. Of course thinking often gets me into trouble. I have split rings using a table with a fence sort of like he does. If it isn't clean there is a problem with the tape sticking. The same holds true if there is a bit of dust on the segment. I think hot melt glue is a good way to go. It looks like he is getting such a smooth cut from a combination of a good blade plus cutting very slow.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

Yah that is why I asked what kind of blade he was using, I assuming fairly wide

 

[Bob Beaupre]

Stuart here is the link off the video
http://www.sisweb.com/wood/

 

[Bob Beaupre]

On one of the videos he the cost was going to be between 250 and 400

 

[stuart johnson]

Bob, thanks. I saw the videos but missed where it said the cost. It looks well built and practical but that is too rich for my blood.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

It was at the end of the video at the woodturns club. I'm thinking it is more the blade you use on your bandsaw.

 

[John Manura]

Just a note to answer some of your questions on the Accu-Slice.

Yes the Accu-Slice is going to be brought to market ver soon. We plan on having units ready to sell in January and hope to demonstrate it at the NJ wood show in February.

Pricing is still uncertain, but probably between $400 and $500 for the complete system. The engineers in our shop are still doing some redesign to keep the price down.

The double sided tape works quite well. I have cut more that a thousand round discs on the system and have not had one come off. I did some expermenting with a number of manufacturers of tape that I bought on Amazon and we will have some recommendations when the unit is released. We did discover that some of the very thin paper tapes did not work very well. I have also used hot melt glue and it also works quite well. The hot melt glue may be a better option for cutting the long boards.

Blade drift is not an issue. Since the wood is mounted to the fence, the wood will not drift even if the blade angle is slightly off, unlike using a band saw fence where the blade can actually pull the wood to one side or another.

Blades. I have been using the Timber Wolf rake blades. For thick boards (6" to 12" wide) I was using 6 to 8 teeth per inch. For smaller boards I was using 8 to 10 tpi blades. For cutting the segment discs I have been using both the 8 and 10 tpi blades. I have been doing some work lately on a modification of the system to cut the wood segments for making segmented discs. For this application I have been using both the 10 tpi and the 14 tpi blades. The trick in all these application is to cut smoothly and slowly. This will give you superb cuts, much better than you can normally get on the band saw.

 

[stuart johnson]

Thanks John. This is the information we were guessing about. The price is more than I can justify based on my current turning but that doesn't mean it's not on my want/need list.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

John how much sanding if any do you do on those thin rings

 

[John Manura]

Almost none. Using the Accu-Slice system on the band saw the resulting cuts are very smooth, the smoothest that I have ever seen on a band saw. This is bacause the wood is attached to the fence and not held by pushing against the fence. The only sanding required is sanding off the fuzzies from the edges of the wood slices. There is a video on U-Tube showing the use of this system in making Christmas Tree Bell ornaments. I am currently working on a video showing how to set up the band saw and Accu-Slice to achieve these super fine cuts.

 

[Bob Beaupre]

Almost none. Using the Accu-Slice system on the band saw the resulting cuts are very smooth, the smoothest that I have ever seen on a band saw. This is bacause the wood is attached to the fence and not held by pushing against the fence. The only sanding required is sanding off the fuzzies from the edges of the wood slices. There is a video on U-Tube showing the use of this system in making Christmas Tree Bell ornaments. I am currently working on a video showing how to set up the band saw and Accu-Slice to achieve these super fine cuts.

Please post when you have that video up.

Thanks John

 

[John Manura]

We are now taking orders for the Accu-Slice. Our machine shop is in the middle of producing our first production run of 50 systems which we plan on shipping by Feb 15. Our web site has been updated with a lot of information including product description, pricing, a manual, accessories, a number of projects that I have completed with the Accu-Slice and a FAQ section based on the feedback I have received so far.

In addition I have put together 9 YouTube Videos demonstrating the Accu-Slice, demonstating its capabilities, its installation and applications for some of my projects completed so far.

If anybody in is the NJ area, I will be demonstrating the Accu-Slice at the Somerset, NJ Woodworking meeting on February 17-19, 2017.

Our web site is: www.sisweb.com/wood/accu-slice.htm

p.s. - I salute Lloyd Johnson on his production of his videos. I never realized how much time and effort is required to produce one the these videos which involves planning, layout, writing a script, taking and integrating the videos and finally half the time was spent just to do the editing of the video. To produce a typical 15 to 20 minute video took me more than 16 hours.

 

[stuart johnson]

John, I've watched several of you videos and think you have a good piece of equipment. I don't feel it is overpriced but is still too expensive for the type of work I do. If I used a lot of high priced veneer it would be worth the cost over time to slice it using the Accu-Slice. Good job on the design and follow through to get it into production.

 

[mfisher]

Very nice product. I will ask our wood club to consider purchasing one. For home use, its a bit high for the work I do.