A stop stop

[mklotz]

I'll freely admit to borrowing this idea from another forum and adapting it to my own problem. Regardless, it's just too good an idea to not pass along to all the other bodgers out there.

The picture below shows my homemade toolmaker-clamp-like miniature vise. Clamped in the bench vise, it is used to hold tiny parts for a multitude of operations. One of those operations is sawing off identical lengths of material. To that end, I added a (removable) depth rod arrangement similar to that used on horizontal bandsaws.

The problem is that when the stock is butted against the stop, as the cut nears completion the stock has a tendency to twist between the vise and the stop. This often jams the saw blade and, if using a jeweler's saw, can easily break the blade.

What's needed is a stop-stop. The aluminum cylinder with the setscrew does the job. Once the depth stop is set to the correct length, the stop-stop is slid up against it and locked in place, thus "remembering" the depth stop position. The depth stop is then swung out of the way...

and the cut can be made with the cutoff end free to fall away and not bind the blade. When the next piece to be cut is loaded, it's an easy job to reposition the depth stop against the stop-stop, butt the stock against it, and then swing the depth stop out of the way to avoid any binding.