Titivating a miniature chop saw

[mklotz]

I use this miniature chop saw often while building models. I added two improvements to it that make it easier to use.

As built, there is no indicator to show where the blade will touch down on the material being sawn. Trying to hold your head flat on the bench and squinting under the descending saw is at best uncomfortable and looks damn silly. My fix was to cement a thin strip of wood to the fixed jaw of the vise; once dry I simply dropped the saw and cut it off. Now I have a very visible indicator to show where the blade will strike the stock held in the vise.



Many of my jobs, such as the miniature saw horses in the pictures, require cutting a number of pieces to the same length. This would be a lot easier to do if the saw at a stop against which to place the stock so each cut is the same length. I puzzled over how to build a simple stop until I disabused myself of the idea that the stop had to be parallel to the vise jaws (as is the case for a horizontal band saw). In the base of my saw were two holes meant to be used to screw the saw to a bench or whatever. It was a simple job to enlarge these holes and tap them 6 x 1 mm. Then a chunk of 1/2 x 1/2 wood was drilled so it can be clamped on the outfeed table. It was made long enough so it can be used as a stop when the vise is rotated to different angles.



Probably fifteen minutes of work to make a good tool a lot more pleasant to use.