How To Make A Micro Bevel Sanding Jig On Disc Sander
While working in Don’s shop, our woodworking editor, we realized that we needed to apply a slight two degree bevel to the oval bottoms of the shaker inlay trays that we were making.
We decided that the most accurate way to do this was to make a micro bevel sanding jig on the disk sander.
The Need For A Micro Bevel
The Shakers’ meticulous attention to detail can be seen in their swallowtails on their oval boxes. We wanted to put a slight bevel on our tray bottoms so they fit snug against the tray side band.
Micro Bevel Jig – Shop Tip
We cut out the ovals on a band saw, leaving one-sixteenth of an inch, before the traced line. We then took our oval tray bottoms to our Rikon belt and disc sander and fine sanded to the pencil line, creating a bevel.
In order to create a consistent 2-degree bevel we found it easier to mount a strip of would to the sanding table rather than bevel the table, which was not reliable.
We secured a 3/16 inch strip of wood approximately two inches from the sanding disc. To kept he strip of wood from moving we secured it to the disc table with general-purpose, two-sided carpet tape.
The two-sided tape comes in a role of 1-1/2” x 42’ and is very useful in the workshop for temporarily holing items like this micro bevel jig in place and is easily removed.
Using The Micro Jig
The jig allowed us to cant the oval tray bottom slightly into the sanding disc to create our desired bevel. The key was to keep the oval bottom in contact with the sanding disc table.
Worked like a charm!
