Straight Cuts with a Jigsaw

After a simple modification to the scroll saw, it’s easier to make straight cuts, and the clamped metal saw blade also allows you to cut metal or carbon fiber tubes.

I’m currently building a Horten IX. The construction plan is designed for plywood. The plan was drawn by Gary Hethcoat (born www.wingsontheweb.com). I’m interested in the Horten flying wings. However, I want to build this Horten IX with a 2-meter wingspan, but

I'm not building a top-notch model, but just to find out if my theory is correct. I think I’ve figured out why the Horten IX is unstable in certain flight attitudes and why thrust tube extensions are needed to fix this problem. Since this build is intended solely for that purpose, I want to make it out of Depron.

With a scroll saw, you can cut not only wood but also Depron. The advantage is that the cut edge is exactly 90 degrees to the surface

. Since I keep cutting minor or even major zigzags with the jigsaw’s original blades—which aren’t exactly deep (of course, it’s partly my fault, and the jigsaw isn’t designed to cut 50-cm-long profiles, etc.)— I got so frustrated this time that I just wanted to modify the scroll saw. And that’s exactly what I’ve done! With wider blades, the problem of wavy cuts is significantly reduced.

Our daughter and her two children have long since outgrown Lego. While clearing out some clutter, I once again came across the really large Lego bricks. They had actually already ended up in the disposal box when it occurred to me that these bricks—being clean and angular on all sides—could actually be useful as building aids. No sooner said than done—I gave it a try. When gluing spans and, above all, ribs, the bricks are truly an excellent aid for aligning the parts. The pictures show how it’s done. They also have the added advantage that when you place them with the studs facing down against the part, a fairly large air gap is created, and they don’t get stuck to the part.