Woodworking should be rewarding to the hobbyist but it must be safe as well. And there is no better place to practice safety than on the table saw, of all the tools in the shop. And it can be made safe with a few shop made jigs. My gut rule: If I feel uneasy about a particular operation and my gut tells me not to proceed, then I will not do it. Or, build a jig to safely do it. It is worth all the effort and time. Besides, you can treat building the jig a woodworking project.
The challenge. Where a tall non-draining planter sits, I would like to replace it with another non-draining planter with a slightly larger footprint.
The task is to construct a base on top of the hollow hexagon without disturbing the entire tower.
Solution: A base with a hexagonal "key" underneath that will fit snugly with the hollow top. Each side of the "key" hexagon is only 2-1/2 inches.
Jig: The sled will run across a tilted saw blade (60 deg from the horizontal, or 30 deg from the vertical). A stop block ensures cutting the six pieces accurately and repeatably. This is the only safe way to do it.
By the way, the hexagon is the easiest to create of all polygons that have more sides than a square. Each side of a hexagon is equal to the radius of the circle that encloses it around at all the six points. Using a compass, first draw a circle. Move the pivot point (sharp pin) to any part of the circle. Rotate the compass to intersect with the circle. You have just created the three of the six points of the hexagon. From those points create the other three points. With a straight edge connect all six points to make the hexagon.
Glue the six pieces. Cut the base.
Another jig. This is a sled designed for cutting small pieces on the table saw. This makes for an easy, safe way - accurately - to cut the hexagon base.
Below is another tower planter for non-draining containers.
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