Gear Driven, Adjustable Height Tape Board

By fljdave
|
BY-NC-SA 4.0 License
|
Updated Tue Jan 09 2024

Turning a single bolt with the on-board stored 1/4" allen key will adjust the height of this tape board from 1-1/2" to 2-3/8"+. Nearly 3/4" adjustment range. The tape board is 15-3/8" wide x 40" long. Be sure to watch the linked YouTube video for complete assembly. If you have any questions, please post them in the YT video comments and I will do my best to help. Thanks & good luck!

> 2 hr
Easy

243

Jigs & Fixtures

Files Included (5)

  • alternate-nested gears(G2x1+G3x4).svg

    40 kB
  • board-15.375(SO).svg

    150 kB
  • gear 3.v2(SO).svg

    100 kB
  • gear1.v2(SO).svg

    28 kB
  • gear2.v2(SO).svg

    70 kB

Materials

Wood:

3/4" x 15 3/8" x 40" (finished dimension) prefinished plywood for the tape board

Enough 3/4" prefinished plywood for the gears:

Gear 1 (qty 1) 10 3/8" finished diameter

Gear 2 (qty 2) 13 3/8" finished diameter

Gear 3 (qty 8) 3 3/8" finished diameter

Hardware:

(8) 5/16-18 x 1 1/4" hex bolts

(8) 5/16-18 x 20mm threaded inserts

(1) 5/16-18 tee nut

(1) 5/16-18 x 1 1/8" socket head cap screw (you will probably need to buy it longer and cut it)

(1) 5/16-18 hex nut

(4) 1/4" flat washers (1/4" washers usually fit nicely on 5/16" bolts)

(2) #14 x 1 1/4" pan head sheet metal screws

(1) 1/4" allen key

(2) 10mm x 3mm magnets (or adjust the magnet holes in the allen storage slot for whatever you use)

Shaper Tape

Tools

Shaper Origin

1/8" cutter

screwdrivers

1/2" wrenches

Instructions

Skill level is "Easy", but some of the parts require 2-sided milling, so you will need to know how to properly flip and re-grid your workpiece. Cutting the gears is time consuming, I would consider this a day project. As I discuss in the video, my tolerances for gear fit were tighter than necessary, but it all worked. I would consider (recommend?) scaling gear 1 (center gear) down by maybe .020" (or more), since gear backlash really isn't relevant for a project like this. Or just offset the outside profile cut by .010". The project files contain the basic vectors, without any embedded cutting info or color coding. There are some text notes in each one. I used 3/4" prefinished maple plywood, because of the finish's good durability and low friction. **Updated: Just added an alternate file (alternate-nested gears(G2x1+G3x4).svg). Thanks to Greg from the Shaper Fans FB group. I have not inspected or tried this file, but Greg made the spoke holes in gear 2 a little bigger to be able to nest 4 of gear 3 into the cutouts. Great idea! If I were to make another one of these, I would actually just forget about the original spoke holes and leave the shape of the 4 gear 3 cutouts in gear 2...


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