Height Gauge

Instructions

This simple fun project is fast and easy to build. There are just a few steps. 1. setup your 3/4 inch hardwood with double sided tape. I used the workstation, but you can setup on a table also with shaper tape. 2. Setup your 1/4 inch up-cut bit, z-touch, import the supplied file, and place on your hardwood 3. Use calipers to find the thickness of your foam, ruler and plexiglass together. For me it was 0.21 inches 4. Cut the smallest (ruler) rectangle first, to the depth from step (3). Adjust up or down about 0.005 inches depending on how much friction you want for your ruler. I cut this with inside cut first, and then pocket the center as needed. 5. Set your depth now for ONLY the plexiglass. For me this was 0.12 inch so I used 0.125 inch. Cut the larger rectangle. You should only need one inside cut with a 1/4 inch bit. 6. Cut the body out last. With 3/4 inch wood, I did it in 3 passes of 1/4 inch deeper each time. 7. Cut the plexiglass with whatever saw you have. I used bandsaw, and sanded down to get a tight fit but loose fit would be ok too. 8. test fit everything to make sure you like the depths. If not, either start over or file down if you want. 9. super glue the foam, and then super glue the plexiglass. Make sure to not use too much so you don't get any where the ruler will slide! 10. Insert ruler. Test that pushed down on flat surface the ruler is perfectly touching the top of the gauge. If not, now you can sand down the top. The pattern has 1/32 inch over the required 6 inches, to allow you to get a precise height of 6 inches for the ruler. 11. (optional) I routed the back with 1/4 inch round over bit, on all sides but the feet bottoms. You can sand and finish as you see fit. 12. Enjoy your new depth gauge!