Anyone built the martin bird house from issue #231??

[Dumb_Polack]

Hi,

(I've been here for years and years, but I forgot my p/w and was never able to get a new one sent, so I set up a new account)

Anywho, I have next week off from work and thought I'd build the martin house in #231.  I've just started and building the 4 platforms is causing some issues.  I divided my 21" x 21" board into 16 sections as shown on page 28.  You then flip to page 64 and build the simple jig to cut the sides on the TS.  Well, when I did that, there are 4 sides that don't get cut on my jig.  So I've got this:

                                  ------------
                            ----                ----
                      ----                           ----
                    |                                     |
                    |                                     |
                    |                                     |
                     ----                            ----
                          ----                   ----
                                  -----------

I realize this is a terrible drawing but what I'm trying to illustrate is that the horizontal sides and the vertical sides aren't getting cut; therefore they're 2X as long as the other sides and all subsequent boards will be off as the shape isn't circular.

Figuring I screwed up, I redrew the desired shape from page 29 this morning on a sheet of plywood and when I bring it to my jig,  I saw that the same thing would happen, if I proceeded to cut it.

Anyone else have an issue with the jig on page 64?  How'd you get around it?  If you did resolve it, I'd like to know the measurements of each pie of "pie" that make up the sections.  (I could build a jig to cut them individually and glue them up (I know the plans call for a piece of 1/4" plywood, but I'll be using some scrap wood to glue up the pie once I can get a template correct for the entire platform).


Thanks!

[Ray Newman]

What magazine??

[Dumb_Polack]

Ummm.....Woodsmith???

[Dusty Workshop]

Do you have issue #232?

Maybe there is a correction about issue 231.

[Large Wooden Badger]

sent you a pm

[Dumb_Polack]

LWB?

I replied to your PM.  Pls send me the plans you've got.  Thanks!

[Large Wooden Badger]

Sorry-away from computer for holiday now. Will send when I get back

[Dumb_Polack]

Hey Kids!

If you've been wondering how the DP is making out on the bird house, wonder no more!

I build the central column with the 4 16-sided platforms. Now I'm working on the staves.  Here's how I built the platforms.

I basically cut out individual pieces of the "pie", each with 22.5 degree angle at the center point.  Then I build a right angle form and glued 4 pieces of pie to make a right angle.  Repeated that 4 times.  Then glue up 2 quarters, then 2 halves to make an entire platform. 

I shot an email to our daughter's calc teacher (yeah, I coulda figgered it out myself, but I'm inherently lazy) asking her what the length would be out at the edge of each piece of pie and she came back with approx 4 1/8".  I then went out from the center along each side of pie until a line drawn across equaled 4 18", give or take a fudge factor.

I then carpet taped all 4 pieces together and cut it out on the band saw rough and belt sanded/palm sanded to my line.  Everything worked out fine, although the true test is when I attach the staves and see that they hit all 4 levels at a consistent depth in the dadoes.

BTW, I'm using mahogany for this birdhouse.  Why you ask?  Well went I built the pool deck 10+ yrs ago I saved the cutoff from the spindles and formed the center column and levels out of that.  However, I don't have enough so the staves will be out of cedar but I should have enough to build the conical roof out of the remaining mahogany.

If I wasn't so lazy I'd snap a picture of my progress and post it here.  Mebbe I do that sometime today/tomorrow.