Monday, December 31, 2018

Octagon Basket Scroll Saw Pattern.



This octagon basket requires several compound angle cuts. If you remember your trigonometry you will know that these angles will all be 22.5-degree cuts. This is a bit more advanced project than I usually design for the blog. I kept the fretwork simple so you can concentrate on cutting the angles.
You can make all the angle cuts before you do the interior fretwork.

Each angle cut needs to be made with the board orientated correctly. I show this orientation in the instructions. Pay close attention to those instructions or your basket will not assemble correctly. 

My saw has a digital angle gauge but you can use a small protractor behind the blade to set the angle to 22.5 if necessary. Get it as close to 22.5 as possible.

The bottom of each piece will also have the same 22.5-degree angle cut so it will sit flat on the base.
Notice that the walls tilt out away from the center. Keep this in mind and follow the cut instruction or your walls my tilt inward and that will not work. 






The next three pictures show how we clamp and glue and glue up all the angle joints with tape.


All eight pieces are facing down and tape applied to the intersections.


The assembly is flipped over and glue applied to the joints.