Jig for making lighthouse sides.

[Myk Rian]

Last year I was asked to do a thread on how I make my lighthouses. The one I'm making now has a 2' tall base. This thread is about the jig I use to make the 8 sides, and put a 22.5 deg edge on them.

I start with the jig.

The sides of the lighthouse are 2' tall. The top of the sides is 2.5" and the bottom is 4.5". The difference being 2".
I made the jig to remove 1" off each side to make the taper.

lighthouse jig1.jpg

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Position 1 on the jig is 1" from the right perpindicular, and position 2 is another inch. The distance from the top to the blade determines the base width.
I'm using some 12" x 24" x 3/8" MDO ply for this.

I place the corner of the ply at pos. 1, clamp it down, and make the cut. Toss the scrap piece.
Next, I take the cut piece off the jig, turn it over right-to-left, and place the corner at pos. 2 on the jig. I make that cut, and toss that scrap piece. I now have one side.

The first cut-off is turned over top-to-bottom, and the corner is placed at pos. 2, and I make that cut. The tape measure is at the small end of the taper, and will be the top of the next side.
If you have a wider 2' tall piece of ply, just continue turning it top-to-bottom, placing it at pos. 2, and continue making the cuts until you have 8 pieces.

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[Myk Rian]

Here are more pictures of the process, and the 8 sides finished after cutting.

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[Myk Rian]

Next I move to the router table to put the chamfer on the edges.
I have a 22.5 deg bit mounted, and the fence is moved to a position so I just miss cutting the top surface of the ply. It leaves a semi-sharp edge, as shown on the test piece.
Next, the fun part starts. Gluing the pieces together to form the lighthouse base.

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[glenn bradley]

This is great Myk. Well presented process. Kudos.

[ken masoumi]

Great thread Myk.
I'm sorry for resurrecting this old thread but I am in the process of building a lighthouse, I have already made the sides using a two sided taper jig very similar to yours Myk but have not started the glue up yet ,I'm not sure if I should just glue the sides (8 pieces)together and make the base or should I have some type support from inside in order to nail the sides to it to give the cone shaped base more rigidity? something like this:
Web Copy of Light House Sub Assy.jpg
How would you glue the sides?

[Myk Rian]

Hi, Ken. Got a notice the thread had been sent to.

I use blue tape on all the seams to keep them tight together. Angle side up. Squeeze the glue into all the seams, and roll it all together. Strapping on the outside holds it all together while the glue sets.
The last one I made I used Gorilla glue. Seems to be holding up well in the weather.

I don't make a frame inside them anymore. With 3/8 or thicker ply it isn't needed. The frames I did make made the whole thing too complicated.

[ken masoumi]

Thank you for your reply Myk,the blue tape idea is great, I had planned to use biscuits to keep them aligned but I like the tape idea better.thanks again.
Regards.
Ken.