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How to layout an angle using a Framing Square

Started by Jim_Rogers, February 07, 2006, 12:01:02 PM

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Jim_Rogers

How to layout an angle using a Framing Square.
By Jim Rogers

Recently I drew a timber frame scarf  joint for a client.
This scarf joint was for a continuous plate for his rafters. The specifications' sheet called for a 7" tall by 10" wide plate and it was to be 24' long. He couldn't buy long timbers and so that's why he needed a scarf joint.

The computer CAD program drew a nice scarf joint and when I dimensioned the drawings the angle of the scarf was to be 11.8° or rounded off to 12°.

So, I needed to understand how to create a 12° angle using a standard timber framing layout tool, such as the framing square.

I contacted one of my timber framing teachers and he sent me a spread sheet that would convert degrees into inches of rise with a known value such twelve inches (12").

With assistance from a friend I was able to get this spread sheet to display the rise in fractions of an inch instead of decimal inches as the spread sheet normally does.

We got the spread sheet to display sixteenths of an inch and thirty seconds of an inch for increased accuracy when needed in laying out to the quarter of one degree.

So with a quarter degree spread sheet we don't have to round up to 12°, but we could round down from 11.8° to 11.75°, thereby making a more accurate layout.

Once you have printed the spread sheet, you can use it to layout your angles.

Here is an example of the procedure for doing that.

In this example we will use the 12° angle for our layout.

The first step is to draw a 12" long line. I did this from the heel of my framing square across the body away from the heel, right to left.

Then draw a second line down the tongue of the framing square away from the heel towards the end of the tongue, the distance shown in the spread sheet for a 12° angle which is 2 9/16".

Connecting the point at 2 9/16" with the far end of the 12" line completes a right triangle with one of these angles being 12°.

As shown in this drawing:



I hope you can understand and use this to draw angles.

Jim Rogers


Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Jim_Rogers

Here is the spread sheet in quarter of degress......
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

mark davidson

Jim, awesome!!!
thanks for the info.
I'll use the chart, for sure -much more accurate than translating from a speed square
_:)_


moosehunter

And I always thought that tool was just for making square corners and guiding a circular saw!

Thats why I hang out at the FF..... always learnin stuff 8)
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Higher than my expectations
Well, I have really good days".    Ray Wylie Hubbard

scsmith42

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srjones

Very cool Jim!  I'm going to print these out and run them through the laminator   ;D
Everyone has hobbies...I hope to live in mine someday.

asy

Wow Jim, this is so handy! Thanks!!

I may have to create a metric version of it for use here. But it's a GREAT idea!

Thanks!

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

Jim_Rogers

If you have the spread sheet program called "Excel" I can send you the spread sheets, and you can just change the output to mm or cm whichever you use. I believe it will work.
I can try it here for you first if you don't have it.
Let me know.
Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

asy

Ooooh!

I certainly do have Excel, and am quite good at it.

I was going to try to make the sheet myself in excel, but if you don't mind sending me the .xls I'd appreciate it!

asy :D

email:   forest<at>brissy<dot>biz
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

Jim_Rogers

Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

LeeB

Didn't the old framing squares used to have all that info on them? 
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

routestep

Most of the wood I use (oak) develop twists and often come with dips or bumps from the sawyer's band saw. Hence, using the edge of the timber with the framing square has made it hard for me to get an angle to within one degree of accuracy or even getting lines to meet when drawn around the timber before cutting it. So for a little better acuracy when making a brace etc. I have to plane out any twist at the two ends of the timber with winding sticks, snap a chalk line on all four faces, and use the chalk line as a layout line for the framing square.
Page 127 of the TFGuild green book goes through the procedure for rough sawn timbers. It works pretty well.

scgargoyle

I was going to add how to do it using trigonometry, but Jim's method is easier :D In my line of work (toolmaker) we have to be accurate to 4 decimal places (.0001") so we use trig a lot.
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

Jim_Rogers

With the spread sheet you can view the results in as many decimal places as you need, you just have to change the cell's output from fractions to decimal and it's all there.....
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

fatcat161

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if I could get the spreadsheet. I'm making toys and need to adjust the run (12in is a bit long). I can work it out as is, but being able to change the run would make it easier.

If you still have it, can you email it to fatcat161<at>Hotmail<dot>com please?

AlaskaLes

Fatcat,
if you look at the bottom of the 1st post from Jim here, you'll see the pdf file.
I just downloaded it without any issues and saved it to my documents file.
Hope this helps
Les
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canopy

There is a related thread that may be of interest "Cutting angles and creating an angle board story":

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=52291.0

In it I posted a simple spread sheet where you plug in an angle and it tells you the spot to use on the long edge of the square to 16th's accuracy for both 12 and 17, the latter I favor for a little better precision. Works like this:




 

Note from admin. Please only use jpg images. I deleted the png image that was 457 kb in size and replaced it with a jpg that is only a little over 34k. I'll look into blocking png images from now on as the server has no way to optimize png on upload.

fatcat161

Thanks AlaskaLes, I wanted to get the actual spreadsheet, I already downloaded the pdf.

Canopy, I'll check out your spreadsheet. Simpler may be better.

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