When I tilt the table on my stationary narrow belt sander for beveled work, the gap in front of the belt grows wider to the point where smaller parts can drop through. To close this void, I made a reducer from a piece of stiff sheet metal with a length of self-adhesive magnetic strip adhered to its back side. The magnet holds the reducer firmly to the sander’s table as shown. When not in use, I simply store it on the back of the machine. 

—Dave Black, Holdrege, Nebraska

When a project requires you to draw a large circle, you don’t necessarily need a trammel. Instead, try using a quick-set bar clamp. Hook the fixed jaw over a nail driven at the center point and hold your pencil at the intersection of the moveable jaw and bar. Squeeze the handle to precisely adjust the pencil’s location to match the radius you need. 

—Richard Entwistle, Highland Lakes, New Jersey

When nailing or screwing together the corners of picture frames or even small boxes, you need a way to hold the parts together for fastening. This simple assembly jig does the trick nicely. It’s nothing more than an MDF panel with two rails attached at precisely 90° to each other. The ends of the rails are set back from the business corner of the panel to allow tool access when the frame pieces are positioned and clamped in place for fastening. The part dimensions are not critical, but I find that the sizes shown work well in most cases. What is important is that the panel is dead flat and that the rails sit square to it. I attached a clamping cleat to the underside to secure the jig to a bench vise when in use. 

—Tom Washington, Billings, Montana

I frequently find myself clamping fences and other fixtures to my table saw, bandsaw, and other machine tables. Unfortunately, the cast iron webbing on the underside of the tables can make finding solid footing for clamps tricky. To remedy this, I fit and epoxied filler blocks of 3/4" plywood between the webbing ribs to create flat surfaces that are much more clamp-friendly. 

—Rick Lombardi, Dublin, Ohio