Happy Coincidences (Good Design)

Have you ever come across something that works unexpectedly well, or even perfectly? Like when packing a box and all the items fit in nicely with no rattling? Or when you finish building something with just a handful of scraps?

I come across these happy coincidences quite often. When I encounter them in daily life, they are a reminder that good design works. When I encounter them when making something, they are often encouraging as I take them as an indication that I’m on the right path. Good design works.

Take for example this happy coincidence that I came across today:

I needed to cut a series of hexagons with a 14 inch width. After laying out the shapes (read below to learn how I drew them), I first cut them into triangles with my track saw. (The hexagons were being cut from large, 2 inch thick slabs that were not flat, so the track saw made the most sense to me.)

Then, to make them hexagons, I needed to cut the other 3 corners. For this, I decided that my sliding table saw was the most efficient tool to do this with accuracy and repeatability. I set the crosscut fence to 30 degrees, then pondered how to ensure repeatable positioning.

The normal method of using a stop block wouldn’t work, since not all the corners of the triangles were intact (e.g. the corner extended past the edge of the material, as shown below).

My next idea was to use the diameter lines to align to a mark made on the crosscut fence. Although this would require manual alignment, this method would offer acceptable accuracy and be fairly quick to position each cut. Plus, the clear-anodized aluminum crosscut fence readily accepts pencil marks. I grabbed a pencil and combination square to make the mark and discovered…

Remarkably, in order to make the cut, the diameter lines would have to be located right at the end of the crosscut fence. No adjustments to the fence were required, and no marks needed to be made on the fence. How cool was that?

How I Laid Out The Hexagons

To lay out the 14 inch hexagons, I used a compass with pencil, pair of dividers, and a square. Below, I demonstrate drawing a smaller hexagon on a scrap.

First, I set the compass to 7 inches (half of 14) and drew a circle for each hexagon. I used a compass with a pencil, though I could have also used a pair of dividers to scratch the circle which would have been more accurate.

Next, I set the dividers to the same 7 inches by placing one point in the centre divot and the other point on the circumference.

Then I walked the dividers around the circle, leaving 6 equidistant divots around the circumference.

Finally, I connected the divots on opposite sides with a straight line, and drew a line square to that and tangent to the circle.

I extended the tangent line in the other direction, then repeated five times to complete the hexagon. Remember to leave enough room around the circle for the hexagon’s corners.